Confusion About Surnames Among Malaysian Chinese

Posted by Omri Aharon on September 10, 2002 at 03:57:13:

Hi there, I found one aricle submitted by Jasmine rather interesting. Surname/s can be employed to manage our lives better. One immediate benefit is the enabling of a Database System to operate more accurately. Surnames are by far most efficient common denominator for statisticians, database managers and the like to establish links between individuals. The article submitted by Jasmine has substantially explained the justifications for an acknowledged proper Surname System.

However, as an observer: - even though the ethnic Chinese of Malaysian employ surnames/(more appropriately Family Names); I noticed that a lot of Malaysian Chinese students appeared to be rather confused when they see their names in the somewhat odd arrangement in University Documents. For example, let's start with a Malaysian Chinese whose PRINTED name on his NRIC Joseph Teo Kim Hock. A Malaysian would usually know that this format is generally used for ethnic Chinese with a Christian/European Name. In this case the FAMILY NAME is in the middle of this particular printed name in question. (Christian Name -FAMILY NAME - GENERATION NAME/GIVEN NAME - GIVEB NAME/GENERATION NAME).

Now, let's assume that this fellow Joseph Teo Kim Hock is not very familiar with Western Naming Convention. He would probably have the shock of his life if he sees his name printed as either Kim Hock Joseph Teo or Joseph Kim Hock Teo. To avoid this scenario happening to an ethnic-Chinese Malaysian studying in a Western Universities; University Registry Database administrators (University of Otago New Zealand for example), they have lumped all the Chinese Names and put them together in the SURNAME ENTRY FIELD and leave JOSEPH in the GIVEN NAME ENTRY FIELD. The result: It seems excellent in the eyes of this poor Joseph Teo Kim Hock. Little does he know that he won't share the same surname with one of his natural siblings in next year's enrolment. Suppose his brother's name on the Malaysian NRIC is Robert Teo Kim Boon, this fellow is not going to be immediately identified as a person sharing the same surname as Joseph's. Worse still is the case with ethnic Malaysian Chinese without Christian/European Name. Theirs would simply appear as names without Given Names in the University Registry. This misunderstanding often results in eventual miscommunication/ communication breakdowns in their dealing with legal-related authorities.

The above scenario is an attempt by me to explain the current prevaling misunderstanding among Malaysia's ethnic Chinese who study in Western Universities as International students. Little do they know that their Korean and Taiwanese and even Hong Kong Chinese counterparts (who have similar naming format in their respective ethnic scripts with Malaysia's ethnic Chinese)write their name in Given Name - Family Name Format. This order is only reversed when their names are entered in official database where Family Name comes first.

By the way, I also came accross one incident of a Malay student being asked about his "Christian" name by an Australian Registry Officer. This Malay student replied bluntly by stating that he has not got a "Christian" name but only a Muslim name. In Western English - Speaking Countries, "Christian Name" has become synonymous with "First Names". This is one instance where clashes of interpretation of the semantic properties of the word in question which leads to hostility in communication.

Issues associated with naming conventions can be rather sensitive but one has to realise the potential collective goodness one proposed system is going to bring (in this instance - the proposed SURNAME system for Malaysia by Datuk Azizan Ayob).

Ethnic Chinese Malaysian should be educated about the Western Naming conventions by properly trained informers/ facilitators (those who have clear bicultural understandings as to why naming conventions are so diverse). Malays and South Indians of Malaysia should realise one common denominator for names of immediate family members make administrative works heaps easier. For South Indians of Malaysia - look at the practice of your North Indian brethrens who do employ a common surname after their father's name. Very often, the surnames of North Indians indicate their place of origins and castes which are in fact so similar to Chinese Surnames and the European ones as well.

That's all for now. To do this article justice - you should read it with open mind. It's a difficult task to put in words such a comples issue.