We're halfway there! Bring on the next 50 as we march towards recreating 100 Coats of arms (and perhaps more) representing the most common Maltese Surnames.
Many moons ago (in 2014 to be exact) I was inspired by an article in the Times of Malta ‘Why most Maltese share the same 100 surnames’. In, Dr Mario Cassar stated:
Over three-quarters of all Maltese shared the same 100 hundred surnames.
It was at this point that idea behind Kunjom.com began to germinate and, as someone who dabbles in illustration and the graphic arts, I started thinking that recreating the coats of arms for these ‘top 100’ would be great fun.
Alas, it wasn't until this year that I started to make some progress, publishing the site along with the first 15 Coats of Arms in early January 2022. It was always my goal to reach the halfway mark by the end of the year and I'm very pleased to have done so with time to spare.
A big thanks to all of those who have been keeping an eye on and supporting the project since it started and let's see what the future holds. One hundred is looking very reachable now and I must admit that I'm quite curious and inspired by the heraldry of some surnames that are not in the 'top 100'. Indeed I have shared some of these (such as this one) on the dedicated Instagram account.
I will be focusing on promoting the project a bit and (finally) making prints available in the coming few weeks so there may be a bit of a break before I share any new illustrations, but I'm quietly confident that there will be some new additions before the end of the year.
Many thanks again for all the support,
Jonn