Talk:Malaysian names

Merican is a last name/family name, but not from Malay descendants
Merican or Marican family name is used by Indian Moslem descendants, I think they are from Sri Lanka. They are not considered as Malay but some (Malay) people assume they as Malay because they use Malay(Arabic) names just like them.

On the other hand, I know someone that his parents are pure Pakistan and truly Pakistan ethnic. His family came to Malaysia and became Malaysian. The parents then registered him as Malay in Birth Certificate in order to have special rights that Malay(bumiputras) have.

Briefly, he is not Malay, but been registered as "Malay" in Malaysia Birth Certificate and Identity Card or I/C. Supposedly, the National Registration Department or JPN should aware of this lie and beware.

Master of Books (talk) 17:40, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

The Merican surname was originally Marawthiyar. I got that from a book.I dont know why it was changed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.50.79.200 (talk) 23:59, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

The Marican/Merican are known as Jawi Peranakan people, a people descended from native Malays and traders from India. A lot of them have assimilated into the Malay identity since the independence. It's wrong to say that they are not considered Malay. They are different from Indian Muslims / Pakistanis. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.19.13.194 (talk) 01:36, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

Malay do have family names
There are many Malaysian Malays do not know that they bear Malay family/last names especially those from Sumatran Malays and several regions in Indonesia (I believe in some states in Malaysia, also, do have, based on history of clans such as Negeri Sembilan clans, there was a number of clans recorded in history). In Indonesia, the family name called as "marga". For examples, those who came from clan Mandailing, Batak, and many others bear Lubis, Nasution, Harahap, Siregar, and many more. There are families in Malaysia that know and still using their family names such as Tarmimi Siregar (veteran actor/ tv host), and Cico Harahap (actor).

On the other hand,there are some people believe that Che', Wan, Che' Wan (combined from Che' and Wan lineage), Tun (not to be confused with a title given by Sultan/Agong), Tan, Nik, Nung(in Riau), and other beginning names also considered as surnames/family names of Malay.

So hopefully, there will be editing or addition to this article about Malay family names.

Another thing that I would like to discuss here is about "should we called those names that actually Arabic names as Malay names"? For instance, the name like Sazali, Aminah, and Nordin are not actually Malay names, but those are actually Arabic names used by Malay that believe they should use Arab's names if they are moslems.

Whereas, Islam believes that moslems should use the good or better names, no matter in what languages. In Islamic history records for example, there are many foreign names that are not Arabic were chosen or never changed to Arabic since the names was not reflected the worse/bad in meaning of the name.

Because of the faith that they should use Arab names if they are moslems, the Malay names such as "Tuah", "Kasturi", "Cempaka", and much more Malay names are diminishing or becoming extinct in use by Malays. Nevertheless, there are new generations like common people and celebrities/artistes in Malaysia still use Malay names like "Ayu" (gorgeous for women/girl), "Cempaka"(a kind of flower tree), "Melur" (a kind of flower tree),"Intan"(Diamond - used only for girls) "Wangi"(fragrant for girl), and "Tuah"(Luck for boy).

For example, H.M Tuah Iskandar - the popular motivator and author/novelist of Malaysia, he has "Tuah", a Malay name but combined with non-Malay name that is Iskandar. Meanwhile, "Ayu" and "Intan" are quite used or heard for girl names in Malaysia.

In conclusion, Malays do have family names but do not taken as important in Malaysia especially by the modern government of Malaysia. The government does nothing about Malay family names (maybe because they are lack of their own history) and there is no law on family names of Malay. In the meantime, Malay names should consist of Malay vocabularies not Arabic words, otherwise they should not be called as Malay names but Arabic names or Malay's Arabic names.

Thanks.

Master of Books (talk) 17:17, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

"Malay" in Malaysia is an umbrella term covering many Austronesian sub-ethnics who are Muslims and have adopted the Malay Language. Some of these sub-ethnics e.g. the Mandahiling have family or clan names, while many like the Javanese don't. Some Malays have names that indicated descent from royal or nobility lineage e.g. Wan, Megat, Dayang, Awang. These names aren't regulated but it's quite easy to tell the originality by tracing back 2-3 generations.

Regarding Arabic names, many Arabic names have been mutated by Malay pronunciation that a native Arab speaker would not understand them, i.e. Malayized Arabic names. 210.19.13.194 (talk) 01:49, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

The word "Addenda" is not suitable
According to Concise Oxford Dictionary - Tenth Edition, "addenda" is a plural noun of "addendum" that bears a meaning of "an extra item added at the end of a book or text".

In this case, addenda is not suitable to explain something that is added to the front of the name. Instead, it is suitable to explain something that is placed/added to its back.

Hopefully, there will be an improvement to this article.

Thanks. Master of Books (talk) 01:08, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Your dictionary is too concise. It left out the (primary) definition than an addendum is something which has been added. The article could use improvement, but that part's perfectly appropriate here. — LlywelynII  10:06, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Shah
I noticed there are Malays who have the word "Shah" behind their names, such as Arif Shah Omar Shah, the BN candidate in the Permatang Pauh by-election 2008 challenging Anwar Ibrahim from PKR. Anyone knows about this "Shah" word? --אדמוןד ואודס自分の投稿記録 07:55, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Halo,


 * I know about that."Shah" means a "king" from Persian word. But that doesn't mean that the Malays who use "Shah" are Persian descendants. Some Malay royal descendants and families use "Shah" to substitute the title "Raja".


 * On the other hand, "Shah" also used by common people without royal lineage.


 * Okay, that's all I know. Master of Books (talk) 17:18, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Malay names and Arabic names are different
I think it is not accurate to categorize the mostly Arabic names under Malay names. Arabic names are common and can be described as the usual preferred names used by the Moslem- Malay ethnic group in Malaysia.

Real Malay names do exist and I hope you can expound on real malay names further. Otherwise, real malay names would be lost forever. Please save the real malay names.

Some examples or real malay names Kasturi, Melor, ... other names of flowers, Puteri, Tuah, Lekir, Kenanga

I hope more research can be done on this for the sake of accuracy and saving real malay names from extinction

Info3000 (talk) 04:21, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Other Malaysian names not covered here
I think more can be done also to cover names usually used by Kadazans, Ibans, Melanaus, Muruts and other significant goups in Malaysia instead of just a mere mention. I think the authors of this article should not stop work until all major Malaysian groups are properly represented. For now authors should consider this article incomplete. Many times, people in Peninsular Malaysia forget those in East Malaysia are also Malaysians

Info3000 (talk) 04:29, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

SM
What SM means in Malaysian names (e.g. SM Nasimuddin SM Amin)? 91.155.227.6 (talk) 11:42, 21 January 2011 (UTC)

a/s in Malaysian Indian names
The explanation of "a/l" and "a/p" is helpful, but I also see "a/s". I suppose it is a similar idea but what does the "s" stand for? --Brian Z (talk) 06:28, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

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Requested move 2 August 2018

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved, per consensus. This is sort of chicken-egg situation. Like Amakuru, and IP editor says, an article should be created per WP:SPINOUT. — usernamekiran (talk)  19:17, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

Malaysian names → Malay names – Malaysians refer to the people of Malaysia but not refer to the Malay (race) in general. The Malays are not only concentrated in Malaysia (country) but also in other countries in Southeast Asia such as Singapore, Brunei (and Borneo), Thailand (Southern Thailand), the Philippines (southern part), Indonesia (Sumatra island) and also Cocos (Keeling) Island of Australia. Malay names are used by the Malays of these countries especially Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia. Imfeelyoung (talk) 10:23, 2 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Oppose as the article covers names of all ethnic groups in Malaysia. If the section Malaysian names gets too long it can be spun out to its own article, per WP:SPINOUT, and coverage of the other topics suggested by the nominator could be added there. 59.149.124.29 (talk) 12:51, 2 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Oppose verbatim per 59.149.124.29. —  AjaxSmack  21:57, 4 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Support and spin out or delete non-Malay sections. I don't think the scope of the article makes sense as it stands, because the names of people in Malaysia generally follow whatever their ethnicity is, with members of each community (e.g. the Chinese) having names that follow the global trends for that particular ethnicity. If we look at the containing category, Category:Names by culture, we see that each one is affiliated not to a country (e.g. there is no American names or British names), but by ethnic or cultural delineation. Sometimes these coincide with a country name (e.g. French name), and sometimes they do not. &mdash; Amakuru (talk) 11:32, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Comment: Could we not just as easily spin out the Malay section, although it currently is most of the article? Agree that the current article scope needs to change, and that is true whether it is renamed or not. We do have some articles on names in a country rather than a culture, such as Indonesian names. Both seem useful topics to me. Andrewa (talk) 22:53, 9 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Oppose. Amakuru's point is well taken, but in this particular instance, the article describes specific ways names from other ethnicities are used in Malaysia. For example, transcription of Chinese names tends to differ from country to country; in the case of Malaysia, it tends to depend upon when the family arrived in the country as well. Likewise in the case of the Indian names, the article points out idiosyncratic ways the names are formed in Malaysia specifically. Dekimasu よ! 16:58, 9 August 2018 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.