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What Your Name Can Tell About You
The Secret of Myanmar Names
by _Kim Si-eun, CEO of ASEAN Labadvised by _Monk Sandima

In an earlier column, I wrote that for Thai people, the day they are born determines their color. In Myanmar, the days of the week are especially important. While saju, the “four pillars of destiny”used in Korea, only requires the time you were born on your date of birth, in Myanmar, you need to know the day of your birthday. When naming a child in Korea, these four pillars are used at naming centers. While Myanmar people also have naming centers, traditionally, they must follow the consonants determined by the day of the week they were born.For example, kids born on Monday should be named with K initials, such as Khin, Khine, Kyaw, and Kyi, and the names of those born on Tuesdays must start with an S or a Z, such as San, Su, and Zaw. Wednesdays are divided into morning and afternoon, with the morning names being Win, Yin, and Lin, and the afternoon names usually beginning with Ya. Thursday names start with an M, including Mya and Myint, Friday is Th with Thein and Thinn, Saturday starts with T, such as Tin and Tun, and Sunday is Aung and Aye.By this logic, it can be inferred that Monk Sandima, who provided guidance for this column, was born on Tuesday. Also, former president Thein Sein, the first president of Myanmar’s civilian government, was likely born on Friday. Certainly, this is not the only way people are named in Myanmar. Some may have an English name or take after their parents’ names, In recent years, it has become common not to follow this formula.

According to saju, Koreans believe people’s characters are more or less determined by their Asian zodiac sign, while the Myanmar people believe that a person’s character is formed depending on the day of the week they were born. For example, a person born on a Wednesday is imaginative but has difficulty putting their ideas into practice. Some say that people born on Friday are talkative.Another feature of Myanmar names is that they do not have a surname. Instead, they add an honorific before their name that is determined by their relationship. For example, the honorific U, equivalent to “Mr”, and Daw which is equivalent to “Ms.”in English, can be attached to seniors or people you meet for business. For close friends and siblings, men are addressed by Ko, and women are called Ma. It’s important that the honorifics shouldn’t be removed even after becoming friends. When visiting Myanmar, it is courteous to ask the other party about their honorific, and use it when addressing them.