Bugeja is a

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

originating in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

island of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. Several locations have the

placename Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

According to Cassar the first recorded use was in 1417, a Militia List includes Pinu Bugeja. Old variations are Bugeia, Bugia, Bugeya, Bugeija and Bogeia. The surname can be found in Greece as well, due to immigration, in other variations such as Boutzegia(s) (in Greek Μπουτζέγιας). One theory states that Bugeja comes from the name of the seaport known as Bougie in the department of Constantine (Algeria). Another states that the surname may be a Maltese form of Sicilian Bug(G)Ea from Greek ''Boukaios'' ‘Cowherd Herdsman’ or from Buggia, Salentine And Sicilian Dialects. This explanation may have more merit in as much as the Bugeja coat of arms features a cow under a six-pointed star.Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press.

Notable persons with that surname

Arlo Bugeja Arlo (Budgie) Bugeja (born 18 March 1986 in Humbug Scrub, Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian speedway rider. Starting with Gillman Speedway he moved to the UK to mechanic for Glasgow Tigers' Lee Smethills, before getting his Premier ...

- Australian speedway rider, known as "Budgie" *

Chad Bugeja Chad Bugeja (born 28 April 1981 in Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia) is a former Australian professional Football (soccer), footballer. Biography He played as a Striker (association football), striker for Adelaide United FC, Adelaide Un ...

- Indian soccer player *

Cordelia Bugeja Cordelia Bugeja (born 5 March 1976 in Chichester, West Sussex) is a British actress, best known for her roles as Julie in ''Not Going Out'', Nikki in ''EastEnders'', Melanie Hart in ''Family Affairs'', and sex worker Kate in '' Respectable''. ...

- British

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

, best known for her roles as Melanie Hart in the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Family Affairs ''Family Affairs'' is a British soap opera that aired on Channel 5. It debuted on 30 March 1997, the day of the launch of said channel and was the first programme broadcast on the channel. It was screened as five thirty-minute episodes per w ...

'' * Danny Bugeja - guitarist, member of

Gibraltarian The Gibraltarians (Spanish: ''gibraltareños'', colloquially: '' llanitos'') are an ethnic group native to Gibraltar, a British overseas territory located near the southernmost tip of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance to the Mediterran ...

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

band

Taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...

* David Bugeja - guitarist, member of Maltese

Death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Beheaded Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...

.- * Haley Bugeja - forward soccer player for Orlando Pride of the National Women's Soccer League. * Michael Bugeja - distinguished professor of liberal arts and sciences, Iowa State University. * Pascal Bugeja - French computer scientist * Matthew Bugeja - Works in the Bowen Basin coal fields, Australia. Can swear in 3 different languages.

References

{{surname, Bugeja