Characteristic of Naming Tradition of Minangkabau

Assalamu’alaikum..

Welcome to my second blog, Happy reading..

on the previous blog I explained the meaning of a name, so this time I will tell you about names as identification of one's origins.Ya, the name of someone who has a characteristic that shows which area of origin, the characteristic is not separated from the sound produced from the pronunciation of the name. In this blog I will specifically explain the characteristics of the Minangkabau tribe's self-name.

            Ketek  banamo,  gadang  bagala. That's the phrases or proverbsof the Minangkabau people which means: childhood has a name, adults have a degree. The point is that the Minangkabau people have two greetings, namely the name given by the family in his childhood and the Minangkabau people will get a degree at the time of marriage. About the degree only given to men. For Minangkabau people, a man is considered an adult after marriage and must be respected.

If a newborn child does not have a suitable name, Minangkabau people call boys who say 'Bujang', and 'Upiak' for their daughters. This is the same as the tradition in other regions to distinguish that a child is male or female, like in west java Ujang for boys and Neng for girls.

Usually Minangkabau people give the name of their child with several criteria. The first criteria is using the name of an ancestor or previous person, for example lenggogeni. The second criterion is short from father's name, mother's name, grandfather's name and grandmother's name. For example Enwilfirnis. This is the most unique characteristic of the Minangkabau name even though the name has no meaning. In fact, there are people who think if there is a writer with a unique name, you can make sure he is a Minangkabau person. I'm not sure, but maybe. The third criterion is the first name in Arabic, middle name with father's name and ended with the name of the Minangkabau degree.

I think that's all I know from reading several sources about the unique naming tradition from Minangkabau. Please give me suggestions for my writing in the comment column, friends.

Thank you, and Wassalamu'alaikum.. :)