What S In A Name Millennial Parents Trolled For Giving Fanciful Malay Monikers To Their Kids

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SHOULD names reflect ethnic identity or just be monikers of cool?
That seems to be the semi-sarcastic query from X user, Alziret (@Vaikosa) who pointed to the name ‘Nurul Irish’ as a prime example of modern Malays taking naming rights a tad too far.

Editor’s Note: A quick search online reveals that “Nurul” is an Islamic name that denotes light or “cahaya” but “Irish” has no specific Islamic translation or meaning except to perhaps commemorate that the person is born in Ireland.
The simple observation has already amassed 1,1M views and no shortage of comments on this trend of Malay parents adding fancy addendums to their offspring names.
Interestingly, the poster went on to sarcastically surmise that “Nurul Irish” originally hailed from that lost Gaelic province – Segambut Dalam!

It was observed that this trend of giving long, fancy names was prevalent among “Millennial Malays (parents)” with this commenter suggesting that one just need to ask any public-school teacher for proof.

It was also jokingly noted that such names become an exercise in futility as they are eventually shortened or abbreviated to unglamourous sounding nicknames. For instance, “Nurhamizah Safia Dania” would come to be known as plain old “Mijah” to family and friends.

A medical professional grumbled about the ‘Rayyan’ and ‘Danish’ that were previously commonplace at her clinic. These have now been superseded by ‘Aryan’ and ‘Rayqari’.

Right on cue, there was a post on Facebook that purported to highlight these new-fangled names as read out by a nurse at Klinik Gemilang Subang Bestari.
There were the outlandish, unpronounceable and the plain ridiculous (though it is suspected a number were included just for laughs such as those purportedly based on Transformers’ characters).

 
The Facebook post has also amassed 518K views for the clip with 6.4K likes, 385 comments and 663 shares, denoting that more than a few found the whole practice quite amusing.
One commenter could not help but be tickled pink by these European-sounding names belonging to persons of obviously Nusantara (Malay Archipelago) origins.

There was no need to give kids Mat Salleh-sounding names as their meaning/significance was more important than it sounding glamourous, argued one commenter.

Another commenter grumbled that the long, multi-part monikers are an inconvenience for all, not least the children themselves. Calling this practice as “attention seeking”, it was observed that all too often, these names are reduced to mono-syllables like ‘Sha’.

The same clip was shared on Meanwhile in Malaysia FB forum which also drew plenty of hilarious comments.


That such tongue-twister and extended monikers would take forever to fill in forms or exam papers was also highlighted. “Pity the kids” seems to be the prevailing sentiment.

This practice of giving outlandish names to Malay kid certainly seems to have gained traction as can be seen from the posts above.
So long as the name is not offensive, there’s really no reason why parents shouldn’t exercise some creativity in naming their children. As long as the names don’t make a child feel ridiculous or make them targets of mischief, why not? –  Focus Malaysia

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