Message: "What is the country of origin of my grand grandmothers surname before marriage?"

What is the country of origin of my grand grandmothers surname before marriage?

by Sean Vella (guest)

11/4/2013, 5:15 PM

Hello, I am from the island of Malta. I noticed my grandmothers surname before marriage was Formosa. I have heard that it is Spanish or Portuguese, but I am not sure. Can anyone tell me the country of origin of this surname and is it a Portuguese or Spanish surname.

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- Marc (guest) +3

11/5/2013, 7:59 AM

According to Cassar's The Surnames of the Maltese Islands, Formosa is an Italian name which means 'beautiful, shapely, buxom'.

- Sean Vella (guest) +2

11/5/2013, 6:20 PM

So you are saying it is an Italian surname? Can you show me some proof or info on it? On other sites it states the surname is Portuguese, Galician, and Catalan. Can you tell me if there is an truths to this?

- Helena (mellon.collie)

11/10/2013, 8:32 AM

It's a Portuguese word no longer commonly used meaning 'beautiful', and it also used to be the name of Taiwan ('Ilha Formosa', meaning 'beautiful island').

I'm Portuguese and I've never heard of anyone with Formosa/Formoso as a surname.

- Marc (guest)

11/5/2013, 6:32 PM

Mario Cassar's dictionary is the authority on Maltese family names and if it says Formosa is Italian, that's good enough for me. You can go to tinyurl.com/lv4c2dh to see the distribution of the surname in Italy.

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