The name game.

Was  initially toying with the idea of blogging the unique and most of the times funny nicknames of Filipinos but decided to deviate a bit  after I read this article. Matthew Sutherland’s essay is hilarious, I cannot top it. He is an expat from UK (though I’m really sure if he still resides in the country) and he wrote about his observation as a foreigner living in Manila. I suggest you read it and you’ll know what I mean.

Anyway, at first  I didn’t really find our nicknames funny until I got exposed to several cultures.  I reckon it’s perfectly normal to have a Dad nicknamed  “Boy”, a schoolmate  named “Agirl”, to call a friend “Boy Blue”. My neighbors have perfectly normal nicknames as well, like “Baby Boy, Len-Len, Gigi and Jhem Jhem”. My Belgian hubby further brought this uniqueness to my attention. When he met my uncles, Alberto “Berting” and Ernesto “Erning”, he directly baptized them “Bert” and “Ernie” of Sesame Street fame.

Most if not all Filipinos have nicknames.  It’s a term of endearment given by their parents or an elder in the family. Some nicknames last through lifetime, while others evolved through time.  What’s amusing though is that some nicknames have no semblance whatsoever to the person’s real name and most often than not, we remember the nicknames but not the real name of our friends/colleagues.

This nicknaming phenomena can only be found in the Philippines.

Just for comparison, the nationalities in Asia have their own  naming system as well. Take Indonesia for example. Back then, when I was still new in the office, I asked a former colleague her full name because I want to introduce her to a Client. She said ‘Suryani’. I asked back “full name please”. She replied “Suryani”. I thought this one was pulling my leg.  I even had to explain to her that my first name is “Rochelle” and my last name is “Rosales”, so what’s hers. She again replied “Suryani”. I later found out that a number  of Indonesians only have first names, no surname at all. Thais  have super mega long names. A sample surname would be “Niratpattanasai”  and we’re just talking surnames here. Their first names are quite long as well but their nicknames are composed of 3-4 characters like “Pla” or “Oak”.Vietnamese is the hardest for me primarily because it’s made up of 6 tones versus Mandarin’s. 4.  My previous team is named “Huyen, Nguyen, Hoang, Hoan… believe me, to say it the first time was like tongue twister advance class.

-r-