Actions

Work Header

Rating:
Archive Warning:
Categories:
Fandoms:
Additional Tags:
Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Info for writer in Thai fandom , Part 4 of All Radish writes
Collections:
Anonymous
Stats:
Published:
2022-05-10
Updated:
2024-12-13
Words:
50,919
Chapters:
21/22
Comments:
277
Kudos:
664
Bookmarks:
348
Hits:
22,402

Thai language and culture

Anonymous

Chapter 2: How to Name Your OC

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Lets start with what name you shouldn't use.

A name that resembles the king, the queen, or a title conferred by the king (only of the current, the Chakri Dynasty) is illegal. For example, the late King Rama 9's name is Bhumibol Adulyadej, so if you tried to name your kid Bhumibol or Adulyadej, they wouldn't let you register. But if you cut it short enough, it might still work, like Bhum. Bhum pronouse phum Or Bol pronouse pon (it's the most accurate I can make) is actually a fairly common name. 

Mis-gender name, Some names have genders, and if you can't read Thai, there is a chance that you might make some mistakes, and it would be alright. But here are a few very obvious examples so you could avoid some of it: "Chai(ชาย)", which means "man", Don't use a name that has the word "Chai" in it for a woman character. The same with Ying(หญิง), which means woman.
**There are many other words that are spelled as "chai" in English but spelled differently in Thai, and they don't mean "man" either, but most of them still are man's names.

The concept of gender in names and the view that words that will be used as people's names need to have some kind of specific quality rather than just anything were actually introduced into societies not that long ago in Plaek Phibunsongkhram's government era. But it is now the norm.

And one last thing.
It isn't necessarily a bad name, but it's my pet peeve, so...
Anything starts with Som(สม). If it's "som+anything", the chance is they are really old fashion names. 90% of the people with these names are definitely not teenagers. Most would atleast be in their 40s or something. Except Som without anything after or Som-O, because it's actually different Som. It's pronounced with a different tone.

 

So what name should you use? 

For the first name, I would suggest you just copy the actual Thai first name you know. It is the easiest choice. You could search for a Thai celebrity's name or you could use a website for naming babies. Nothing could go wrong with that!

For the surname It is more difficult than the first name. We can't just copy an already exciting last name. Because in reality, while you can always create a new surname, it needs to be unique. Unless there is some error that occurs, Thai people who have the same surname are related, whether since birth, by marriage, or by adoption. If someone wants to create a new surname today, they will need to make sure that the surname they have in mind hasn't already been taken. The first thing they could do is check with the civil registration website. I guess you could use the name of some place, like the name of an old village or mound, as your OC last name. It would be like their ancestors came from that place, or you could try to find some well-meaning word in Pali or Sanskrit if you want. Well, it's not really limited to those two things since a real surname can actually be quite random, but those are pretty safe. I think the hardest thing about a surname is that it usually links to the background of that family to some degree, and if you don't know what you gave your character, it could be a bit weird. You could find some random word to be a surname, but I wouldn't recommend that. 

And for the nickname, the easiest of them all, you can use anything. Literally anything, with just a small exception. For example, from A-Z except E because it is homonymous with a rude word, and N because it is homonymous with a word that means sinew, you could use any letter and it wouldn't be that weird. Some might be more popular than others, but all could be used. You could just cut the legal name into one syllable and use that. It might be a little weird if you pick the wrong syllable to keep, but the risk is not that great. Stick to the last syllable, and it's mostly safe. You could use any animal you see as cute (except dogs; they're cute, but we already use dog as a curse word) as a name too. Just google translate it to Thai (or not). Fruit is the same way. And the weather too. From the sun to the storm to the grass, as long as it's cute or has a good ring to it, it can be used. 

I have seen quite a few foreigners express that they think that the reason why some Thai people's names are random English words is because the one who picks them isn't well versed in English, but in my opinion, a lot of names that are Thai words are also equally random, and this is just how our culture is.

Bonus+

  • If you want to name siblings, many Thais like to make their children's names be the same set, such as having the same initial letter, using the same word or sound as a first syllable, using words that the meanings go together, like Mek-เมฆ(cloud) and Mork-หมอก(mist), or choosing a rhyming word.
  • Most Thai people's first names and surnames are Pali/Sanskrit, which is a dead language, or Thai words that can be used in daily life. For nicknames, they can be the shorten form of first names, so it can be a meaningless sound, Pali/Sanskrit or Thai words, or it can be anything the namer chooses, such as random Thai or foreign words, brand names, or whatever.
  • If you want to attempt a period, do know that a canon nickname has a high likelihood of being a name that will never be used in an accurate setting, since using those foreign words as a nickname is a rather recent trend. What name you should use will depend on various factors. But generally speaking, surnames, many-syllable names, and genders in names are quite new (it used to be pretty unisex. And maybe even more random??) Not ancient, I mean.
  • Sensible parents will choose a good-meaning name for their child. Not so sensible parents and writers might choose a not-so-good-meaning name for their child. There are so many novels with characters who have got really weird names. Sometimes I swear the writer chooses that name purely for pun purposes.
  • If a character's name looks like an English word when spelled in English, then there is a high chance that it is really that English word. Sometimes it might just be a coincidence, but most of the time it is an English word and if it is not pronounced like one, it's because it's just more convenient to say it in a heavily Thai accent among Thai people. And to be honest, even names containing Thai words won't be pronounced "right" all the time, especially if there is a diphthong in there.
  • Quite a few people choose to name their babies' nicknames after a place they conceive when it is obvious where is it happen, like, after they go on vacation abroad. or any other special event, activity, or reason that leads to it. So the country or town, as a nickname, can be because of that.😳😳
  • http://161.200.50.2/th2roman -->for transcribing Thai words into English.
  • If you want to, you could check out my Tumblr for character names' meaning posts. That might give you more ideas about Thai names and surnames. As I said, some writers do pick weird names for their characters, but even then, it's usually not that much weirder than reality.

Notes:

I say should or shouldn't, but that's just my opinion, so if you like a name, don't think too hard about it and just go with it, okay?
Good luck!