Interesting Malaysian facts. Malays and most Indians do not have a Surname / family name. In place of surname, they have son/ daughter of 'father's name'. Traditionally the Chinese have their surname in front. #culture #Malaysia
Most Malaysian women do not take the husband's surname after marriage. I noticed that most of those who did were those that married Westerners. This led to some confusion when we were in the UK as my wife did not take my surname after marriage.
I was sometimes called Mr. Ghazali, which is my wife's father's name. My wife doesn't mind when she is called Mrs. Mutum as she understands that cultures can be different.
Can be problematic when you or your dad have long names. So some people end up with a name composed of 6 or even 7 words. Many forms have limited space and sometimes it is not possible to put the whole name in your ic/ passport. Happened to my daughter a few times.
In academia, I now realize that many Malay and Indian academics are cited by their father's names. And some Chinese academics are cited using their first names and not their actual surnames.
Also realised that some of the Indonesians living in Malaysia do not have a surname at all, only a single name. Can be a problem when electronic forms require you to fill in a surname.
@threadreaderapp unroll please
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
