Indonesian-sounding names adopted by Chinese Indonesians
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A large number of ethnic Chinese people have lived in Indonesia for many centuries. Over time, many of these have adopted names that better match the local language.
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[edit] Colonial era to 1965
During the Dutch colonial era until Japan invasion in 1942, the Dutch administration recorded Chinese names in birth certificates and other legal documents using an adopted spelling convention that was based primarily on Hokkien (Min), the language of the vast majority of Chinese immigrants to what was then known as the Dutch East Indies and Southeast Asia. They used the closest Dutch pronunciation of Hokkien words to record the names.
Hence, Lin (林, Mandarin) is Liem in Indonesia. Chen (陈) is Tan, Huang (黄) is Oey, Wu (吴) is Go, Guo (郭) is Kwee, Yang (杨) is Njoo, Liang (梁) is Nio. And so on. Further, as Hokkien romanization standard did not exist then, some romanized names varied slightly. For example, 郭 (Guo) could sometimes be Kwik (esp. in Central Java), not Kwee. Huang could be Oey (in West Java) or Oei (in Central and East Java).
The spelling convention survived well into Indonesian independence (1945) and sovereignty acknowledgment by the Dutch government (1949). It is even still used today by the Chinese-Indonesian diaspora in Europe and America, by those Chinese-Indonesians courageous or famous enough during Suharto's regime to keep their Chinese names (e.g., Kwik Kian Gie, Liem Swie King), or by those too poor to bribe Indonesia's civil court bureaucracy.
The Indonesian government changed the Latin spelling twice, first in 1947 (Ejaan Suwandi), and again in 1972 (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan, literally "Spelling Made Perfect"). In the Suwandi spelling, "oe" became "u", so Loe sometimes became Lu. Since 1972, Dutch-style "j" became "y", so sometimes Njoo became Nyoo.
Many Chinese-Indonesian professionals used to list their Chinese names next to their latinized names. This was common practice until 127/U/Kep/12/1966 law was enforced.
[edit] 1965 to 2000
After Soeharto came to power, his regime created many anti-Chinese legislations in Indonesia. One of them was 127/U/Kep/12/1966 which mandated that ethnic Chinese living in Indonesia adopt Indonesian-sounding names instead of the standard three-word or two-word Chinese names. The Chinese Indonesian community was politically powerless to oppose this law. The Suharto regime wrongly but intentionally cast the ethnic Chinese as supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which he brutally defeated in a power struggle to succeed Sukarno's government in 1965-1970. By doing so, the Suharto regime - a coalition of the Golkar bureaucrats and the armed forces - extracted unofficial taxes from wealthy Chinese businesspeople in exchange for protection from occasional but deadly pogroms, such as the Jakarta Riots of May 1998.
Chinese Indonesians have been quite creative in adopting Indonesian-sounding names. Some adopt western names for the first names, such as Johnny or Robert, and Javanese names for the family names. The adopted Javanese names were often based on their phonetics, but it was not always the case. Although two Chinese individuals shared the same Chinese surname, they may adopt different Indonesian-sounding names. For example, one with the surname 林 (Lin) may adopt "Limanto", and the other may adopt "Halim" as Indonesian-sounding names. "Limanto" and "Halim" both contain "lim" that corresponds to the 林 surname (Mandarin: Lin, Hokkien: Liem or Lim). Some translated their names, e.g., the famous 1966 political activist come businessman Liem Bian Koen translated Lin to old Javanese "wana", meaning forest, and added the male-suffix "ndi", resulting in the new clan name Wanandi. Unintentionally, a "huana" (sounds similar to wana) in Hokkienese means a native person, which subliminally indicates the desire of the Wanandi clan to be accepted as native sons of Indonesia.
The Indonesianized names - basically Hokkien syllables with western or Indonesian prefix or suffix - resulted in so many exotic sounding names, that people can tell accurately whether a person is an Indonesian Chinese based only on his/her name.
[edit] 2000 to today
After Soeharto resigned as president, the ethnic Chinese in Indonesia are again allowed to use their original names. Most no longer care and keep the Indonesian names. Some revert to Chinese names. Some decide whether to use the Hokkien names that their grandparents used, or to use the more standard pinyin romanization.
[edit] Examples of Chinese names and their Indonesian versions
| Mandarin | Hokkien | Example of Adopted Indonesian-sounding Names |
|---|---|---|
| 王 (Wang = King) | Ong | Ongko, Wangsadinata, Wangsa, Radja (= King), Wongsojoyo |
| 李 (Li) | Li, Lie | Lijanto (= Sons of Li), Liman, Liedarto, Rusli |
| 张 (Zhang) | Thio | Canggih, Setyo, Sulistio and variants |
| 曾 (Zeng) | Tjan | Tjandra, Chandra (moon god in Javanese/Hindu mythology), Chandrawinata |
| 黄 (Huang = Yellow) | Oei, Oey | Wibowo (= Dignity), Wijaya (= Victorious), Winata |
| 刘 (Liu) | Lau, Lauw, Liu (Hakka) | Mulawarman (= King of Kutai, an ancient Kingdom in Kalimantan), Lawang |
| 林 (Lin = Forest) | Liem, Lim | Halim, Salim, Limanto, Limantoro, Limijanto, Wanandi (wana = Javanese for forest), Liemena (Ambonese Chinese), Alim |
| 吴 (Wu) | Go, Ng (Hakka) | Gondo (= Twin), Sugondo, Gozali, Wurianto, Gunawan, Gotama, Utama |
| 杨 (Yang) | Nyoo, Jo, Yong (Hakka) | Yongki, Yoso, Yohan |
| 陈 (Chen) | Tan, Tjhin (Hakka) | Tanto, Tanu, Tanutama, Soetanto, Cendana, Tanudisastro, Tandiono, Tanujaya, Santoso, Tanzil, Tanasal (Ambonese Chinese), Tanadi, Tanusudibyo |
| 陆 (Lu) | Liok, Liuk (Hakka) | Loekito, Loekman |
| 吕 (Lv) | Loe, Lu | Loekito, Luna, Lukas |
| 郑 (Zheng) | Te, The | Suteja, Teja, Teddy, Tedjokumoro, Tejarukmana |
| 许 (Xu) | Kho, Khouw | Kosasih, Komar |
| 苏 (Su) | Souw, So | Soekotjo, Soehadi, Sosro, Solihin |
| 温 (Wen) | Oen, Boen, Woen | Benjamin, Bunjamin, Budiman, Gunawan, Basiroen, Bunda, Wendi, Unang |
[edit] See also
- Chinese Indonesian
- Anti-Chinese Legislation in Indonesia
- More examples on Indonesian-sounding names [1] (In Indonesia)
