Wednesday 21 August 2013

It is all in the name…. Why am I (not) Dr Nick?

In Malaysia, I am called Dr Nick.... And I couldn't understand why... Today, I found out.

In Malaysia, there are no family names, as in Morris, Smith, Jones etc. Your last name is your father's first name, so if my father's first name was Ian, then I would be Nick Ian. Hence, as I am Dr Nick Morris, this suggests that my father's first name was Morris, and Dr Morris would be my father!

This can get odd for a woman, as they would be Julie Ian, and so would Ms Ian if the European convention was followed.

Thanks to The Simpsons, Dr. Nick has a certain 'feeling' about it. You can read more about Dr. Nick of Simpson's fame on Wikipedia.

If you would like to support my blogging efforts, then please feel free to buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/drnickm

3 comments:

  1. I think that is only applicable for the Malay Muslims community. The Chinese and the Indians have different way of naming.

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    Replies
    1. I believe that is correct, however, everyone seems to call be Dr Nick!

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  2. Actually Malaysian do have family name but different ethnic has different way for naming their family name.

    They call you Dr. Nick is because in Malaysia, we usually call people the first word in their name.

    ReplyDelete