Need Help For A Name For Our Baby

[BIG SPUDS]

Hello all , long time no write!!

Its all due to me moving house and not being hooked up to the net any more, so at present i'm on my brothers. Any way as some of you know the wife is pregnant, we are going to have a boy and it is due August the 18th. We are stuck for names, we would like a thai first name and a english second or vice versa. Our surname is Burden, Please help we havent got a clue!!

[Nawtilus]

Billy

Uphill

[kenk3z]

I'm going through the same thing now. My wife and I agree on having an English first name and Thai middle name, and to choose names that can be easily pronounced by both Thai and English native speakers. In addition we want them easily spelled in both Thai and English characters.

We have what is probably a suitable Thai middle name now, but the English name is giving us problems.

You can get some ideas on "learningthai(dot)com". There is a name section to translate English names into their closest Thai character representations.

The further difficulty I have is that I want an English name that looks good in Thai characters.

We are under a bit of pressure now as my wife has already experienced a few preliminary contractions (she thinks).

kenk3z

[verzenden]

I'm going through the same thing now. My wife and I agree on having an English first name and Thai middle name, and to choose names that can be easily pronounced by both Thai and English native speakers. In addition we want them easily spelled in both Thai and English characters.

We have what is probably a suitable Thai middle name now, but the English name is giving us problems.

You can get some ideas on "learningthai(dot)com". There is a name section to translate English names into their closest Thai character representations.

The further difficulty I have is that I want an English name that looks good in Thai characters.

We are under a bit of pressure now as my wife has already experienced a few preliminary contractions (she thinks).

kenk3z

Same problem. At least i still have about 7 months. We did already agree giving it both a thai name and english name. I'm Dutch but i have an English name myself of which i'm very thankful coz I'm international orientated. One of my names is John and that is much more easy to prenounce for Thais than my other name with an 'v' in it.

I saw there are many websites out there that can help you, just google around. Haven't had a thought yet about the Thai caracters, thx for pointing me out, another point to concider.

Think leaving out the unprenoucable letters will at least make it a lot easier. Than you also have those names that remind you of people you know, don't feel like choosing one of those either.

I'll keep following this tread, interesting.

[richard10365]

My wife just had a baby last week. I let her pick the Thai name and my job is to pick the farang nick name. I'm still working on that.

[Neeranam]

Make sure you don't give the child a name that Thais will make fun of, or a name that Westerners will.

I'd keep away from the names ending in -y, as the Thais always rise it at the end.

We gave our daughter a Scottish first name and a Thai middle one, so she can decide which one to use when she becomes a supermodel!

[Neeranam]

Great to see a family section at last, I've a few questions regarding disipline, which I'll post a new thread about.

[BrissyBoy]

Congratulations on the baby.

I had the same dilemma when choosing a name for my son.

My wife wanted a english name and i a thai one. So i started to try and find one that is english and thai when said.

About the best i could come up with was Aaron. I think it is pronounced slightly differerent in thai (Arun). Meaning the dawn.

Hope this helps.

Brissyboy

[greenwanderer108]

I'm going through the same thing now. My wife and I agree on having an English first name and Thai middle name, and to choose names that can be easily pronounced by both Thai and English native speakers. In addition we want them easily spelled in both Thai and English characters.

We have what is probably a suitable Thai middle name now, but the English name is giving us problems.

You can get some ideas on "learningthai(dot)com". There is a name section to translate English names into their closest Thai character representations.

The further difficulty I have is that I want an English name that looks good in Thai characters.

We are under a bit of pressure now as my wife has already experienced a few preliminary contractions (she thinks).

kenk3z

Congrats to all of you mixed breed parents !

One word of caution that you might not be aware of. If you want your child to take advantage of his/her dual citizen rights and he/she is being born in Thailand, I believe that there is some Thai rule/law somewhere that requires the Thai citizen child to have a Thai first name as to be garunteed automatic Thai citizenship....so I've heard from many sources...

Ofcourse there are many English Thai sounding names that will cut it, but I don't believe its possible for the child to get Thai citizen rights with a first name like John, Mary, Bob, etc...

This info could be a myth, but then again, you will find every Thai and even mixed breeds have some Thai or Thai sounding first name, usually multi sylable. So, anyway, I gave my newborn son a Thai first name, Western middle name...even though every one's calling him by the middle name so far, you can't lose as there is definately no regulations in my home country (USA) regarding first name and citizenship---irrelevent...

Many Thai moms may not care or desire for the kid to have Thai name or even Thai nationality if it is in their mind that the kid will get western nationality and be educated and grow up in the west. Please don't let this happen. As a luuk kreung (mixed Thai American), it is something I resent my parents never gave me the choice of dual nationality growing up. With dual nationality, you are not giving up any rights only preserving them for your child when he/she grows up.

anyway, something you should look into and be sure about as your child definately deserves all his/her rights as a dual citizen!

Cheers

[verzenden]

Neeranam, can you confirm greenwanderers post? Since you gave a Scottish name as the first name, or is it just a myth?

[donx]

Ask your wife what she thinks of the name Dawson

[BKK90210]

It's true and not a myth. Just gone through the hassles with this myself. My wife confirmed this recently at her Ampur - Bangkapi where she has her tabien baan.

If your child born after 1998, he/she must have thai name. You child can have a farang name only if it has a thai meaning, according to 1998 law the official told her this.

They just don't care if your child will use the thai name as a first name or middle name back in your home country,.....but in thailand he/she must have thai name on the thai ID and thai passport.

[donx]

It may be different for children born in Thailand, but I have two kids born in the US and I was able to get Thai birth certificates for them which consequently led to Thai passports. They do not have Thai ID cards, but since we live in the US, we have no need for them to have these at this time. My son's first name is Western and his middle name is Thai. My Daughter has a Thai first name and a madeup middle name. We have a baby with a Western first name and a madeup middle name for whom we haven't started the process of getting the Thai documents.

I just checked their passports and their names are written in both English and Thai. I assume that when they had their Thai birth certificates created, someone transliterated their names from English to Thai. Perhaps the US embassy is used to this while the local Thai office doesn't have the expertice to do this properly.

[Nawtilus]

Thats funny.

Dont rely on country monkies in supposedly important roles to know what is going on. They still learning to adjust to calculators.

[greenwanderer108]

It may be different for children born in Thailand, but I have two kids born in the US and I was able to get Thai birth certificates for them which consequently led to Thai passports. They do not have Thai ID cards, but since we live in the US, we have no need for them to have these at this time. My son's first name is Western and his middle name is Thai. My Daughter has a Thai first name and a madeup middle name. We have a baby with a Western first name and a madeup middle name for whom we haven't started the process of getting the Thai documents.

I just checked their passports and their names are written in both English and Thai. I assume that when they had their Thai birth certificates created, someone transliterated their names from English to Thai. Perhaps the US embassy is used to this while the local Thai office doesn't have the expertice to do this properly.

I think what we're dealing with is two different jurisdictions. Thai embassy in USA and Thai government in Thailand. For many reasons, Thai embassy in USA are more leniant on migration/national issues relating to issues such as these, so I've seen in my dealings in the past...

Bottom line, if you register the birth with the Thai embassy in USA or wherever overseas, you're likely to have less hassle...in obtaining the Thai national rights (though you should check your own countries dual national policies to be sure) But if your child is born in Thailand, without a Thai name as its first, you're likely to have hassle/problems with stubborn officials... but apparently it is some official law so I've heard again...

In any case, it shouldn't be a major problem either way, name changes are so common / convenient in Thailand anyway. Just don't delay to secure his/her birth given rights. In the event that something were to happen to you or the other parent before you secured your child rights, it will be an even bigger burden for the child when he/she is older.

[Neeranam]

Neeranam, can you confirm greenwanderers post? Since you gave a Scottish name as the first name, or is it just a myth?

I think its a myth. My daughter's first name is Angelina, and this is what is witten on the Thai birth certificate and her Thai passport. I'm not sure if she actually has Thai citizenship. Does a Thai BC and Passport enable this?

She was born in Bamrungrad hospital, who maybe made it easier. I had to be ery careful when translating the name to Thai(spelling). There was a woman there to help if required.

[greenwanderer108]

Neeranam, can you confirm greenwanderers post? Since you gave a Scottish name as the first name, or is it just a myth?

I think its a myth. My daughter's first name is Angelina, and this is what is witten on the Thai birth certificate and her Thai passport. I'm not sure if she actually has Thai citizenship. Does a Thai BC and Passport enable this?

She was born in Bamrungrad hospital, who maybe made it easier. I had to be ery careful when translating the name to Thai(spelling). There was a woman there to help if required.

Neeranam, I assume your daughter was born after 1998 right?

Like I said, multi sylable names that even come close to resembling Thai language / common Thai names will usually cut it...The point was to avoid obvious foreign common names like Tom, Ted, Bob, John Steven , Jack, Jim, Mary, George, James, Sally, etc. etc.

myth or no myth, your special hybrid deserves character...common names are for common people...

[Khun Jean]

One word of caution that you might not be aware of. If you want your child to take advantage of his/her dual citizen rights and he/she is being born in Thailand, I believe that there is some Thai rule/law somewhere that requires the Thai citizen child to have a Thai first name as to be garunteed automatic Thai citizenship....so I've heard from many sources...

Ofcourse there are many English Thai sounding names that will cut it, but I don't believe its possible for the child to get Thai citizen rights with a first name like John, Mary, Bob, etc...

This info could be a myth, but then again, you will find every Thai and even mixed breeds have some Thai or Thai sounding first name, usually multi sylable. ...

I think it is a myth. Both my children have english first names. What i do know and it might be what you heared is that it has to be written in Thai letters, and not mean something offensive or otherwise 'bad' in Thai.

My daughter was born in Bangkok, her name 'Jennifer PhetPailin Catherina".

My son was born in the Netherlands. His name 'Alec Phetnamnung Andreas".

As is common in my family you give a name of a familymember to your child, that is why they have 3.

Only problem we had was translating my daughters name in Thai. It was not the spelling but the number of characters used. Some nitwit who designed the registration program thought in all his wisdom that 25 characters must be enough. So we had to be creative with the spelling, in the hope that later it can be changed.

Both children have automatic dual citizenship.

[Jasmine]

My daughter was born 1999 and doesn't have a Thai name but we had no problem with the BC/Passport etc.

We did choose a name with 3 syllables, like a lot of Thai girls names, so maybe Greeny is right about it just having to 'sound' Thai -ish!

[Explorer]

Neeranam, can you confirm greenwanderers post? Since you gave a Scottish name as the first name, or is it just a myth?

I think its a myth. My daughter's first name is Angelina, and this is what is witten on the Thai birth certificate and her Thai passport. I'm not sure if she actually has Thai citizenship. Does a Thai BC and Passport enable this?

She was born in Bamrungrad hospital, who maybe made it easier. I had to be ery careful when translating the name to Thai(spelling). There was a woman there to help if required.

Neeranam, I assume your daughter was born after 1998 right?

Like I said, multi sylable names that even come close to resembling Thai language / common Thai names will usually cut it...The point was to avoid obvious foreign common names like Tom, Ted, Bob, John Steven , Jack, Jim, Mary, George, James, Sally, etc. etc.

myth or no myth, your special hybrid deserves character...common names are for common people...

A total myth, i've check this with a friend of mine who very recently have a baby boy and name him Lance Warritthorn followed by the surename. He told me the child's name is in the wife's tabien baan book noted him as a thai nationality and also in the birth cert. So this will make the baby a Thai nationality even with an english name infront.

Explorer

[BIG SPUDS]

Still no names for me though please suggest some !

[Jasmine]

We are stuck for names, we would like a thai first name and a english second or vice versa. Our surname is Burden, Please help we havent got a clue!!

Congrats BTW

We had a Thai book sent over by relatives. Like the usual baby name books but with the names written in Thai and then transliterated into English (roman alphabet). It also gave the meaning and told you what the lucky letters were for your childs DOB if you want to choose them according to that

Absolutely loads of names. I'll see if I can dig it out!

[Neeranam]

http://www.babynology.com/thai/

[English Noodles]

Hello all , long time no write!!

Its all due to me moving house and not being hooked up to the net any more, so at present i'm on my brothers. Any way as some of you know the wife is pregnant, we are going to have a boy and it is due August the 18th. We are stuck for names, we would like a thai first name and a english second or vice versa. Our surname is Burden, Please help we havent got a clue!!

Your surname is burden so may i recomend you name him 'Cash' then if this is your first child he will be known as Cash Burden the 1st. If it is your second child, Cash Burden the 2nd. then again if your married to a Thai lady he could be 10th or more with her family.

[English Noodles]

Hello all , long time no write!!

Its all due to me moving house and not being hooked up to the net any more, so at present i'm on my brothers. Any way as some of you know the wife is pregnant, we are going to have a boy and it is due August the 18th. We are stuck for names, we would like a thai first name and a english second or vice versa. Our surname is Burden, Please help we havent got a clue!!

Your surname is burden so may i recomend you name him 'Cash' then if this is your first child he will be known as Cash Burden the 1st. If it is your second child, Cash Burden the 2nd. then again if your married to a Thai lady he could be 10th or more with her family.

On reflection i think the name 'Financial' sounds better.

[socalbro]

Name it what you really want, cause what they'll call it here ya never know.

My son - Charles Joseph -started out as CJ - now they are calling him JJ since it is easier to say and I imagine it will be J sooner than later...

But as an adult the child might want a strong western name to use for official thngs, legal reason, work and school.

HE/she'll get a thai nickname guarenteed, so don't worry too much about coming up with a Thai name that goes well with Johnny cause nobody will ever use it probably anyhow.

Best of luck to you, the new father - a blessed event in anyone's life!

[too true]

I also have to agree that the "Thai person must have Thai name to be a Thai citizen" is a myth. I've got two boys and they've both got English first names and Thai surnames. No middle names. And they're both Thai.

As for picking names for a baby boy - the reason both my boys have got English names is because I couldn't find a Thai boys name I liked. Lots of girls names, but no boys names. There was one, but my husband absolutely refused. Almost vehemently refused. He said it was too strong a name. I really don't know what that means. It just sounded nice to me. The name was Jessada.

Good luck with the little guy.

Cheers,

TT

[greenwanderer108]

Still no names for me though please suggest some !

Pornsak, Pornsuk, Boonshit, shitichai, Titiporn, Giteeporn Somchai, Somsak, Chokechai, Sawasdee

Well, atleast the Thai names to avoid at all costs!

PS, I wouldn't stress about the Thai names too much just yet. Get you the Thai name book and pick out a few you like and wait to see which day your kid is born (i.e. Monday-Sunday) Thais have a big chart system / superstition defining which consanants are good luck for which day and which beg. consanants one must avoid at all costs depending on which day...What's the english word for something like this...opposite of an omen...

If your wife is typical Thai woman, chances are she will be serious-superstitious for following the system. In Thai , the consanants to avoid is called อักษรที่เป็นกาลกิณี Uck-sorn-thii-bpen-ga-la-gi-nee I'm sure there is plenty of info on the Thai web about this and the whole name process in case you can't locate an actual book.

The most famous / central source for the Thai system is the Promachaat พรหมชาติ (Thai astrology), which you can find in Thai bookstores or being sold on sidewalks all throughout Thailand.

I wouldn't stress it too much...even many Thais wait till the last minute or after the birth to finalize the name...and so often later in life change the name because they read the charts wrong initially. Besides, the only time ever the name will actually be used is on role call at school, on the id card, or other official events, etc. but most other time, the nickname and / or western name will be used.

[skylar]

http://www.babynology.com/thai/

I don't trust that site... it list phi as a girl's name. As if. And a lot of the names on there are pretty old fashioned. Palisa, Salisa, Sunsanee, Sunisa and Ontida are nice modern girls' names.

[billd766]

My son will be 2 on August 1st and he only has 1 first name, Parinthon and short name is Tiw.

I sometimes wonder if he thinks his name in NO as that is what he hears a lot, such as when he is switching things on and off, trying to stick his fingers in the fan, pulling the dogs tail, trying to eat all sorts of things, sitting on red ant nests.

Apart from that he is a beautiful and lovable little boy though he doesn't take to strangers very much until he or we know them better.

At the end of the day let your wife decide the childs Thai name and if you want an english name as well get it put in. However try to think hwere you will be living permanently in the future, UK or Thailand because if your child is "different" he may be picked at school. If you will live in Thailand the better schools are in the big cities but will cost more. I have no idea how the education system works in the UK any more as my first son left school about 10 years ago and I left over 40 years ago. I have heard that the UK education system is now very bad and I don't know about the Thai one yet.

Best of luck whichever way you go.