House names in ten Maltese localities

A total of 19,683 house names from a convenience sample of ten localities across the island of Malta were collected and analysed by UM students of sociology in 2022, teasing out how they communicate social identities. Trends in multilingualism and secularisation were particularly explored, from two sets of house names that represent different historical epochs, one dating from 1977 and one from 2022. Results suggest that: English remains by far the preferred language for naming houses, followed by Maltese; House names that involve two or more languages have increased; House names that relate to the religious or sacred have declined (from around 16% to 10%); andIn spite of evident secularisation in house-naming practices, the most common house name is ‘St Joseph’ and its linguistic variations (e.g. San Guzepp; San Giuseppe ...)The ten localities are: Ghaxaq, Gzira, Marsaskala, Mosta, Msida, Mtarfa, Qormi, Senglea (Isla), Zejtun and Zurrieq.The spreadsheets contain ALL the house names of these ten localities, as appeared in the Spring 2022 Malta Electoral Register for local council elections (https://electoral.gov.mt). They are organised by street and in alphabetical order. The data appears in two sets [er locality, depending on whether the particular street already existed in 1977 or not. This allows comparisons in the quantity and nature of house names between 1977 and 2022. Data is Public and Accessible to the General Public

2022年，马耳他大学（University of Malta，UM）社会学系学生收集并分析了来自马耳他全岛10个地区的便利抽样样本，共计19683个房屋名称，旨在探究房屋名称如何传递社会身份认同。研究特别围绕两组代表不同历史时期的房屋名称展开——一组采集于1977年，另一组采集于2022年，重点探讨了多语言使用与世俗化趋势。
研究结果显示：其一，英语仍是目前最受青睐的房屋命名语言，其次为马耳他语（Maltese）；其二，包含两种及以上语言的房屋名称占比有所提升；其三，与宗教或神圣事物相关的房屋名称占比从约16%降至10%；尽管房屋命名实践中已显现出明显的世俗化趋势，最常见的房屋名称仍是“圣约瑟夫（St Joseph）”及其语言变体（例如San Guzepp、San Giuseppe等）。
本次研究涉及的10个地区分别为：Ghaxaq、Gzira、Marsaskala、Mosta、Msida、Mtarfa、Qormi、Senglea (Isla)、Zejtun与Zurrieq。
本数据集的电子表格包含上述10个地区的全部房屋名称，数据源自2022年春季马耳他地方议会选举的选民登记册（https://electoral.gov.mt），数据按街道分类并以字母顺序排列。
数据分为两组，依据对应街道是否在1977年已存在进行划分，以此实现1977年与2022年房屋名称在数量与属性层面的对比分析。本数据集面向公众开放，普通大众均可获取。