What's in a Nickname?

You might not know this about me, but growing up, I had a nickname. Kimmy. As a kid, I think a nickname is appropriate because you're little and it's cute. However, like most American nicknames, that pretty much died out by about 8th grade. Now, the only people who still occasionally call me by my nickname are people I've known my entire life and it still feels a little strange. I don't really consider Kim to be a nickname but rather just a shortened version of my longer name Kimberly.

Like most people, Thais have a first name and last name, nothing special about that. But what's unusual is that they very rarely use their official names. If you ask any Thai person their real name, you'll immediately understand why everyone goes by a nickname (or in Thai, their chue len which translates to play name). The reason is quite simple: Thai names are generally very long, complicated, and difficult to pronounce (especially for me) so instead, everyone, and I mean everyone has a nickname. And in my English classes, we only go by nicknames. I love them.

Before you judge, know that just like your own name, all Thai nicknames are carefully selected and have a meaning or a reason behind them. I've learned most Thai people get their nicknames shortly after birth as infants, given to them by their parents and used for the rest of their lives. I also know a few Thai people who have two different nicknames. One that their parents call them and one that their friends call them. However, it's much more common to just have one.

Sometimes the nickname resembles something about their personality when they were a baby (for example, "Lek" means small in Thai), sometimes it is a shortened version of their Thai name (for example, if your first name is Jiraporn then your nickname is probably Porn), sometimes it's a Thai word (for example, "Prik" meaning chili, "Poo" meaning crab, or "Moo" meaning pork), but most commonly it's just a seemingly random English word that was in some way meaningful to the parents. I've also heard that these English word nicknames are becoming the more trendy names.

After looking through my class rosters, I composed a list of some of the most common nicknames as well as my favorites. I divided them into some noticeable categories.

Food: Donut, Cake, Cream, Caramel, Oat, Jam, Noodle, Pancake, Fork, Yam, Olive, Cookies, Pear, Apple, Cucumber, Moo (Thai for pork), Nut, and Mint. I actually remember Gwyneth Palthrow got a lot of crap for naming her daughter Apple. If she comes to Thailand, she'll fit right in!

Drinks: Beer, Pepsi, Nam (Thai for water), Milk, Fanta, Pop, Ice, Goon (my Aussie friends will appreciate this one).

Leisure activities: Golf, Game, Ball, Cartoon, Art, Film, Ping Pong, Music, Guitar, Bowling, Book

Transportation: Benz (as in Mercedes Benz), Boat, Bus

Animals: Bird, Deer, Pet, Bee, Kitten, Poo (Thai for crab),

Body: Arm, Eye, Palm, Bum, Mind

Technology: Nokia (like the phone), Amp

Colors: Blue, Champoo (Thai for pink)

Months: May, June (or Joon)

Adjectives: New, Smart, Nice, Best

Numbers: Nine, Seven (my Seinfeld fanatic friends with appreciate this one).

Days of the week: Sunday

Sounds: Bim, Bam, Boom (lol)

Terms of Endearment: Babe, Love, Hun

Verbs: Spin, Stop, Get, Play

Letters: M, F, O, A

Others: Porn, Pee, Ew, Nun, Boss, King, Kid, It, Oak, Tip, Top, Tap, Sai (sand in Thai), Aunty, Dream, Note, Stamp, Oil, Oak, First, Joker, Pun, Fern, Fook, Bank, Earth, Gift, Gun, Jerk, Bell, Bow, Yo, YoYa, Ink.

But my all-time favorite nickname... Name!

Now, keep in mind that I have over 600 students with these types of nicknames. It's difficult. But I'm actively trying to learn them and the students always light up when they see I've remembered their name.

"Good morning, Donut!"
"How are you today, Ping Pong and Pancake?"
"Very good job, Jerk!"
"Gun, can you share your dictionary with Love?"
"Book, where's your notebook?"

Common things that come out of my mouth everyday. 

I know, I know, some these sound absolutely ridiculous (to a Western ear), but these are 100% honestly my students names. I can't make this stuff up. Here's some of my class rosters as proof!

And as random and unique as they may sound, after comparing with English teachers at other schools, these are all just the norm. I remember we all came back from school the first day thinking that our students had the most unique names to only find out that everyone else had students with the exact same ones. In one class, I have 5 boys named Oat and 3 girls named Pop. It reminds me how I use to have 5 boys named Matt and 3 girls named Ashley in my class in elementary school. 

However, we can sit here all day and laugh over how some Thai nicknames (like Porn, Prik, and Poo) translate into English, but you have to understand that it also works the other way around. For example, the name Jim translates to Thai as a slang word for a female body part (if you know what I mean...). I'm sure there's Thai's sitting around wondering what parents in America were possibly thinking naming their poor son Jim. 

This isn't one of my own students, but there's a boy at my school in M4 named (excuse my language) Fuck Fang. I'm serious. He's known around school as being a computer whiz, so he's constantly in our office fixing our computer. Our printer breaks quite often, so "Damn it! Where's Fuck Fang?" is a common question heard around the office. 

Also, sometimes the way that parents tell their kids to spell their nickname isn't exactly how we would probably spell it. I have a student who wrote on his name tag "Gay." "How do you say your nickname?" I asked. "Guy" he responded. Ohhhhh. Good thing I asked. Also, sometimes even though the student's nicknames are a seemingly easier version of their name, I still can't pronounce them correctly and the kids get quite the kick out of watching me try. For example, there's a common nickname "Toey" which I just cannot for the life of me pronounce correctly.

However, sometimes these nicknames come up in daily interactions that are secretly funny to only me. For example, yesterday, I randomly called on two students to come to the front of the class to perform their role play dialogue. "Okay, Poo and Pee can you please stand up." Once I realized what I had said, I just stopped and politely chuckled to myself. Sometimes, Jeff and I take the same train home as one of his students, Best. Every time we see him, Jeff makes it a special point to tell me, "That kid Best is seriously the best." I also have a student named Boss and whenever he asks for something, I secretly want to respond, "You got it, Boss."

There is no shortage of whimsical Thai nicknames. I find these nicknames to be so fun and endearing, and just one more reason to smile here everyday. Maybe I should have a Thai nickname. Any suggestions?