It is seen that the Department of Population under the Ministry of Immigration and Population is continuously carrying out the collection and maintenance of population and household content census data.
There are 135 ethnic groups in Myanmar and names are being given to people based on their ethnicity, tradition, culture, and customs. The Chin people name is initiated by Salai, the Shan people Sao, and the Kayin people Saw. As a consequence, just by looking at his name, you can tell which ethnic group he belongs to.
It is important to register the name of a person in an ethnic group correctly when the population and household content is recorded. Writing a name of a person in an ethnic group correctly means respecting the customs and culture of the respective ethnic group. On the other hand, the correct list of names will be available without any mistake.
I am an ethnic Rakhine. It has also been seen that there are inconveniences due to errors in the spelling of Rakhine names in government offices and departments. When performing office works, the names of the people are often recorded. In doing so, the relevant personals record Rakhine names without understanding the nature of Rakhine tradition of giving the names to their children, causing difficulties in searching for documents later.
Even the Rakhine ethnics government staff don’t take it seriously and act carelessly. In previous years of administering the COVID-19 vaccine, relevant government staff (Rakhine ethnic staff themselves) asked people’s names to be recorded.
When a recommendation for relevant documentation is requested and applied, difficulties are encountered due to wrongly recorded names. I have personally experienced very difficult situation to tackle the problem.
Rakhine tradition of giving names
The names of the Rakhine people are usually given in trisyllable. The names begins with “ U, Maung or Ma” as well as naming by other syllables. For example: “ Maung Htun Min, Thein Shwe Maung, U Tha Kyaw, Maung Tha Hla, Maung Wai Nu, Kyaw Tun Wai, Tha Htwee Aung, Ah HTwee Bon.” They are male names.
The names of women are also given such as “Ma Aye Khin, Thu Za Wai, Hla Tin May, U Ngwe Sein, U Tin Aye, Ma Mya Oo, Ma Htwee Yin, Da Htwee May,” and etc.You can also know who is the firstborn son or daughter of a family by looking at the name. If the name contains “U”, “Wai”, etc., he or she is the eldest child.
The youngest son or daughter is given “Htwee” to indicate that he or she is the youngest or last child. One remarkable thing is that if the firstborn son or daughter is the child of parents who are the the eldest ones, the name of their firstborn son or daughter is included “Wai” instead of “U”.
The firstborn son or daughter of father (U) Maung Hla Oo and mother (Daw) U Kyawt Sein is given the name containing “Wai” instead of “U”. “U” or “Wai” is placed anywhere in the name, whether in the first, in the last, or in the middle. For example, U Kyaw Htun, Kyaw Hla Oo, Maung Oo Kyaw, Wai Tha Aung, Tha Htun Wai, Kyawt Wai Sein, etc. For women, Khaing Hnin Wai, Wai Wai Than, Mya Thein Wai, etc.
According to Myanmar culture, people who are more dignified and older than someone are addressed using the titles as “U” or “Daw” in their names with respect, and they are also often addressed as “U” or “Daw” when registering their names.
Although there is no problem in addressing and writing them with the title “U” or “Daw” in their common names, it is necessary to be careful when addressing the names containing “U”, “Maung”, “Ma” to address them the titles “U” or “Daw”. For example, there is no problem calling Thein Shwe Maung as U Thein Shwe Maung, Kyaw Tun Wai as U Kyaw tun Wai, Thu Zar Wai as Daw Thu Zar Wai, and Hla Tin May as Daw Hla Tin May. But it is wrong if you call Maung Tun Min as U Tun Min without Maung. It must be U Maung Tun Min. Similarly, Maung Tha Hla must be recorded as U Maung Thar Hla and U Tha Kyaw as U Oo Tha Kyaw.
Once in our office, there were two men U Kyaw Thein and Maung Kyaw Thein. They are older than me so I used to call them using the title “U”. When I told the office assistant to call U Kyaw Thein, he often got into trouble by bringing me the wrong person U Kyaw Thein or Maung Kyaw Thein. Later, it became convenient when I differentiate Kyaw Thein with double U and Kyaw Thein with single U.
In female names, you cannot remove Ma Aye Khin calling her Daw Aye Khin. Only Daw Ma Aye Khin is correct. U Tin Aye cannot be called Daw Tin Aye. Only Daw Oo Tin Aye is correct. Similarly, Daw Ma Mya Oo, Daw Ma Htwee Yin, etc. should be called.
When the names were recorded for COVID-19 medical treatment, the wife of my friend had given her name as Daw Ngwe Nu, and later, her husband had difficulties in finding her name in the register.
In summary, authentic Rakhine names often have three syllables and it is important not to remove “U, Maung, Ma” if they are at the beginning of the names.
In the time we were young, my friend U Tun Tha mulishly responded to the calling of his superior officer because he was called Ko Tun Tha, causing a serious problem. His superior officer might be reluctant to call him addressing “U” title because my friend was more junior and younger than he was. But it was because of not understanding the tradition of giving Rakhine name to their child. Obviously! His name must be called Ko Oo Tun Tha.
Therefore, it is necessary to understand customs of giving names to avoid problems when writing and pronouncing not only Rakhine names but also the names of other ethnic groups. It is important to note that correctly writing the names of ethnic groups means paying respect and acknowledgement of the customs and culture of the relevant ethnic groups.
Translated by Nyan Tin
