Malaysian Names - Chinese Names

Chinese Names

Traditional Chinese names are used among the Malaysian Chinese. These names are usually represented as three words, for example Foo Li Leen or Tan Ai Lin. The first name is the Chinese family name, which is passed down from a father to all his children. The two other parts of the name form an indivisible Chinese given name, which may contain a generation name. In Western settings, the family name is sometimes shifted to the end of the name (for example, Li Leen Foo).

Some Chinese also use a Western personal name (for example, Denise Foo), and some use this in preference to a Chinese given name. Most of these are used by Chinese Malaysian Christians. On official documents, this name is either written in the order Western given name - Surname - Chinese given name (e.g. Denise Foo Li Leen), or Surname - Chinese given name - Western given name (e.g. Foo Li Leen Denise), or Western given name - Chinese given name - Surname (e.g. Denise Li Leen Foo). In general practice, only one of the given names – the Western name or the Chinese name – will be used. Chinese Malaysian Muslims may use Arabic given names while some use Arabic-derived Chinese names, e.g. Firdaus Wong Wai Hung.

As no formal system of romanisation is imposed on Chinese names in Malaysia at the time of birth registration, names are often romanised according to the judgement of the registration clerk or according to the preference of the proposer. Hence, romanisation errors are not uncommon resulting in unusual names. Since the 1980s, Pinyin names are becoming more common, although one would not say popular. The Pinyin form is based on Mandarin or Putonghua, whereas most existing romanised surnames are based on dialects. For example, a Tan (Fujian dialect) is Chen in the Pinyin form. In Fuzhou, the existing romanised form is Ding. As parents prefer their children to have the same romanised surname as their father, names such as Tan Jia Ling where Tan is in Hokkien and Jia Ling in Mandarin are becoming common.