Maltese Dog Name

There was this beautiful Maltese girl that I once knew who had a dog with a Maltese dog name. I couldn't spell that name for the life of me as it was in Maltese and I never learnt more than a couple of words in Maltese from her but the dog's name was very interesting. This girl was slightly dark skinned and had big brown searching eyes. She told me that the people who live on the Island of Malta are a mix of various different ethnic groups. It seems that Malta has been occupied by foreign powers for hundreds if not thousands of years. Until recently that is.