Malaysian name
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Since Malaysia comprises of many cultures and races, different race have different ways of expressing their names.
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[edit] Malay names
The Malay names begin with their personal names followed by Bin (English for the son of) or Binti (English for the daughter of), and then their father's name. For example, Rashidah Binti Musa. This translate Rashidah, the daughter of Musa. Therefore there is no notion of family name or surname, as practices in Western world.
Because the the surname used is their father's name, there is no practice of changing their surname after marriage. A wife will still use their biological father's name as their surname. For children, they will automatically have their father's name as their surname. This practice, can be a bit confusing especially when registering names and family in the Western world since the parents and the children have different surnames.
Therefore, a Malay will have <personal name> Bin/Binti <father's name>. There can be many varieties of how Bin/Binti is presented. Some may use abbreviation of Bin such as B. and for Binti such as Bt., Bte., Bint., but they all carry the same meaning. In formality, one is refered with their personal name. For example, if one's name is Aziz Bin Abu, then he should be called Mr. Aziz (not Mr. Abu as that would refer to his father).
The Malay names are usually from Arabic language, however some may have some Malay or Sanskrit origin.
[edit] Addendums to names
Many first Malay names are more like addendum to names; they rarely form complete names on their own.
The popular addendums in the Malay male names are:
- Muhammad / Mohammad / Mohammed (or the shortened versions of it - Mohd. / Muhd.)
- Mad (or Md. for short)
- Abdul
- Ahmad
The most common addendums in the Malay female names are:
Some addendum are inherited (from the paternal side of the family). These exclusively involve the aristocrats, or even the royals, and their descendants. However, some families have these addendum even though they may not be royals or aristocrats.
The examples of inherited addendum are:
- Raja
- Tengku
- Wan
- Nik
- Tuan
- Syed / Sharifah (for male and female, respectively)
- Megat / Puteri (for male and female, respectively)
- Abang / Dayang (popular in Sarawak, for male and female, respectively)
[edit] Chinese names
Chinese names usually have three words. Chinese names usually start with a surname or a family name followed by their personal name. For example, Foo Li Leen, Tan Ai Lin, etc.
[edit] Indian names
Male Indian names usually begin with their personal name followed by anak lelaki (English for son of), abbreviated as a/l and then their father's name. For females, their name will be followed by anak perempuan (English for daughter of), abbreviated as a/p and then their father's name. For example, Mutusamy a/l Ranjit and Mukherji a/p Sindhu.
[edit] Others
For Orang Asli, their names usually begin with their personal name followed by Anak (English for the child of) and their their father's name. For example, Aziz Anak Ramlan.
