What’s in a nickname?
Boom, Bomb and Bam Bam don't like Beer and Porn
Contrary to what some of you might think, this article is not about naughty, extracurricular activities, terrorism, the Flintstones or alcoholism. It’s just about names. Another title for this month’s article could be “What’s in a (nick)name? It’s about Thai culture, especially the use and choice of Thai nicknames. It’s particularly interesting for people who are unfamiliar with the Thai situation. If you are already living in the Kingdom, you will know about it and maybe find it less interesting. I’ve tried to make it as entertaining as possible though.
Like most people, Thais have a name and a surname. Nothing special about that, one might think. Indeed, that’s not really front-page news. What is unusual is the fact that they never use their official names. The reason for this is quite simple: all Thai names are very long, complicated, and (certainly for farangs) quite unpronounceable. The different transcription systems to transform the unique Thai script into Roman characters make it extra difficult. The transcription for the /i:/ sound for example (as in sheep) can be ‘ee’ as well as ‘ii’, depending on the source. Try pronouncing Kittisak Kittisopano, Kantathi Suphamongkon or Barnharn Sipa-archa correctly and without stuttering. Quite a task, isn’t it? By the way, it’s also virtually impossible for farangs (for the uninitiated, this is the Thai word for Westerners) to determine if those names belong to men or women.
Don’t think I’m using extremely difficult names because I’m not. I just copied a few names at random from the Bangkok Post. Thank Buddha that they’ve found a solution to this problem. Unlike people from other countries, all Thais have a nickname. Like first names, nicknames are chosen by the parents and the children will probably use them for the rest of their natural lives. Personally, I think a name is quite important. It identifies who you are. It’s a part of you. I definitely wouldn’t want to be called Basil, Boogaloo, Bespectacle or Gonorrhea (a quick Google search turned up these REAL first names!).
Now how do Thai parents choose these nicknames? Sometimes a nickname is just a short form of an official name. If your name is Jiraporn, you’ll probably be called Porn (this is a frequently used Thai nickname and has got nothing to do with being able to perform in X-rated films, on the contrary). Likewise, Sukanya can become Su or Ya. Or something completely different. More often than not, nicknames are unrelated to the official names. Scores of people go through life using popular nicknames such as Lek (meaning small), Noi (small) or Nok (bird). As these nicknames are chosen when you’re just a kid, a girl named Noi isn’t necessarily short.
This might seem an uninteresting phenomenon to most of you. I agree. Luckily for me, some people seem to have gone overboard when choosing a nickname, especially when using an English nickname. I don’t know exactly why (probably because it’s fashionable), but lots of Thais have English nicknames. And not just English names. Most of these nicknames are just English words. Sometimes quite ridiculous words really. Whereas Belle and Beau are acceptable (especially if they belong to pretty girls), other nicknames are laughable. I wonder what the hell possessed parents choosing nicknames such as Boom, Bomb, Bambam or Beer (as mentioned in the title).
Other strange nicknames include Music, Stamp, Gift, Machine, Bumbim, Ice, New, Arm, Title, Benz (as in Mercedes?), On, Off, Pop, Ay (as in the letter A), Bee (this could be the insect or the letter) and Bird, just to name a few. There are lots more, even more bizarre. Some of these might make sense in Thai, but others surely don’t.
As you can see, some Thais go through life using the name of an animal. Sometimes in English, but often in Thai. I’ve met people with names like Gai (chicken), Kob (frog), Phueng (bee), Pet (duck), Muu (pig) and Luukmuu (piglet). Although they don’t always resemble their nickname, the girl called Muu definitely had the face of a pig and the boy called Luukmuu looked like an overweight piglet (and had the brains of one). The other kids often made fun of him in the classroom. I wonder why the parents chose that name. They just added insult to injury.
As far as I’m concerned, I haven’t got a nickname yet. And if people ask I just tell them to call me Teacher.
Comments
I just read this and the comments. To Gloria- please take the stick out of your a##. How is your demonizing of the dreaded Anglo-Saxon culture any better than the author’s tongue in cheek approach to Thai culture? (This is a rhetorical question. Obviously, Gloria is a bit of a racist.) As she doesn’t appear to have any connection to Thailand or Thai culture herself, and the author (and I) do, it is difficult for me to read her venomously defending a culture she knows (presumably) little about.
Thai culture is, indeed, a thing that belongs to Thais, but Thai people are allowed to comment on foreigners, so I don’t see why the reverse shouldn’t be acceptable. The author wasn’t saying anything very derogatory. In fact, Thai nicknames usually aren’t chosen with any great care or skill- usually, they are chosen without any knowledge of what they mean at all. Actually, there are many things wrong ( and some right) with Thai culture which are more important to discuss than nicknaming processes, but Gloria would probably have a fit at someone suggesting that just because something is cultural does not make it healthy or logical or in fact good.
By the way, Gloria is also a stupid name, in my opinion. I am willing to bet a lot of money that she eventually gave her kid a really stupid name as well.
By jd, Somewhere in Thailand on 2011-01-20
I’m actually shocked and rather horrified at how demeaning and patronising this article is. I came across your blog as it was one of numerous results in response to a Google search I performed for potential baby names, and I am honestly in awe as to how ignorant and quintessentially bigoted and racist your views on Thai names and cultures are.
You obviously came from a typical culturally privileged Anglo-Saxon background in England, North America, Australia or New Zealand and feel that every culture on earth should be like yours. You clearly are not open-minded or friendly enough to have engaged any of the locals who had no say in whether to host you in their land - and undoubtedly they do this very well to their standard, but not good enough for the ‘Farang’ standards you created for yourself in your own mind before you left your ugly, dreary European misery-filled life - and your only way of adjusting to the disappointment you feel as a foreigner in an exotic land is by convincing yourself daily that “European” civilisation is superior to all other civilisations and that you really are doing “good things” by wasting what you consider to be your valuable time and talent educating what you yourself call pig-faced and piglet-brained students!
I suggest you get off your soap box and engage the Thai people in dialogue and learn WHY they give their children nicknames that YOU consider “quite ridiculous, really” in English. The answer is not what you expect (though from someone so narrow minded as you I dare not presume to suppose you suspect much) and in any event those names are not ridiculous to the people giving them, and the people who proudly introduce themselves by them. They sound quite normal to me, in fact, and if my parents called me Duck and it had significance to us, I wouldn’t care what an uninvited ‘Farang’ living in my country, judging our culture against his assumption of the superiority of his own such as you said or thought about it! When you have made the short fall from your soapbox, remember that they have changed nicknames FOR YOUR benefit, because the whole world knows that of all breeds of racists, Anglo-Saxons are the only ones too stupid to learn anyone else’s language. Dutchmen, Finns, Turks, Italians and most other Europeans in former-colonies and foreign lands all learn the local language and customs, but it is very common for Englishmen who have lived in India or Africa, for example to fail to even greet the locals in their language even after having lived there for forty years! It’s a shameless demonstration of everything that is wicked and awful about Anglo-Saxon and Western culture! Frankly, names like Phil, Bob, James and Adam sound just as ‘ridiculous’ as ‘Duck’, ‘Bambam’ and ‘Ice Pick’ to me, (and possibly to many Thai people as well.)
I thought you were a teacher?! How uneducated are you, and where is your perspective?!
By Gloria, The Netherlands on 2010-08-13