Amelia Defonseca Torregiani Gomez was the busty, pompous ghost with noble roots in the popular TV series Deċeduti.

Her pretentiously long surname, which she insisted on repeating in its entirety, was a running joke among fellow ghosts.

But much as double-barrel surnames – or longer – have often been used to emphasise comical characters in theatrical and television productions, they have also become an ever present reality.

In six years double-barrelled surnames increased by 45 per cent, figures out yesterday showed.

45%

the percentage increase in double-barrelled surnames in six years

Almost 14,000 people had a double-barrelled surname according to the 2011 census, an increase of almost 5,000 over the 2005 census. Of these, almost 3,000 were non-Maltese residents.

Mdina, Swieqi, Balzan and Sliema had the highest proportion of residents with double-barrelled surnames, with Gozo standing at the opposite end of the spectrum. Those with a double-barrelled surname tended to be relatively younger, with an average age of 32, compared to 40 for other surnames.

The National Statistics Office yesterday released a breakdown of surnames recorded in the census. There were 19,104 surnames listed while a tenth of the population had Borg, Camilleri and Vella as their surname.

The list of most common surnames was no different from the 2005 census with the top 10 having an identical rank order. There are almost 14,000 people with the surname Borg, which remains the most common. Almost a tenth of the Borgs live in Birkirkara.

Camilleri comes in at second place with just over 13,000 people having the surname. The highest number of Camilleris live in Mosta.

With more than 12,000 people, Vella is the third most com-mon surname with Mellieħa having the highest number. The NSO figures showed a concentration of particular surnames in particular areas. Grech, Farrugia and Spiteri are most likely to be found in Żabbar, Żurrieq and Żejtun respectively.

Interestingly, Mintoff ranks 144th at a national level but has the most common cluster in Għasri. Carabott is the third most common surname in Marsaxlokk but it places 94th nationwide.

The NSO said such trends indicated that despite an increasingly mobile population, many surnames still had strong ties to specific localities.

The three most prevalent foreign surnames were Smith, Jones and Brown with less than 80 people carrying each surname.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com