Travel and Vacations

Would it be acceptable to you if people called you a “pig” or “buffalo”? I assume that you would not appreciate that. But in Thailand many people are called by these names and others which seem equally strange to us. Thais have first and last names like we do, but they are often four or five syllables long and, at least for us, impossible to pronounce, what to speak of remember.

This was not always the case. A couple of centuries ago Thais had much shorter and less convoluted names. Only in the last few generations has it become all the rage to adopt such monstrous names. The Thais actually had to come up with a law that limits the number of syllables that a name can have. This prevented the multi syllable name game from making legal transactions unmanageable. It is quite easy to change your name in Thailand. Don’t like it, no problem, pick another one. It is a relatively simple procedure.

I often asked people if they didn’t have an easier name. Luckily most Thais have nicknames which are the opposite of those never-ending legal names. In contrast they typically consist of just one syllable or letter. For simplicity’s sake Thais frequently use any one of the syllables of their real name as their nickname. Many nicknames are strange to our taste. There is Ms Pig, Mr. Buffalo, Mr. Dog, or Ms Bomb. How do they get names like that? Here are the actual stories of friends of mine here in Thailand.

Many nicknames are very descriptive. How about a girl whose name is “pig”? In the west such a name would be impossible, but in this instance her parents looked at her baby fat and decided that she resembled a cute baby pig, hence the name. Yes, Thais regard this  a very cute name. Of course if the girl decides someday that she doesn’t like her nickname anymore, she can simply change it. The nickname of another acquaintance of mine is “dog”. As a little kid he was constantly peppering everyone with questions and interrupting conversations. That reminded his family and friends of the yapping of a dog, so ‘dog’  became his nickname.

Thai nicknames may also be chosen for special powers. There is the story of a sickly boy who always had one physical problem or another. And so the villagers figured if they would call him “buffalo”, then the spirit of such a strong animal would help him. There is even a saying ’strong as a buffalo’. Amazingly his chronic illnesses went away and he became a strong, healthy person, true to his name. But you really have to know the story behind the name since ‘buffalo’ in Thailand can also be an insult. They are considered quite stupid animals. Unless a special context exists, calling people “buffalo” will get you into trouble very quickly.

Some nicknames are descriptive in a colorful way. One of my friend’s nickname is “Green”. Her parents noticed a greenish complexion when she was born and thus called her by that name. Today, 40 years later, she looks anything but green, however she still goes by the same name.

Let’s enter the dreamtime.  Here is the story of a predictive dream of a Thai friend of mine. She was visiting a temple, and her sister in law who accompanied her was offered a beautiful stone by one of the monks. However she turned the gift down and asked the monk to let her friend have it instead. She took it happily. The day after the dream she realized that she was pregnant. She was convinced that the dream had told her that she would have a baby and so she called it Ploy, which means ‘precious stone’ in Thai. The gift of the stone symbolized that she was going to receive something beautiful, and the pregnancy confirmed that.

Thais know no limits when it comes to creative nicknames. The son of one of my friends happened to be born during the war between Iran and Iraq. The Thai media covered the war in depth with all its horrors and bombing. In the absence of a better idea she ended up calling her son “bomb”.

There are nicknames which are totally meaningless. Some are just single letters like O (pronounced Oh) , E (sounds more like the English pronunciation of  ‘A’), B (pronounced ‘bee’) or D (pronounced ‘dee’). More recently it has become fashionable to use western names like ‘cat’ or ‘joy’ as nicknames, provided they consist of just one syllable.

Some Thais do not use nicknames, but they are in the minority. In most cases Thais will introduce themselves by their nicknames. You might find some of those nicknames strange, but they save us from having to repeat or remember those monstrosities of legal names which are so fashionable in Thailand.