Naming the Knights of Malta The official name of the Order of Malta is the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta. Abbreviations of the name - Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Sovereign Order of Malta, or Order of Malta - are often used for legal, diplomatic or communication purposes.
The knights were initially called the Knights Hospitaller (or Hospitallers) to describe their mission. But they were also called the Knights of St John because of the Order’s patron saint, St. John Baptist, and also of Jerusalem because of their presence in the Holy Land. Also used in the past was the term The Religion to emphasise the characteristic of religious confraternity.
