Would you mind being called a “pig” or a“buffalo”? I didn’t think so. But in Thailand a lot of people are called by these names and others which seem equally strange to us. Thai people have first names and surnames just like we do, but generally they contain so many syllables that it is a real challenge for any westerner to repeat or remember such a name.
This was not always the case. A few centuries ago Thais had much shorter and less convoluted names. It is a fairly recent phenomenon that those never-ending names are in vogue. This went so far that the Thais felt compelled to pass a law that limits the number of syllables names can contain. This prevented the multi syllable name game from making legal transactions unmanageable. Thai law makes if fairly simple to change your name. Your name does not fit you – just select one you like better. It is a relatively simple procedure.
In Thailand you might plead “please, anything but your real name!” Luckily most Thais have nicknames which are the opposite of these never-ending legal names. They are mostly just one syllable long and sometimes only one letter. In some cases the Thais pick any one syllable of their legal name and use that as their nickname – it may be the first, last, or middle syllable, it does not matter. You will find that some of those nicknames strike you as very unusual. There could be Ms Pig, Mr. Buffalo, Mr. Dog, or Ms Bomb. How do they get names like that? Here are the actual stories of friends of mine here in Thailand.
Some nicknames are highly descriptive. A female friend of mine is called “pig”. In western countries that would be very demeaning, but she was given that name since her baby fat reminded her adoring parents of a piglet. Yes, Thais regard this a very cute name. If one day the girl does not find her nickname appealing anymore, she will be able to change it at any time. Another acquaintance of mine is called “dog”. As a little kid he was constantly peppering everyone with questions and interrupting conversations. That reminded his family and friends of the yapping of a dog, so ‘dog’ became his nickname.
Some nicknames might have special meanings, and even magical powers. In one case a young boy was chronically weak and sickly. So the people in his village decided to call him buffalo, which is a powerful animal.There is even a saying ’strong as a buffalo’. Amazingly his chronic diseases went away and he became a strong, healthy person, true to his name. But you really should know the story behind the name since ‘buffalo’ in Thailand can also be an insult. They are considered quite stupid animals. If Thais want to say something really nasty about someone, they use the expression ‘he is stupid like a buffalo’.
Nicknames can be literally colorful. I have a friend whose name is “Green”. She ended up with this name since as a baby she supposedly had a greenish complexion, and that became her name. 40 years down the line her skin looks perfectly normal, but she is still Miss Green.
In many cultures dreams are taken seriously. A good Thai friend of mine once had a dream. While visiting a temple, a monk offered her sister in law who was with her a big precious stone. But she didn’t want it and told the monk to give it to her friend instead who accepted it gratefully. Then she awoke from the dream and discovered that she was pregnant. She was convinced that the dream had told her that she would have a baby and so she called it Ploy, meaning’precious stone’ in Thai. The gift of the stone symbolized that she was about to receive something beautiful, and the pregnancy confirmed that.
Thais know no limits when it comes to creative nicknames. The same friend of mine also gave birth to a boy right around the time of the Iran-Iraq war. The Thai media was full of reports of bombing. She had been trying to find a good nickname, and so she named the baby “bomb”, a name which he still has twenty years later.
But not all nicknames have meanings. Some are just single letters like O (pronounced Oh) , E (sounds more like the English pronunciation of ‘A’), B (pronounced ‘bee’) or D (pronounced ‘dee’). The latest trend is to use short western names like ‘Joy’ or ‘Cat’.
Not all Thais use nicknames. They use their legal names which in those cases tend to be reasonably pronounceable. When you meet Thais, they will usually introduce themselves with their nicknames. You might find some of those nicknames strange, but they save us from having to repeat or remember those monstrosities of legal names which are so fashionable in Thailand.