*(choose Wisely, as it isn’t in the list)
A terrible day for my dog, Datuk Professor Haram 9
Is objectionable worse than undesirable
No, they’re all banned. Malaysia has a law that bans babies being given names that fall into any of the 22 categories on this list. For some reason they’ve grouped them into names that could cause legal issues (objectionable) and names that are seen as cruel (undesirable). They give some examples but it’s not an exhaustive list. If a name is ruled to belong in one of these 22 categories, it isn’t allowed.
Every country has really different naming laws so they’re neat to read about.
Back in the days, it’s normal for our grandparents to be named after animals (for the Chinese at least). I’m glad that is no longer the case.
Those two are not animals that Chinese parents would name their child after. It’s inauspicious.
I got a classmate back in the dark old days, whose name translates to “kurang soleh”
You can get away with this if the name is in another language.
- Dragons in Chinese names are not unusual. Ah Long etc.
- Malay names with ~ul are technically objects. Nurul, Kamarul, Abdul etc. ~ul means “of”, so for the name to be complete it should have something behind it, usually referring to God, eg. Nurul Ain, Kamaruddin, Abdulrahman. (Sauce: Arab speaking int student told me)
On your second point, I came across an online comment asking about a Malay name Saiful, “Saif means sword, so it is sword of what?”
When written in Arabic or Jawi, it is romanised as Saif Al-… No wonder they were confused.
that’s why “of what” is a big (grammatical) deal. The usual construction is “of god” (or their many variants) and the ustaz/ahs so particular always lecture lol because konon melayu dah salah. (Anyway the usual construction is Saifuddin or Saifullah if properlah)
ETA: Abdul is also a landmine since it’s servant/slave/subject of… So Abdul Shams would be seen as idolatrous (Shams is the sun)
In the end it depend on who’s on duty when you submit the name, as objectionable and undesirable is all subjective and depend on how closed minded or open minded the officer are. I know someone named Ranger(profession), Tiger(animal), and Hunter(profession).
Then we have Leon, which name is connected to Leo(Lion, animal), Rose Daisy Iris Marigold Lily is all flower(plant), Ruby and Jade is gemstone(object), Smith is profession. But all these has desirable connotation, so the “objectionable & undesirable” is basically mean the word that bear negative meaning or is demeaning, like babi or…idk, Corpseflower Tan or Portuguese Man-O-War Kamarudin.
Dragons in Chinese names are not unusual. Ah Long
You do realise this is a nickname right? no sane person will name their kid Ah.
The word Long by itself is ok.
Tbf his name is 亞, not 阿. So that Ah is just “romanised” differently.
But real talk who would name their kid 阿 something lol
