Peninsular Malaysia - Origin of Name

Origin of Name

The name "Malaya" is derived from the name of a river of a similar name found in Sumatra.

The name "Malaysia" was vaguely used in the 19th century by some British colonists as an alternative name describing the Malay Archipelago. In 1963, the name was adopted by the new federation uniting the Federation of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore. At the time, the Philippines had been contemplating adopting the name as well.

Peninsular Malaysia is also known as West Malaysia (Malaysia Barat) or Malaya (Tanah Melayu). The term "Peninsular Malaysia" is used more often than "West Malaysia" (to avoid the idea that West and East Malaysia are separate countries like West Germany and East Germany used to be until 1990), or "Malaya" (which is now becoming obsolete due to its connotations of the British colonial era).

Nonetheless, all three terms are correct, and the older term "Malaya" can still be found in many institutional titles, e.g. the High Court of Malaya, the University of Malaya, Malayan Railway, etc., as well as in legal contexts in the phrase the "States of Malaya" (Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu), which should not be confused with the Malay states. In current everyday usage the word Malaya is almost always used jocularly, e.g. "Gempar satu Malaya!" which roughly means "(This news) shakes the whole of Malaya!"