The Malays of former times had personal names like Bagus, Bintan, Kicil

and Kasūma which may still be borne by the older generation. Such names are

not without meaning. For instance, Kicil means ‘small’, Bagus ‘fine’ and

Bintan ‘star’. One also still comes across typical Malay female names like

Kartini, Hartini and Melāti. Even nowadays there are said to be those Malay

parents who give their children Malay names like Azehari and Prawira for boys

and Melati and Suratni for girls 4, but this does not hold true for the vast

majority who still prefer names of Arabic origin. These include names like

Akīl, Salīm and Taslim in the case of males and Hafsa, Zīnat and Raihāna in

the case of females.

In Malaysia and to some extent in Indonesia today, the system of surnaming

is derived from the Arab tradition of naming individuals as the sons or

daughters of their fathers. This practice however does not exist among Sri

Lankan Malays who bear patronymics passed down from generation to

generation. Among the prominent Malay patronymics may be cited Ālif, Anif,

Ahlip, Asan, Amat, Amit, Amidon, Ajumain, Akbar, Azūr, Bahar, Bakman,

Bongso, Būrah, Būso, Bangsajayah, Cunci, Cuncīr, Cunkīr, Dīn, Dēn, Dōl, Dūl,

Drahman, Dulapandan, Gunavijāyā, Hamit, Hamidon, Jāyah, Jaldin, Jumat,

Jaimon, Jūnus, Jungkīr, Jamalon, Jumadin, Jurangpati, Kambal, Kutilan,

Kicilan, Lye, Lantra, Laksana, Mīdin, Miskin, Mantārā, Musafar, Mutalif,

Nalawangsa, Raban, Rājon, Sāle, Sāmat, Saban, Saldin, Sampan, Samahon,

Samidon, Sourjah, Suhūd, Sinhawangsa, Singalaksana, Tālif, Wīrabangsa and

Yusuf 5. Those patronymics such as Wīrabangsa, Nalawangsa, Sinhawangsa

and Bangsajayah are of Sanskrit origin, the constituent terms wangsa and

bangsa occurring here having their origins in the Sanskrit vaṁśa ‘family’,

‘clan’, ‘lineage’. Thus Wīrabangsa would signify ‘heroic clan’ and

Sinhawangsa ‘lion clan’.

3 Such names not uncommonly occur in Saldin (2003). The Malay term nōnā also used in Sinhala in the

sense of ‘lady, ‘wife’ seems to have originally denoted a woman of European or Chinese descent or a

woman married to an European or Chinaman as attested in Malay dialects such as Achenese, Javanese and

Sundanese. It was evidently in later times that it came to be adopted by Malay women as a titular prefix

having the sense of ‘lady’ or ‘madam’. The term seems to have arisen from the Portuguese dona ‘lady’ and

the contact of dona and senhora ‘madam’ and their mutual influence (Influencia do Vocabulario Portugues

em Linguas Asiaticas. Rudolfo Dalgado.1913. Trans.with notes, additions and comments by Anthony

Soares.1936).

4 Saldin (2003)

5 Many such Malay patronymics could be gathered from the Directory of Malays found in the Jubilee Book

(1924). A substantial list of Malay patronymics is also provided in Saldin (2003).