Attard

This very interesting surname is one of the many forms of the original 'Atti', a locational name which it is believed originated from a place so-called in Bologna, Italy. In its varied forms the name would mean 'the person from Atti'. These spellings include Attardo and Attardi as per the recordings below, and Atti, Attichy, Atticonti, all from Bologna, and Attal in Switzerland. The Maltese form is Attard, and the earliest of church records in any spelling come from this island. The meaning of the name is not proven, but the suggestion is that it derives from the Roman (Latin) 'Atticus', itself a derivation from the Ancient Greek 'Athens'. If this is correct, and the fact that the name is found in every Mediterranean country in local spellings, would seem to confirm the findings, it suggests that the original inhabitants of 'Atti' were Greek. Examples of the surname include Guiseppe Attardo who married Rosa Macaluso at Aragona, Agricento, Italia, on November 17th 1748, and Nicolo Attardi, christened at Palermo on July 5th 1820. Another recording is that of Rosina Attard, the daughter of Paola Attard, baptised at Ghaudesh, Malta on July 1st 1867. The Coat of Arms is a blue field, charged with a laurel wreath of victory. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Joseph Paul Attard, which was dated November 25th 1745, married Maria Camilleri at Zejtun, Malta, during the reign of King George 11, known as 'The soldier king', 1727 - 1760. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.