In Thailand Nicknames are Preferred Over Legal Ones
Would it be okay with you if someone called you a “pig” or a “buffalo? I didn’t think so. However in Thailand these are common names and there are many others that appear strange to our taste. Thais have first and last names like we do, but they are often four or five syllables long and, at least for us, impossible to pronounce, what to speak of remember.
It was not always like that. In earlier times names in Thailand used to be shorter and easier. Recently it has become fashionable to take on those monstrosities of names. The Thais actually had to come up with a law that limits the number of syllables that a name can have. Otherwise those enthusiastic name creators would have made any official business a syllable nightmare. Changing your name in Thailand is quite easy. Don’t like it, no problem, pick another one. It is a fairly simple process.
When someone gives me one of those complicated names, I just ask them for a shorter name. Nicknames to the rescue! Fortunately most Thais have one. They are refreshingly short, generally only one syllable and sometimes just a single letter. For simplicity’s sake Thais frequently use any one of the syllables of their real name as their nickname. Some nicknames appear quite strange to us. There is Ms Pig, Mr. Buffalo, Mr. Dog, or Ms Bomb. How do they get names like that? Here are some name stories of Thais whom I know personally.
Some nicknames are highly descriptive. One girl I know 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. In Thailand “pig” is seen as a cute nickname. Of course if ever the girl decides one day that she doesn’t like her nickname anymore, she will be able to simply change it. Then I have a friend whose name is “dog”. As a small kid he was constantly peppering everyone with questions and interrupting conversations. Thai dogs are usually a very unruly bunch, so therefore the unruly boy became “dog”.
Some Thais believe that nicknames can have special powers. In one case a young boy was chronically weak and sickly. And so the villagers figured if they would call him “buffalo”, then the spirit of such a powerful animal would help him.There is even a saying ’strong as a buffalo’. In his case it worked, the constant ailments vanished and he lived up to his name. But you really have to know the story behind the name since ‘buffalo’ in Thailand can also be an insult. Buffaloes are regarded as stupid and low brained. If Thais want to say something really nasty about someone, they use the expression ‘he is stupid like a buffalo’.
Some nicknames are descriptive in a colorful way. 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 this became her name. 40 years down the line her skin looks perfectly normal, but she is still Miss Green.
Let’s enter the dreamtime. In one case my Thai friend’s dream foretold an event. She went to a temple with her sister in law and a monk wanted to give a large beautiful precious stone to her sister in law. But she did not 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. Her sister in law did not want to become pregnant, so the passing of the stone was very symbolic for my friend.
Thais know no limits when it comes to creative nicknames. The same woman has a son who was born during the Iran-Iraq war. The Thai media covered the war in depth with all its horrors and bombing. In the absence of a better idea she ended up calling her son “bomb”.
There are nicknames which are totally meaningless. At the other end of the creativity spectrum are super simple names which consist of just single letters like O, E, B, or D. More recently it has become fashionable to use western names like ‘cat’ or ‘joy’ as nicknames, provided they consist of only one syllable.
Some Thais do not use nicknames, but they are in the minority. When you meet Thais, they will usually introduce themselves with their nicknames. However strange some of those nicknames appear to us, they are a blessing in disguise since we would never be able to understand, repeat or remember most of those convoluted legal names that the Thais like so much.