We are now only 15 surnames away from the mythical hundred mark!
Another ten surnames, with all new renditions of their heraldry and some information about their etymology, join the frey, here they are:
Is your's amongst them?
This set has definitely been a challenge to create, with many containing new charges I had to create from scratch. My favourites amongst them have been the lamb for Debattista, the heraldic dolphin (fish) 'haurient' for Pisani, and the Moor's head for Abdilla — all are very traditional heraldic motifs across Europe.
As usual, the research into the linguistic meaning of each surname uncovered some informative gems, such as the surname Hili potentially serving from the Arabic phrase ‘al hili, referring to someone who is “able, skilful, courageous”, which is also the root for the Maltese word "ħila".
We're in August and 20 new surnames have been added to the website, this is a far cry from the 4 - 5 monthly additions I averaged last year but, as mentioned in my previous post, 2023 has proven to be rather hectic. I'm still hoping to complete the century, this project's main milestone, before the end of the year.