this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
31 points (94.3% liked)

Café

771 readers
1 users here now

Welcome to our virtual third place, The Café.

Come on in and make a new human connection over a cup of coffee (or Teh Tarik). This is a casual community, do whatever you want, share your oyen pics, your frustrations, and even organize a weekend picnic with the community. The world is your oyster.

Rules are simple, be kind and civil with each other. As with any other café, rude patrons will be kicked out.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

*(choose Wisely, as it isn't in the list)

top 28 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Back in the days, it's normal for our grandparents to be named after animals (for the Chinese at least). I'm glad that is no longer the case.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I like working with people named Frog and Tiger.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Those two are not animals that Chinese parents would name their child after. It's inauspicious.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why is tiger inauspicious?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Maybe not so much as inauspicious but rather a not good name. For women, it's used tosay they're fierce and insinuate they're not marriage material.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah I see. I can definitely imagine some gangster with a name like 黃飛虎 lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah gangsters are different lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A terrible day for my dog, Datuk Professor Haram 9

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is objectionable worse than undesirable

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, they're all banned. Malaysia has a law that bans babies being given names that fall into any of the 22 categories on this list. For some reason they've grouped them into names that could cause legal issues (objectionable) and names that are seen as cruel (undesirable). They give some examples but it's not an exhaustive list. If a name is ruled to belong in one of these 22 categories, it isn't allowed.

Every country has really different naming laws so they're neat to read about.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

implying I'm not going to watch out for other lists

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I got a classmate back in the dark old days, whose name translates to "kurang soleh"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

You can get away with this if the name is in another language.

  • Dragons in Chinese names are not unusual. Ah Long etc.
  • Malay names with ~ul are technically objects. Nurul, Kamarul, Abdul etc. ~ul means "of", so for the name to be complete it should have something behind it, usually referring to God, eg. Nurul Ain, Kamaruddin, Abdulrahman. (Sauce: Arab speaking int student told me)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

On your second point, I came across an online comment asking about a Malay name Saiful, "Saif means sword, so it is sword of what?"

When written in Arabic or Jawi, it is romanised as Saif Al-... No wonder they were confused.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

that's why "of what" is a big (grammatical) deal. The usual construction is "of god" (or their many variants) and the ustaz/ahs so particular always lecture lol because konon melayu dah salah. (Anyway the usual construction is Saifuddin or Saifullah if properlah)

ETA: Abdul is also a landmine since it's servant/slave/subject of.... So Abdul Shams would be seen as idolatrous (Shams is the sun)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, Saif-ul-Din (Sword of the Faith) was the name that Arab guy taught me back then. Saif for short. Saiful is grammatically wrong.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Dragons in Chinese names are not unusual. Ah Long

You do realise this is a nickname right? no sane person will name their kid Ah.

The word Long by itself is ok.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yap Ah Loy: the fuck you say about my parents, punk!?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Tbf his name is 亞, not 阿. So that Ah is just “romanised” differently.

But real talk who would name their kid 阿 something lol

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Well yeah, maybe the name is 亚龙(can be translated to Asian Dragon) that usually turned to Ah Long.

But then again, 阿 something is quite rare but i bet it exists.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Oops, yeah that's a poor choice for example. Jakie Chan (Seng Long) would be better?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In the end it depend on who's on duty when you submit the name, as objectionable and undesirable is all subjective and depend on how closed minded or open minded the officer are. I know someone named Ranger(profession), Tiger(animal), and Hunter(profession).

Then we have Leon, which name is connected to Leo(Lion, animal), Rose Daisy Iris Marigold Lily is all flower(plant), Ruby and Jade is gemstone(object), Smith is profession. But all these has desirable connotation, so the "objectionable & undesirable" is basically mean the word that bear negative meaning or is demeaning, like babi or...idk, Corpseflower Tan or Portuguese Man-O-War Kamarudin.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And their offspring, Black Mamba bin Biawak

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Kodok bin Black Mamba al-Biawak

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Mandrake Lim