Most Chinese use the Clan name as the 1st part. In the Western world, it is known as Surname or Last name.
Based on where they came from and where they are residing, they may write their name as
Traditional usage
Clan name, Group name, Personal name
Clan name, Personal name, Group name
Conforming to the Western World
Personal name, Group name, Clan name
Group name, Personal name, Clan name
Siblings
Their names usually have the 1st part (Fixed), 2nd part (Fixed) and 3rd part (Varying).
According to Stan Liou (M67), some siblings (mostly from the Northern part of China) prefer the convention 1st part (Fixed), 2nd part (Varying) and 3rd part (Fixed).
Miscellaneous
A Chinese character may also have one or more rendering in English. For example, Khoo or Chiu.
Some Chinese use the 12-generation naming convention.
Korean names
Lee , Kim and Park are some popular Korean names.
Some Koreans use the 7-generation naming convention.
Indian names
Indian names may be based on their religion.
Hindus are often named after their deities and their likeness. e.g. Rama, Krishna, Ramamurthy, Krishnamurthy
An Indian name may have “Deep”, “Deepak” or “Dipa” meaning light or wisdom.
Male Sikhs have “Singh” as their middle name. e.g. Davinder Singh Saluja Female Sikhs have “Kaur” as their middle name.
Muslims are named after their prophet and as “servers” of Allah. e.g. Muhammad, Rahmin
Christians may have Biblical names.
Some are named Gautama (or its variants)
Indian names may vary with region. In some parts, the name may include place of birth and trade. The father’s name may be carried on as the middle name of the son.
Mexican names
Many males are named Jesus.
Many females are named Maria.
Mexican names may have four parts : two for personal name, one for father’s name, and the last for mother’s name.
Mexicans may use a hyphenated last name (with a hyphen between the parent’s names).
Greek names
Some Greeks name their first grandson after the paternal grand father and their second grandson after the maternal grand father.
Native American names
Some Native American tribes use an elaborate naming convention. The names of two Native Americans of the same tribe can portray their relationship (e.g. one is the second maternal uncle).
It was not common to have long names. An exception is a cartoon character named “Khin Maung Thein Tun Win”
Same name
We need additional information to disambiguate the names.
Aung Myint
U Aung Myint (M67, GBNF) Helped U Win Thein (M67) with Set Hmu Thadinzin. Worked for UNICEF.
U Aung Myint (M69) Taught at RIT and Singapore Poly. Hobbies : Painting, Motivational messages
Poly Aung Myint (Standing 3rd)
U Aung Myint (Pet69, GBNF) Taught at RIT Known for his cartoons (notably Kyant Ba Hone) Patron of “RIT Cartoon Box”
Ko Kyant
U Aung Myint (Min70) Actor, guitarist and vocalist. Known as “Thamankyar Ko Myint”.
Thamankyar Ko Myint
U Aung Myint “Yogi Thway Say” Operates a recording studio (initially for his spouse : Phyu Thi).
Dr. Aung Myint (Chemistry)
U Aung Myint (Donald, Dhamma friend)
Han Sein
U Han Sein (C69) Multiple sports athlete : Swimming, Water Polo, Basketball “TONE KYAW”. 69er HCF members inadvertently put him in the GBNF list unaware that the Adhamma authorities “sneaked him away” for many years.
U Han Sein (M72) Taught at RIT Joined the Navy. Retired as a Deputy Minister.
U Han Sein (Dawei) Father : U Maung Lwin
Soe Win
U Soe Win (M66) Close friend of Saya Lin (M66).
U Soe Win (EP69, GBNF) Captain of RIT Basketball team.
U Soe Win (EC70) Worked for UCC and PTC.
Dr. Soe Win (SPHS58) stood First in Burma. Retired as Rector of YUFL
U Soe Win (Met and Hydro)
U Soe Win (NHK)
Misspelled names
Some names are misspelled
The most notable is Saya U Tin Swe. Many called him wrongly as U Tint Swe or U Tin Shwe.
Mispronounced names
Some Myanmar names cannot be easily pronounced by foreigners.
My name is Hla Min. Hla means “handsome” and Min means “king”.
My name has only six letters, but it has been misspelled and mispronounced in more than six ways.
They include HAL, HALAL, LA, LAH, MINH and MING.
HAL is an American name. HAL is also the name of a rouge computer in science fiction. The letters precede those of IBM (International Business Machines) by a position.
HALAL means “scripture-compliant” for Muslims e.g. Halal meat “clean food”
LA is a musical tone as in DO-RE-ME-FA-SO-LA-TI
LAH is a Singlish word (Singaporean English)
MINH is a Vietnamese name (e.g. HO CHI MINH)
MING is a Chinese name (e.g. MING Dynasty)
It motivated me to give a series of speeches at Toastmasters International:
Meaning of names
Naming conventions
Names of people
Names of Theravada monks
Names of places
Names of companies
Names of products
At Toastmasters meetings, I asked the attendees if they know the meaning of their names. A few tried to Google their names.
Remembering Names
Some people do not seem to remember names.
Can we help them?
One way to remember names is to register them preferably with an association.
Examples:
Stein means a stone. Einstein means “one stone”.
Peter means “the rock [of faith]” The first Pope is Peter. Variations : Bedr, Peta and Pedro.
To Indians, Deep means light and implies wisdom. Deepavali (or Diwali) is the Festival of Lights.
San is a prefix for male saints. San Francisco is the Spanish name for St. Francis.
Santa is a prefix for female saints. Examples : Santa Ana, Santa Barbara and Santa Clara
During our younger days, some Burmese spell their name as “E” instead of “Aye“.
U E Maung served as Professor and Head of the Burmese Department at the University of Rangoon. Saya’s book “Kabyart Pann Kone” (Garland of Poems) was a prescribed text. His spouse Daw Khin Mya Mu (aunt of Sayama Daw Khin Saw Tint, U Nay Oke Tint, Dr. Thane Oke Kyaw Myint) was a Kyauk Sar (stone inscription) expert.
Dr. Nyunt Wai wrote :
Dr U E, Professor of Medicine, Rangoon General Hospital and Medical College; later served as the Rector of the Medical College 2.
Guinness Book of World Records The idea was proposed by the McWhorter twins. One perished in an IRA bombing. The book expanded in size with the editions. There is a TV show and a web site. in the mid 1950s, Mingun Sayadaw was listed for his phenomenal memory.
