But with the 2011 Census revealing more than a quarter of the city’s residents hail from an Italian background – compared with just 3 per cent for Indian – locals must be wondering why Singh is reigning king.

Local maths teacher Harnek Singh Dhanoa and his science teacher wife Balinder Kaur Dhanoa have the answer.

“Singh in India is not a last name,” Mrs Dhanoa said.

“It’s actually the middle name which all Sikh males have, the females are given the name Kaur, but when many Indians come to Australia they just seem to drop their last name.”

Mr Dhanoa believes many Indians abandon their true surname in an attempt to blend into the community better.

“I don’t know why they do it, I think it helps them fit in,” he said.

“My last name is Dhanoa but when I walk down the street my students call me Mr Singh.”

There’s no denying the Indian population has grown over the last few years, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics recording nearly 450 Indian nationals arriving in Griffith in the past five years.

“It certainly has grown,” Mr Dhanoa said.

“We came here in 1993 and there were only about 25 to 30 families – we used to know everyone, now we hardly know anyone.”

While many of the families only stay in the city for a few years, Mr Dhanoa said there were still about 100 Indian families who had made Griffith their permanent home.

Griffith’s Italian heritage was still evident in the top five names with Catanzariti and Sergi tied for second place, while Smith took out third, Salvestro was in fourth and Brown was at number five.

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