Malay Name Trends (But You're Chinese...!)

First off, I don’t have a Malay name. Neither do my relatives (I dunno, maybe it’s because I’m Chinese?) But I spent 16 years in Malay schools and university (17, if you include kindergarten...), I’ve befriended hundreds and hundreds of Malay friends and neighbours.


And I’ve noticed trends come and go over the years when it comes to their names. But bear in mind this isn’t definitive, and dudes like MackZul can probably give a better account, but this is just my observation…


GIRLS

Born BEFORE 1970’s:

• What my friend calls ‘kampung’ names, with short form - Zabedah (Bedah), Latifah (Tipah), Fatimah (Timah), Maimunah (Maimun), Aminah (Minah), Sharifah (Rifah? Pah?).
  

Born DURING the 1970’s:

• The prefix Siti. Example – Siti Halijah, Siti Manisah, etc.
  
• The prefix Nur or Noor. Example – Nurashikin, Siti Noor Farizah, etc.
  
• Traditional names – Jamaliah, Rozilah, Mariam, etc.
  

Born in the 80’s and 90’s:

• English names – Sarah, Emilia, Lina, Mimi, Masha
  
• Super long names – Siti Nurfarahin Dayangku Intan, Noor Elfina Putri Syafinaz.
  

BOYS

Born BEFORE 1970’s:

• Ali
  
• Abdullah
  
• And those named after prophets.
  

Born DURING the 1970’s:

• Mostly ending with ‘din’. Example – Kamaruddin, Jamaluddin, Hairuddin.
  
• Mostly ending with ‘man’. Example – Leman, Azman, Rahman, Lokman, Suparman (no, really!).
  

Born in the 80’s and 90’s:

• English names. Example – Alex, Jeffrey, MackZul (I say, joking only aa?)
  
• Super long names – Mohd Dzicky Fyemmy Mohd Nor Azwan, Ahmad Iskandar Zulkarnain Al-Bukhari, etc.
  
• Indonesian names – Putra Kurniawan, Ismaryanto and some more I can’t remember (not that many around, but there definitely was a trend going)
  

Malaysian Chinese names? Don’t get me started. OK, I will, next week (*groan*...)

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