Malay Male Names

I have put up this entry before but only in modblog. Since I wrote my kids name earlier, I just thought of putting it back. Saja je for throwing ideas purpose and also for my own record keeping. This one may not be easy for non Malaysian to follow though.

I sort of notice certain "traditional" names among the malay men from the various states in Malaysia. Their names would somehow reflect which state they come from. These may not be 100% correct, as it is only a mere unacademic non intelligent observation, I made. But I believe it somehow is true for most people.

If you come from Johor, the southern state of Malaysia, you are probably name Atan, Ahmad, Majid, Wahid and Ibrahim. These names seem to be the common names for the Johorians. OK not everyone in Johor used these names, but the chances that people using these names come from Johor are quite high. 90% probability.

One example of Ibrahim is Tengku Ibrahim of the Johor royalty.

Melaka people favourite choices are Ghaffar, Baba, Hamzah, Dol, Mat and Basri. Famous people dotting this name are Arwah Tun Ghaffar Baba the politician and Hamzah Dolmat the Dondang Sayang guy.

Melaka and Muar are only one hour drive on the modern day driving, so Muarians and Malaccans share these names too.

Now, let's go to the land of masak lemak cili api, the most outstanding name would be Rais. Heard of Rais Yatim and Hishammudin Rais? Try and guess where they are from.

I am not familiar with names from Selangor, so we are going to skip that and go to Perak.

Probably the most typical names for Perakians would be Meor, Ayub, Yeop and Lope. Does this ring something “Kejo! Yeop kejo!” Also people with Megats generally come from Perak too.

Now there are many Habibs in Penang and Syeds too. So imagine Nasi Kandar and gold smith. Other favourite names are Nagore, Hashim and Ahmed. Anybody from Penang to confirm?

Kelantan people seem to like the name Mohamed and Mustapha, so I notice, and thus Mustapha Muhammad the politician.

Do you have friends with names like Jusoh, Ngah, Embong, Mamat, Awang and Shafie? If you do, they are probably from Trengganu or Pahang. Kelantan and Trengganu may have the same taste for the names as well. Awang is also a favourite name in Kelantan. This is not surprising for Kelantan, Trengganu and Pahang are all on the east coast.

My grandfather’s name is Ngah and he was from Pahang. But my great grandfather’s name is Buang. Hmm..he was a Bugis. I can’t deduce anything there though.

Hah! The Malaysian Javanese also has certain name trends. The one that I encountered most are Zaki. OK, you can also be called Zaki but not a Javanese but it’s OK you are still a Malaysian. We tend to take each other's culture names. The Jawa also like prefix of Mas, like Masri, Maslina. Notice it is Maslina not Mzlina. Mazlina is not a Jawa name. Enggak gitu, Kang Mas? And many end their name with Man like Suratman, Saniman and. Sudirman. Not Superman though. That is American.

I have a friend whose father’s name is Gampang. I am yet to ask him where he is from. I think he is a Jawa. Even though gampang has a bad connotation in our culture but gampang really mans easy. His father may be quite an easy baby in his mummy's tummy. But tough for my friend for he is in Malaysia and he remains as anak gampang.

So, maybe you do notice that some of the names here are people you know and they come from other different states. This is not surprising since these are all Malay names anyway. Let’s say you meet a Majid, who I pointed out is a Johorian, but he tells you that he is from Selangor or KL now (everyone is in KL now), maybe his parents are from Johor or his great grandparents or his great, great grandparents. Oh! Well you catch my drift don’t you?

OK some of the names are common like Mohammad..nearly half of the Malay male population don the name Mohammad, but usually people in Kelantan will use only Mohammad or Mohammed and not combine it with other names. And also the name Jusoh, I really don't know that there are Jusohs in Johore unless their heritage does come from the Eastern Coast.

However some of these names are losing out. The modern generation, including me, tend to choose names for their kids, with a more “meaningful” meaning from the Quran, say, and glamourise it with a tint of western taste.

So, what do you think? What is your name? Do comment because I like to note down other view on cultures.