Thai nicknames

[geronimo]

Well I guess you are free to think whatever you like is silly.

[seajae]

I remember reading somewhere that Native American Indians used to name their children after the first thing they saw when the child was born.

Crazy Horse, Two dogs, Eagle flying, etc

May be it has similar origins ?? but has now been updated to modern times (words etc)

your right Charlie, I seem to remember 2 dogs f***ing asking his grandfather how he got his name too

Edited March 3, 2016 by seajae

[Walter Travolta]

So, one member says the OP is condescending, another says he is tired of people trying to change Thai custom!!?? Whhaaaaaatt?

The OP had a light hearted question he wanted answering. I have often wondered how they com3 about getting their nicknames, just never asked. A girl I know is called Apple (as màny are) but she has her real name used officially of course.

I'm more amazed at some people's responses to questions than the questions themselves (sometimes)

[villagefarang]

I was lightheartedly mentioning that the OPs remarks came off as condescending if that makes you feel any better.

Edited March 3, 2016 by villagefarang

[Walter Travolta]

I was lightheartedly mentioning that the OPs remarks came off as condescending if that makes you feel any better.

Thank you. It makes feel wonderful and happy with the world :-D

[Squeegee]

Some nicknames may be English words like Sky, but many are the Thai equivalent like Fah. So what may be seem overly mundane or silly to our ears is traditional logic to theirs, albeit with a fashionable English slant.

The most frustrating thing is when you have to teach children whose name may be something like Jam, apparently in English meaning the spread, but they misspell it as Jem and find it highly amusing that you pronounce it wrong!

Some nicknames are just shortened versions of their full name.

Nicknames are fun!

If it's someone I will know both the real and nickname of I will ask them which they prefer me to use, as it's not always necessary to use a nickname.

Sometimes if I know the Thai person well enough as friend, colleague or student I will choose to call them by their real name just because many have very beautiful names.

Many Thai (real) names are not all that long.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Squeegee

[oldgent]

I quite like David Beckham,s idea, name the kid where the seed was sown.I knew a girl called Porn

dont think she knew what it meant .

[orchis]

I quite like David Beckham,s idea, name the kid where the seed was sown.I knew a girl called Porn

dont think she knew what it meant .

In Thai it means "blessing", dear.

[chickenslegs]

I quite like David Beckham,s idea, name the kid where the seed was sown.I knew a girl called Porn

dont think she knew what it meant .

Thats OK, unless the diry deed was done in this part of England...

[gk10002000]

Some of the names just happen to sound "pleasing" to their ears, regardless of the western meaning. Unless one really speaks and understands the Thai language and its sounds, I doubt most westerners could really understand it

[berybert]

My name is William.

Can you explain why people want to call me Bill?

and what about Robert? why do you call him Bob?

I can only guess why a Richard is a Dick!

Would you rather people call you Willy ?

As for Robert, nothing wrong with Bertie.

But getting back on subject sort of, do you have a Thai nick name ? Or do you use the English version of nick name you have been given ?

I also wonder how many farang people would be able to call a Thai by their real name even if they knew it. Thannnawatapoom or Bank, you choose.

[HLover]

I choose Bank.

[FritsSikkink]

What I find strange re. Thai names is that often people only know others by their nickname and have no idea of the full ID card name.

From time to time, letters will be delivered to our house by mistake (or because the postman can't be bothered to travel further along the soi) for neighbours or relatives. My wife & her brother next door never recognise the names the first time it happens.

Some time ago, a letter arrived for Nangsow Khetkeaw .......... - "No idea who that is" says Mrs. L. Turns out it was for her niece, known to all as Gam, who was 17 years old at the time and had lived in the house next to my wife all her life.

When my stepson married, my wife had to visit many of those she wanted to invite to the celebrations to ask their full names to put on the envelopes.

that is pretty stupid, not knowing your family members name.

[50baht]

How about that Baby that survived being buried alive last week . They named him Ai Din...I think it translates to "Joe Dirt".

http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/02/26/baby-boy-stabbed-and-buried-alive-was-saved-soil-covering-him-doctor

[puffy]

I remember reading somewhere that Native American Indians used to name their children after the first thing they saw when the child was born.

Crazy Horse, Two dogs, Eagle flying, etc

May be it has similar origins ?? but has now been updated to modern times (words etc)

Maybe that is why there are so many called Poo.

[bill1369]

I like lady named Porn. That's a good one.....

[rasg]

Maybe that is why there are so many called Poo.

The way I understand it, any older man is known as bpoo in Thai. It is a term of respect usually to a paternal grandfather. My GF told my nieces and they now call their grandfather Poo. Much to his disgust...

Pee and Nong when referring to brothers and sisters. A good Thai speaker with a Thai family will know a lot more.

My first Thai girlfriend quite a few years ago was Kung (prawn) but she had a beautiful full Thai first name. Soontira.

I think the sim card type names and others are just a sign of the times like Mercedes and Chardonnay seem to be the way things are going in some parts of the UK.

I had a few nicknames going through school. Gorge was one of them. As I have two middle names the other kids, sometimes a dozen of them, would sing my full name to me in the changing rooms.

A couple of years ago a client's real first name was Mouse.

My GF likes me calling her by her full first name because she has been called a single syllable name for most of her life.

[bendejo]

My name is William.

Can you explain why people want to call me Bill?

and what about Robert? why do you call him Bob?

I can only guess why a Richard is a Dick!

The reason why parents name their kids Robert is so they can call him Bob, and then they can boast to their friends "my son is so smart he can spell his name forward AND backwards."

In many cases of Richards I've encountered I understand why they tend to be called Dick.

[rasg]

My niece's husband calls her Bob, short for "bird or bloke" because she can throw bags of cement around and loves doing manual work.

[uthaithanirules]

It is a buddhist country, many of their real first names are done as blessings for good fortune and good luck, may sound nice to a falang that doesnt know what the name means, but would sound ghastly in Thai, especially repeated every day.

Father in laws real first name translates to 'sweet' as an example. If you were a dude and your first name was sweet, youd probably adopt a nick name as well.

And in my neck of the woods, they all have the same family name, about 500 of them, which basically just translates to birn in -the name of the tambon....a real headache when it comes to working out who the wife is actually related too, dont think she is sure about all of them

[Jay1]

Nicknames often have some connection to events around the time of the birth or appearance at birth. It is the tradition.

Ah that explains why people regularly call me a c..t

[inbangkok]

I thought it was strange when I first moved here. Now I don't even think about it. A good example of something that is strange to one culture is completely normal in another.

[spidermike007]

I was with some friends a few years ago in Pattaya. We are wondering around, and decided to check out a hotel, to see what the rooms were like. We wander in, and at the reception is a really stunning woman. As we start to ask her about the rooms, we notice that her name badge says Kittiporn. We all just look at each other, and try to hard not to crack up laughing. What can you say to something like that?

[AlexRich]

I used to speak regularly to a lovely girl who worked in Starbucks. One day I noticed her name on the badge was "Prik" ... I didn't have the heart!

But I quite like chuu len ... nicknames, as the tend to be easy to remember.

[seancbk]

The OP has obviously never lived in Hong Kong where the local Chinese pick an English 'name'.

I've seen bank staff with name badges saying "dumbo" "tweetie" "Satan" "Stones" and many more bizarre choices.

I taught some conversational English lessons at a school in HK and students had to have an English name, I had one young guy come in and he didn't have one so told him to pick something.
He chose 'Marlboro', I knew why but asked him all the same and he said it was because he liked smoking Marlboro cigarettes. I explained that Marlboro is a brand and not suitable for a person's name and he should think of another. Then the clever bugger pointed out that 'Kent' is a person's name and a brand name of cigarettes along with 'Benson (and Hedges).

So he chose to be called Kent because he would sometimes smoke those too.

We had quite a good class discussing that and decided he could have chosen from :- Kent, Benson (and Hedges), Peter (Stuyvesant) or Virginia (Slims). Although Virginia perhaps not suitable :-)