It was expected that the Apap surname would also mirror that. However, that has not been the case. The Apap Y-DNA haplogroup likely originated in Poland or somewhere else in Eastern Europe around the year 350AD, highly atypical of the majority of the Maltese population.

Perhaps this should not be too surprising given the Apaps status as a noble family, setting them apart from some of the other more "local" surnames in the region. Compared to many "Maltese" surnames, Apap is comparatively rare and localized to the West of Gozo (almost exclusively Gharb and Rabat for the first few hundred years). This suggests a founder affect of possibly one individual or a couple settling in Malta soon after the year 1400. This is a few hundred years before the Knights of St John.

The question still remains, did the ancestors of the Apap family come directly from Poland in the medieval period, or was the migration a slow and gradual one occurring over a millennia, and travelling through a number of countries along the way? Until more individuals test Y-DNA, we cannot draw any resolute conclusions. This underscores the significance of further DNA testing which is not only critical to understanding the history of the Apap family but of the Maltese islands more generally.