Since our villages did not yet all have their coat-of-arms, just ahead of the visit of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) to Malta, 1876, the Scholar Nicola Zammit was asked to think them out and get them ready for the occasion. New ones have since been added and others modified, but the rest still remain the same. By that time Tas-Sliema was growing fast into residential area when formerly it was merely a budding summer resort, hardly noticed till the late eighteenth century when Fort Tigne` was built. Because the area had grown in a very short time it was given a coat of arms and a motto. The motto “Celer ad Oras Surgo” (hastily from the coast arisen) contrasting with the slow growth of many of our ancient villages and towns.

In old documents the area we know as Sliema was known as Qortin, as recorded in the pastoral visit of 1616 when the small church on the headland was called Our Lady of Qortin. It was built on the site of a niche destroyed during the Great Siege. Qortin is a topographical term, very common all over our Islands, indicating localities overlooking the sea or plains. The tip at the harbour entrance became known also as Dragut Point, because here the famous Muslim Commander Dragut (Turgut Reis) was wounded on the 18th and died on the 23rd June 1565; the 1827 painting by Giuseppe Cali called “Death of Dragut” should more precisely be “The wounding of Dragut” since he is there figured getting wounded.

The small chapel at Dragut Point fell into ruins and was rebuilt in 1741 (later again destroyed by the French) and referred to in documents by several names. In the pastoral visit of 1758 and 1781 the place was called “Beata Virginis ta’ Qortin Sive ta’ Sliema”. In other documents as Nativity of Our Lady, of Safe Voyage and Portum Salutis. Apart from Church documents, the public works department referred to the place as the coast road of “Beata Vergine Sotto il titolo della Sliema” when repairing a quay in 1797. In 1801 a document states “Santa Maria Ta’ Sliema Sive Buon Viaggio”, and Ta’ Sliema et tal-Qortin”, and from 1802, through 1806, 1808, 1813, 1827 to 1837, mainly only as Sliema or Sliema Village. Around 1811 we find the terms B.V.M. de Salute Sive ta’ Sliema, and B.V.M. DE Porte Salutis. The little church in front of the present parish church of Stella Maris used to be known and dedicated to the Holy Name of Mary, and for several years celebrated a feast under this title and that of Tal-Grazzja, described as being in the limits of Birkirkara, in the region of Sliema. It is therefore since the middle of the 19th Century that our area started to establish itself securely as Sliema or Tas-Sliema. In 1897 the Parish Priest requested the governor to elevate Sliema to town status, as other villages had made similar requests to Grand Masters, but officialdom regarded it as a mere suburb of Valletta. In 1903 a delegation requested the governor to rename Sliema “Edward Town” in honor of King Edward VII who was paying a visit to Malta, but the majority wanted to retain “Sliema.”

Sliema is at the entrance of a harbour, and therefore, whatever the titulars of the early niche and chapels of the past, they were understood to greet seafarers and travellers into a safe haven, hence the term, Sliema and Sliema have been taken to mean Safe Arrival, or safe haeven, in other words Porto Salvo, a title which had become popular during the 16th and 17th Centuries in several churches in Malta, especially around the harbours.

Chapels of the Visitation were often taken to mean also Porto Salco or safe arrival, symbolizing the safe birth of St John the Baptist and applied to seafarers.

When Stella Maris church was built in the 1850s, (and separated from Birkirkara in 1878 as a parish) Sliema residents decided on the titular of Our Lady Star of the Sea, or Stella Maris, preserving the original concept of Our Lady as the Star Leading mariners safely into harbour. This star found its way in coat of arms as a permanent reminder.

The Dominicans introduced the title of Porto Salvo from Sicily where it is very popular in maritime churches, and it is interesting to see how their Valletta Porto Salvo Church extended its titular also to Sliema. Their old 1543 titular was bought in 1891 by Ferdinand Inglott who donated it to Stella Maris to replace the previous one, which became too small for the enlarged church. The past and the present titular paintings, together with Giuseppe Cali’s 1887 painting above the choir, all show Our Lady Stella Maris or Porto Salvo or Safe Heaven, now definitely synonymous with Tas-Sliema”.

This is, in brief, the story of how the name of our hometown finally settled down into permanency … Unless we bring up another theory to explain how the name could have come from Salama, a common Arabic personal name, also found as Ta’ Sliema in 16th century documents regarding fields at Hal Kirkop!