A man who is recreating the coats of arms for the 100 most common Maltese surnames is looking for a genealogist and app developer to help him make local heraldry more accessible. The project kunjom.com seeks to inform people - for free - about the traditional heraldry of Maltese surnames through contemporary illustration.

Jonn Galea’s fascination with Maltese surnames started at his grandparents’ house, where he saw depictions of coats of arms. However, he came up with the idea for kunjom.com when he read a Times of Malta interview with linguist Mario Cassar.

According to the 2014 article, 76 per cent of the population share the same 100 surnames. This detail intrigued Galea, so he purchased the domain name and started devising some early drafts, with the aim of illustrating coats of arms of the 100 most common surnames.

The project kunjom.com, by Jonn Galea, seeks to inform people about the traditional heraldry of Maltese surnames through contemporary illustration.

Each coat of arms comes with a blurb containing information about the surname, its origin and meaning. Galea sourced this information from Cassar’s Surnames of the Maltese Islands and An Illustrated Collection of the Coats of Arms of Maltese Families by Charles Gauci, which he found at a book dealer’s in Australia and a library in southern Germany.

He is now looking for a genealogist and app developer to help him make local heraldry more accessible.

It was not until earlier this year that Galea started working on the project and so far, he has published the coats of arms of the 50 most common surnames.

I want this body of work to feel approachable to other non-experts – the curious, those in search of inspiration

A designer by profession, Galea sources out known versions of coats of arms and renders them using a contemporary style he has developed.

“While I am allowing myself some artistic licence, I am generally staying true to the references I’ve found while employing traditional heraldic rules, albeit with a modern twist. In other words, if you are familiar with your family’s coat of arms my rendition of it should be very familiar to you,” he said.

Originally from Birżebbuġa and currently based in Berlin, Galea is carrying out his “passion project” just for fun in his spare time.

“I do plan to produce and sell prints to interested people, but these will potentially only cover the production and maintenance costs, with any additional proceedings going to a good cause,” he adds.

The five most common Maltese surnames are Borg, Vella, Farrugia, Camilleri and Zammit and their popularity tends to match the search data on the site. However, there are some anomalies. For instance, Buttigieg gets a lot of attention, perhaps due to the popularity of Pete Buttigieg, currently serving as the US secretary of transportation.

Help needed to make surname heraldry accessible

Apart from recreating the coats of arms and giving them a contemporary aesthetic, Galea has come to realise that kunjom.com could end up as a platform for knowledge sharing.

“Finding references and information for Maltese surnames and their heraldry was rather tricky, especially since I live abroad. My ultimate hope is for kunjom.com to reduce that friction for others moving forward.

“Accessibility is key. Heraldry, genealogy, and etymology are very specialised subjects and I’m no expert in any of them. I want this body of work to feel approachable to other non-experts – the curious, those in search of inspiration, and so on – hopefully without alienating those who have a passion for these fields.”

As he gears up to publishing the 100 most common surnames, Galea admits that both his skills and time are limited, and he would be happy to get others involved in the project.

“My personal focus is certainly the illustration of the heraldry itself, with the genealogy and historical aspect being a weak point, and I would welcome help in that regard. Also, for the sake of accessibility, I’d love to have a version of the site in Maltese.

Galea may be contacted by e-mail on me@jonngalea.com.

Top 5

Borg – was recorded as the most common surname on the islands from as early as 1687 and most likely derives from the Arabic burdj, meaning ‘heap of stones’.

Camilleri – from the Greek kamelarios, Sicilian camellierre, or Spanish camellero, referring to a ‘camel driver’ or ‘camel rider’.

Farrugia – from the Arabic al-farrûdj, meaning ‘one who keeps chickens’.

Vella – the most probable source derives from the Italian bello, meaning ‘handsome, pretty, pleasant’. 

Zammit – most likely derives from the Siculo-Arabic zimjât, or zammit, which refers to ‘a stern and dignified man’, or ‘a man of high stature’.