Bongailas has been voted as the silliest-sounding surname in Malta.
The surname topped a poll of ridiculous last names conducted by the National Statistics Office last week.
“Basically we got bored of manipulating statistics to make the government look good, so we decided to do something fun instead,” said NSO director general Etienne Caruana.
Bongailas beat out other silly surnames such as Sciriha, Critien, Engerer and Von Brockdorff to claim top spot.
Maltese surnameologist Paul Abela Wadge, whose own surname came in sixth place on account of the second half sounding like a slang term for a small penis, said he was not surprised by people’s top choice.
“Yes, Critien sounds like ‘cretin’, Engerer sounds like a toddler trying to say ‘engineer’, Von Brockdorff sounds like an old Prussian count and also ‘broccoli’ and ‘dork’, and Sciriha pairs very well with Sammut, but Bongailas is fucking hilarious,” Abela Wadge said.
“Whereas many surname originate from an ancestor’s profession or physical characteristics, Bongailas seems to be a completely made-up word. According to my research, the surname first appeared in Genoa in 1452, when a man called Pietro De Rossi lost a bet and had to adopt Bongailas as his surname. I mean, I can never keep a straight face when I say it – BONGailas! BONG! Like a bell. BONG!” he added.
Abela Wadge added that, while Bongailas was a worthy winner, he believed certain other surnames that weren’t in the top 10 deserved to be in there.
“I find it odd that Testaferrata Moroni Viani and Vella de Fromage, sorry, Fremaux, didn’t make it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Stennienibarra was voted as the best and coolest surname in the world in a poll of Bis-Serjetà managing editors.
