Is This Okay Or Considered Bad Manners

[tomahawk]

If someone asks you your name here, is it appropriate to say "Khun" before your name, or is this considered to be conceited or presumptuous. If it is so, is there another prefix more appropriate , or should you just use first name and that is all? Thank you.

[babuhavas]

If someone asks you your name here, is it appropriate to say "Khun" before your name, or is this considered to be conceited or presumptuous. If it is so, is there another prefix more appropriate , or should you just use first name and that is all? Thank you.

using "khun" while introdusing yourself,or mentioning your name is not grammaticaly correct,just use your first name,this should be good enough.

BTW what's your name?

[OxfordWill]

Yea it doesnt make sense and never heard a Thai do it.

[Tywais]

Yea it doesnt make sense and never heard a Thai do it.

Also agree with that. Just doesn't feel natural when I think about it. For example, when answering the phone and the caller asks to speak with khun x, I just say x speaking. <btw - x is not my real name>

[clinique]

using khun is not required to introduce yourself, if you use it with thais they will understand that you dont understand,,

[tomahawk]

Thanks everyone for clearing this up. I thought saying Khun whatever was the same as saying your name is Mister whatever in the states. Apparently it is not the same thing. Reason behind this is my first name is difficult for Thais to pronounce.

[britmaveric]

Only seen it used in written form ie Khun Somchai ect..

[mca]

If someone asks you your name here, is it appropriate to say "Khun" before your name, or is this considered to be conceited or presumptuous. If it is so, is there another prefix more appropriate , or should you just use first name and that is all? Thank you.

using "khun" while introdusing yourself,or mentioning your name is not grammaticaly correct,just use your first name,this should be good enough.

BTW what's your name?

Ilingus.

[Mosha]

Thanks everyone for clearing this up. I thought saying Khun whatever was the same as saying your name is Mister whatever in the states. Apparently it is not the same thing. Reason behind this is my first name is difficult for Thais to pronounce.

If my experience is anything to go by, it'll get shortened Thai style to the last syllable. Most of our friends can't say Stephen, when the full name is used I get Satephen or Sateve. Most Thais however call me Ven or Leung Ven.

[seank]

On a lot of my postage mail I have the word 'Khun' infront of my name. As far as I know its a nicer form of 'Mister'

I dont think 'Khun' is meant to be conceited or presumptuous.

[freddy123]

If someone asked your name in English would you reply "I'm Mr Stephen" ? I certainly don't and if I heard it I would probably finish the conversation right there and then (unless they were a teacher and I was a student).

As far as my minimal experience goes with the Thai langauge, I have always found Khun can be pretty much a directly translated to the Mr in english.

Ie use it when refering to a person you don't really know, or a person in a higher position that you (ie Teacher, but pee and other words seemed to be used more for this.).

If your names hard to say, why not just make up a nickname? How about 'nok' seems as good as any.

Good luck Mr Nok

[anothertorres]

i met a girl named "Milk" last night. Milk.

[mrjohn]

I recently spent some time with my wife's family in Chonburi. She has an aunt/cousin whose name is Nong.

Nong is in her late forties."So what do people call her?" I asked. "Pii Nong" came the reply. So what do I call her, because she is younger than me?

Khun Nong came the reply.

[BecTero1]

I recently spent some time with my wife's family in Chonburi. She has an aunt/cousin whose name is Nong.

Nong is in her late forties."So what do people call her?" I asked. "Pii Nong" came the reply. So what do I call her, because she is younger than me?

Khun Nong came the reply.

Couldn't you call her Nongsao Nong? (same as Ms. Nong)

[Rikker]

To be clear, น้องสาว 'younger sister' and นางสาว 'Ms.' are entirely different terms. And neither works in the OP's situation (in fact, นางสาว 'Ms.' is never used as a form of verbal address).

I'd say just call her น้อง Nong, no prefix needed.

[Rionoir]

i met a girl named "Milk" last night. Milk.

Why not, there seems to be plenty of guys named Beer... LoL

[mangkorn]

I know a woman named เบียร์. When I asked her how she got that nickname, she just shrugged and said: แม่ชอบเบียร์

There are also people called Cake, Ice, etc...

[SoftWater]

I know a woman named เบียร์. When I asked her how she got that nickname, she just shrugged and said: แม่ชอบเบียร์

There are also people called Cake, Ice, etc...

I know this is courting danger in terms of the thread topic, but in my experience these nicknames are also often self-appointed and given by friends, not just parents. I have had students who've changed their nicknames several times over their course of study at university. I wonder if your friend 'beer' was, perhaps, maybe dissembling a touch about who really coined her name?

[sibeymai]

I work with a girl whose nickname is Bomb. Older Thais address her as N'Bomb, to which I tease her that it means Nuclear Bomb.

[alyx]

Hey

I am a bit surprised as I seem to have been the only one to be adressed as Khun Alyx when spoken to or refered to

Also in many expat homes I see the maid being talked to starting with "Khun..." and trust me they are not the one who invented it as their Thai is non existent so I guess they were told to speak to their helpers this way (it has always seemed strange to me but I took it as it was more polite, although it is difficult for me to use Khun this way)

[mangkorn]

I wonder if your friend 'beer' was, perhaps, maybe dissembling a touch about who really coined her name?

Doubtful. She doesn't even drink beer (and she's not a "bar beer" hooker). In fact, her own recreational substance of choice is ganja, so it wouldn't seem likely to have come from her or her friends. I don't care in the least; it is simply worth noting that, sometimes, things are as people say they are. Another friend of mine who named her daughter "cake," said she did because she liked cake, and also liked the word. Doesn't seem at all strange that the mother of เบียร์ could've felt the same way. In general, I find Thais to possess less guile in daily discourse than most people (although I don't go to "bar beer").