Thai name

Thai names follow the North Indian and Western European pattern in which the family name follows a first or given name. In this they differ from the family-name-first pattern of the East Asian tradition.

Thai names, both given name and family, are often long and there are a great many of them. The diversity of family names is because they are required to be unique to a family, and they are a recent introduction. Further, Thai people change their family names relatively frequently (this practice being virtually unknown in many other countries outside of marriage).

Last names became legally required of Thai citizens in 1913: before then, most Thais used only a first or individual name. The names generally convey positive attributes. Under Thai law, only one family can use any given surname: thus any two people of the same surname must be related.

Thai surnames are often long, particularly among those of upper-class families^{[citation needed]} and also among Thais of Chinese descent, whose lengthy names stem from an attempt to translate Chinese names into Thai equivalents. For example, the family of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who are of Chinese descent, adopted the name Shinawatra ("does good routinely") in 1938. According to the current law, to create a new Thai surname, it must not be longer than ten Thai letters, vowel symbols and diacritics are not counted.

As a measure of the diversity of Thai names, in a sample of 45,665 names, 81% of family names were unique, and 35% of given names were unique: the people with shared family names are thus related, and the diversity of given names is conventional.

Royal and feudal names

see also Rama (Kings of Thailand), List of Thai Monarchs and Thai royal and noble titles

East Asian monarchs often adopted Regnal names upon ascending the throne, as was done in Thailand until the end of the Rattanakosin Kingdom. In addition, subjects of a monarch may be awarded both a title and a name, such as in the case of Sing (or Singh) Singhaseni (สิงห์ สิงหเสนี) who was awarded the title of Chao Phraya and the name of Bodindecha (Thai: เจ้าพระยาบดินทรเดชา.) Kings Rama I and Rama II were both awarded noble titles and names before they assumed regnal names. which were then changed by subsequent kings. As neither noble titles nor names are necessarily unique, it is customary to list the highest title and awarded named first, followed by former names and titles (and personal and family names in parentheses) as needed.

Noble names

Descendants of the nobility, both hereditary and non-hereditary positions, generally take the noble name of their ancestor for a surname. For instance, Hugo Chakrabongse is a descendant of Prince Chakrabongse Bhuvanath. Some (far removed) descendants of royalty add the preposition "na" (ณ) to geographical names to create surnames, in the same way that members of German noble families use von. Thus Mongkol Na Songkhla, a minister in the Surayud government, has a name which indicates he is a distant descendant of royalty or nobility in that geographical region (for instance the surname "Na Chiangmai" belonging to descendants of the rulers of Chiang Mai, which was a vassal state of Siam). The name of Kasem Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya, another minister, indicates that he is related to the royal family, as it is also tradition for far-removed descendants to add "Na Ayutthaya" after their surnames. In this case, Sanitwong is the family name of Kasem. Sanitwong itself being a name of a royal consort of Rama V and the subsequent family name for her descendants.

Formal and informal names

In polite speech, Thais will address each other or refer to each other by their given name, preceded by the honorific "khun." This applies particularly to persons of public distinction. Thus, the ministers mentioned above would be addressed and referred to as "Khun Mongkol" and "Khun Kasem," especially since they are respected persons. There are some misunderstandings that "Khun" would be replaced with "Khunying" when a person to whom the speaker refers is a woman. In fact, “Khunying” is a noble title, and is comparable to Lady in western culture. Please see Thai royal and noble titles for more details.

In less formal situations, Thais will address each other by nicknames (chue-len or Thai: ชึ่อเล่น "play-name"). Given by parents or relatives in early childhood, these nicknames are typically one syllable (or worn down from two syllables to one). They may often be nonsense words or humorous, and usually have no relation to the person's actual name, although in some cases may be diminutive forms of their first name, like "Nok" for "Noknoi" which means respectively bird and little bird, the first used as a nickname and the second being the first name. All Thais have such a name, and they are freely used in everyday life regardless of how childish they may seem to non-Thais. The King's nickname, for example, is Ong Lek (Thai: องค์เล็ก; Ong is a numerative noun for kings, princes, princesses, priests, images of Buddha, gods, angels, palaces, pagodas; "Lek" means "little (one)", a common name for younger brothers). Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's is Thai: แม้ว or Maew, the Thai word for the Miao people (of which the Hmong are a sub-group). In addition, some Thais may also have additional nicknames given by their friends or colleagues especially during their school age or adolescence. These friend-given nicknames are usually linked with a notable physical feature or behavior of that person. For example, a boy who wears glasses may be called “Waen” (Thai: แว่น "glasses") by his friends. After being frequently called Waen by his friends, he may at some point accept that name as another nickname, even though he still uses his family-given nickname when he speaks with members of his family.^{[citation needed]}

Westerners meeting Thais in everyday life will usually be introduced to the Thai person only by their nickname, and will not discover the person's real name unless they ask: Thais tend to assume that Westerners cannot pronounce or remember long Thai names. Except in the most formal situations (meeting a government minister, for example), it is quite acceptable to address or refer to a Thai by their nickname. The nickname can be preceded by "khun". This will seem slightly comic to Thais, but will be understood as a gesture of respect.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Thai honorifics
• Thai royal and noble titles
• http://www.namespedia.com/index.php/Category:Thai
• http://www.namespedia.com/index.php/Category:Asia