Thai Equivalent ?

[CharlieH]

Just curious, in the West there are a few family names that are very common. like Smith or Jones for example.

I havnt come across any names in Thailand that appear repetitious, so is there a Thia equivalent to "Jones" a family name very common, if so what is it ?

[stoneyboy]

There are no common Thai surnames. Surnames were largely introduced to Thai culture only by the 1913 Surname Act,and under Thai law, only one family can use any given surname: any two people of the same surname must be related, and it is very rare for two people to share the same full name. In one sample of 45,665 names, 81% of family names were unique.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

To further clarify, family surnames were in fact only "invented" in the past 100 years, which is why they're so rarely used in normal daily life.

Each family had to apply for, get approval from the government for their particular unique name, which then reserved it so it could never be given to another family.

I've heard that families with very short names are more traditional aristocracy, well-connected in those days and therefore given priority.

And of course that's why so many names are incomprehensibly long.

[Semper]

Somchai?

[BigJohnnyBKK]

Somchai?

Perhaps you're just taking the piss, but in case you're not - that's not a family surname.

First names and (especially!) nicknames repeat at least as frequently here as they do back home.

And while official names require a bit of paperwork to change, the nicknames are swapped around at the drop of a hat, usually in order to change one's luck under the advice of a monk or other witchdoctor type.