Naming Rights.
What's in a name? You may well ask, when living in - or visiting - Singapore.
The Chinese name themselves ‘back to front' as far as Westerners are concerned. What I mean by that is that the Surname comes first, followed by two given names - sometimes linked, sometimes separated.
Some of them have just one given name but this is still a rarity here.
So, you could have the name Tan Ming Guan. Tan being the family name, Ming Guan the given names. Therefore the above person would be called Ming Guan by family and friends.
There is though a little more to it.
If the above Tan Ming Guan was a boy then traditionally (it's dying out in some areas...but still predominant in most) all the boys in this generation - brothers and cousins - would have the middle name Ming.
The last name being the distinctive difference between same-generation relatives...and an easy way of identifying each generation of the Tan family.
Malays take the name of their father as their ‘surname', with their given name appearing in front of it.
So, if a Malay gentleman introduced himself to you as Abdul Razak. This would mean his given name is Abdul (the one to call him by) and his father's name Razak.
In turn, the father could have been named Razak Jufri - his father having the first name Razak - his father Jufri...and so on back through the generations.
Malay girls names sometimes come with a ‘binte' meaning ‘daughter of'. Thus you could have a Rafida binte Azam who is the daughter of Mr Azam...and so on.
Best way to remember what names to use. With Chinese use their last two (or just the last) names....with Malays use their first name.
It's a name game!