In Thailand, family names are so long and unique because you are not supposed to have the same last names as someone if you're not related.
Thai law prevents people from creating a surname that duplicates that of another family. Therefore, Thai citizens have been made to adopt surnames that are longer and more complex in order to keep them unique (e.g. SONJOHNKOKSOONG). It is very uncommon for non-related people to have the same family name.
The respect for elders within Thai culture is something that is lacking within Western culture. The proper term of address for anyone who is older is Pee (placed before their name), which literally translates as older brother or sister, and anyone younger is Nong, which translates as younger brother or sister.
This is largely based on old superstitions from times when health care was not available and there was high infant mortality, as many of these names were supposed to ward off evil spirits from claiming the child.
The Thai name for Bangkok, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon, is actually a short form of the capital's full name, which is rooted in Pali and Sanskrit and is more of a phrase to describe the city than a name: Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet ...
Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapiki-maungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitnatahu holds the world record for being the longest place name on the entire planet, at the length of 85 characters.
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand.
Nguyễn (sometimes abbreviated as Ng̃) is a surname of East Asian people, which is also the most common surname of Vietnamese people.
Madagascan Names and their Meanings
In traditional Madagascan culture, there is only one name, i.e. there is no separate first name and family name. For example, Razafindrandriatsimaniry is a 24 letter name that means the grandson of the prince or nobleman who is envious of no one.
What's the full name? Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit. We think we'll just stick with Bangkok! The city holds the world record for the longest name of a place.
You = Khun. He/She/They = Kao. Female/Male (junior) = Nong. Female/Male (senior) = Pee.
It's the Thai equivalent of “LOL”; when you see “555” /hâa hâa hâa/ (ห้า ห้า ห้า) in Thailand it means “funny” and “laughing out loud”. Occasionally, we will add a plus sign to the fives in order to indicate that the laugh is longer than typed and express a higher level of amusement, e.g. “555555” or just “555+”.
Familial honorifics 'phi' ('older sibling') and 'nong' ('younger sibling') are generally appropriate for people who are close to one another.
Thai is considered a difficult language for English speakers to learn because it has significant linguistic differences. For example, Thai is a tonal language and uses a different writing system.
Thais often refer to their country using the polite form prathet Thai (Thai: ประเทศไทย). They also use the more colloquial term mueang Thai (Thai: เมืองไทย) or simply Thai; the word mueang, archaically referring to a city-state, is commonly used to refer to a city or town as the centre of a region.
Until 1939 the country was known as Siam. The Kingdom has a population of 68 million people, by far the largest city is Bangkok, the national capital with estimated 12 million citizens.
The longest personal name is 747 characters long, and belongs to Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Sr.
THE OLDEST SURNAME IN WORLD IS KATZ (INITIALS OF THE TWO WORDS KOHEN TSEDEK). EVERY KATZ IS A PRIEST DESCENDING IN AN UNBROKEN LINE FROM AARON THE BROTHER OF MOSES 1300 B.C. BOOK 1. Thank you for visiting us here at Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Kushim is the earliest known recorded name of a person in writing. The name "Kushim" is found on several Uruk period (c. 3400–3000 BCE) clay tablets used to record transactions of barley. It is uncertain if the name refers to an individual, a generic title of an officeholder, or an institution.
Thai is a common last name found among Overseas Chinese communities around the world. In fact, "Thai" is the transliteration of several different Chinese surnames. Its meaning varies depending on how it is spelled in Chinese, and which dialect it is pronounced in.
Southern Vietnamese tend to clip some of their sounds, so Nguyen would be pronounced something like “Win” or “Wen.” Northern Vietnamese would keep it, giving a pronunciation more like “N'Win” or “Nuh'Win,” all done as best you can in one syllable.
Thai names (given and family) are diverse and often long. The diversity of family names is due to the fact that Thai surnames are a recent introduction and are required to be unique to a family.
The word farang is one that you will likely hear often when in Thailand. Thai people use it quite often when talking about foreigners and tourists visiting the country.
Thai people generally only refer to white westerners as 'farangs', black people of African descent are commonly referred to as 'farang dam', meaning black farang. Japanese are called 'yippon', there are many names for various races and nationalities in the Thai language.
In Thailand, the citizens refer to themselves as Thai people or by their various ethnicities that live throughout the region. In some regions or areas, the locals may also still consider themselves Siamese referring to the Kingdom's name as Siam prior to the 1930s.