Did you know that a quarter of the Maltese population consists of ten families? Or so it would seem, if we assumed that people of the same family name in Malta are somehow related to each other. And, one of the most common is Farrugia.
What does 'Farrugia' mean?
In the Maltese language the word farruġ refers to a cockerel or young rooster. It derives from Arabic and spelling variations of the family name include Farruggia, Farruġa, Ferrugia, Ferruggia and Farruj.
What is the origin of this surname?
Farrugia has both Semitic and European origins. In the Semitic language, al-Farrug would be a chicken keeper and Rahal al Farrug, or Hal Farrug, is a Maltese village located close to the Malta International Airport in Luqa. Family names of the same root would typically end in 'a', taking the feminine format, whereas place names would retain the masculine format. However, it appears that the Farrugias moved to Malta from Sicily in the early Middle Ages and that the family name Farrugia is widespread throughout Europe, the United States and Australia.
Where you’re most likely to find a Farrugia in Malta
Farrugia is a widespread name in Malta, with most hailing from Zurrieq (not Hal Farrug!). As with most people from Zurrieq, they will likely have blue eyes! Other places with many Farrugias are Haz-Zebbug, Siggiewi, Qormi, Birkirkara, Mosta, Zabbar and Birzebbugia in that order, a clear dominance of the south part of the island of Malta. Not surprisingly, then, that Farrugia is not even in the top ten list of surnames in Gozo although it is the fourth most common family name in Malta.
English pronunciation guide
Yes, we get it. With its double consonants and strange ending with two vowels, this Maltese family name may look tricky to utter to the uninitiated. When our American friends are trying to pronounce “Boot-Edge-Edge”, in a bid to correctly pronounce the name of Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg running for US president, we might resort to the same tactic with “Far-Rouge-Ah”.
Five Famous Farrugias
Among the notable Farrugias to go down in history, we find a variety of personalities:
1. Dominique Farrugia was a French actor, film director, screenwriter, producer and humorist, born in Vichy, France, to a Jewish pied-noir and Maltese family.
2. Francis Saviour Farrugia was a Maltese-born academic and intellectual, a philosopher, jurist and penologist
3. Johnston Farrugia, a Maltese-born rapper also known as Hooligan.
4. Football coach Ray Farrugia aka Zazu currently leads the Malta national football team
5. Marlene Farrugia is a politician and the founder of the Democratic Party.