While it will soon be possible to make minor changes to one's name to include Maltese letters, such changes cannot be made to surnames due to the fact that these surnames have ancestral and historical roots which actually pre-date the time when the Maltese alphabet was officially established.
Contacted by The Malta Independent, a spokesperson for the Parliamentary Secretariat for Citizenship and Communities, which is responsible for the reform, confirmed that because family names have ancestry and historical roots which pre-date the time when the Maltese alphabet was officially established, they cannot be changed.
Therefore, the family name should only be recognized in its originally registered form, the spokesperson noted.
This is in line with guidelines issued by the Kunsill Nazzjonali tal-Ilsien Malti, which explain that Maltese surnames began being written in medieval times, meaning that they were written using the Sicilian alphabet - which remained in use, hence without the use of Maltese diacritic letters.
The Council notes that while there are some authors who like to use Maltese letters in their surnames, this practice is not official in the eyes of the Public Registry, and is in fact only used in books.
"The surname is a personal piece of history, and the fact that they are written with Italian orthography should not be considered as an inconsistency in Maltese writing", the Council states.
"In other languages, there are also 'foreign' surnames, and these aren't changed to be in line with the orthography and pronunciation of their own language".
Image from: vassallohistory.wordpress.com
Professor Manwel Mifsud, who explains this matter on behalf of the council, notes that there are historical explanations for differences in surnames such as, for instance, Scerri and Xerri.
Here, the oldest writing of the surnames is that of Xerri - which originates from Sicilian and which first appears in 1419 - while Scerri is a more recent version of the surnames which originates from the period of the Knights of St. John and originates directly from Italian.
Mifsud observes that notaries had changed the name to Scerri in documents, while other surnames such as Schembri and Sciriha also got the same treatment.
This linguistical debate has been re-kindled after PN MP Ryan Callus shared a complaint from a parent who wished to use Maltese letters in their newly-born child's name, only to find out that the Public Registry did not permit this.
Callus described this situation as "shameful", and Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship and Communities Alex Muscat soon reacted by announcing that reforms to allow the use of the Maltese alphabet in names will be permitted in the coming weeks.
He noted that a collective overhaul across government IT systems is being done to ensure that Maltese orthography is accepted across the board.
The public will also have the opportunity to make requests to correct one's name in order to reflect the Maltese diacritic letters in the Maltese alphabet.
The Parliamentary Secretariat's spokesperson confirmed that those who do wish to make such amendments to their names can go directly through the Director of the Public Registry and not, as is usual custom for name changes, through a request in Court.