According to information that I have, the surname Axisa comes from the
nickname of a very big family, residing in the south of Malta. The
nickname was TA' HAXIXA. During the bi-lingual dispute which prevailed
in Malta around the end of last century, between the official usage of
either English or Italian, especially in our law courts, the family nick
name Ta' Haxixa, with the letter H having a big phonetical presence, was
something of a nightmare to pronounce for both the English and
Italian-speaking circles. Therefore the name Haxixa had the H dropped.
The remaining letters posed another difficulty for pronounciation. It
was later decided to change the last X into an S in order to facilitate
its reading especially with so much English influence on the Island at
that time. The "new" family name or surname became Axisa which was far
more easier to pronounce especially if an english-speaking person would
use the word Axis and add an A at the end.
The above is what was told to me by an old family friend and I do not
recall reading it in any official excerpt. To tell you the truth it' s
always been pretty difficult to find any information on our surname.
I hope you find the above interesting and should you be able to confirm
it by some other means, it would be nice to have it included in your
collection.
Marica Axisa - (Composer of various songs which entered popular Maltese
song festivals)
Nadine Axisa - (a popular Maltese singer - the younger sister of Marica)
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