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This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page. |
In naming Burmese-related topics and article titles, please follow these conventions.
Spelling
Because there is no standardized romanization system for Burmese, spellings for the names of people and places often vary widely depending on the source. When a certain spelling is widely predominant in English sources, that spelling should be used. For place names, refer to An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma, published by The Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use, for further guidance.
Honorifics
Although the Manual of Style for biographies generally prohibits titles and honorifics from being used before a person's name, Burmese names are sometimes an exception. As Burmese names are often very short, if it is "U" followed by a single name, you should leave the U in the title. For example, U Nu, U Razak, U Thant. Names that are recognizable without the U, like "U Than Shwe", should generally not include the U.
| Honorific | Burmese | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashin | အရှင် | Lord | Used by monks, nobles, and rarely, for women |
| Bo/Bogyoke | ဗိုလ်/ဗိုလ်ချုပ် | Commander/General | Used for military officers (e.g., Bogyoke Aung San) |
| Daw | ဒေါ် | Aunt/Ms | Used for mature women or women in a senior position (e.g. Daw Mi Mi Khaing) |
| Duwa | ဒူးဝါး | Chief | Used for Kachin chiefs |
| Ko | ကို | Brother (older) | Used for men of similar age (e.g. Ko Mya Aye) |
| Ma | မ | Sister/Ms | Used for young women or women of similar age |
| Mahn | မန်း | - | Used by Kayin men (e.g., Mahn Win Maung) |
| Maung (abbr. Mg) | မောင် | Brother (younger) for boys | Sometimes used as part of given name |
| Mi | Ms | Used by Mon women | |
| Min | မင်း | King | Used as a suffix (e.g. Mindon Min) |
| Minh | Used by Mon boys; equivalent to Maung | ||
| Nai | Mr | Used by Mon men; equivalent to U (e.g., Nai Shwe Kyin) | |
| Nang | Ms | Used by Shan women | |
| Naw | နော် | Ms | Used by Kayin women |
| Sai | Mr | Used by Shan men (e.g., Sai Htee Saing) | |
| Salai | Used by Chin men (e.g., Salai Than Tun) | ||
| Sao | စဝ် | Used by Shan royalty (e.g., Sao Shwe Thaik) | |
| Saw | စော | Mr | Used by Karen men (e.g., Saw Bo Mya); also a common Burmese name |
| Sawbwa | စော်ဘွား | Chief | Burmese approximation of 'saopha', used as a suffix for Shan chiefs (e.g., Nyaungshwe Sawbwa Sao Shwe Thaik) |
| Sayadaw | Teacher | Used for senior monks (e.g., Sayadaw U Pandita) | |
| Shin | Lord | Used by monks and noble women (e.g. Shin Arahan, Yawei Shin Htwe) | |
| Tekkatho | တက္ကသိုလ် | University | Used by writers (increasingly rare, e.g., Tekkatho Phone Naing) |
| Thakin | သခင် | Master | Used by the members of Dobama Asiayone (e.g., Thakin Kodaw Hmaing) |
| Theippan | သိပ္ပံ | Science | Used by writers (rarely used now, e.g., Theippan Maung Wa) |
| U | ဦး | Uncle/Mr | Used for mature men or men in a senior position and monks (e.g., U Thant, U Ottama) |
Polysyllabic names
Longer, polysyllabic names have become increasingly common among the Burmese (3 syllables for males, 4 for females). Unless the name contains Sanskrit or Pali loans, each syllable should be separated with a space. Examples:
- Htet Htet Moe Oo (ထက်ထက်မိုးဦး)
- All are native Burmese words
- Yadanar Khin (ရတနာခင်)
- Yadanar is a Burmese loan of Pali ratana, "jewel"
- Khin is a native Burmese word
- Sandar Ne Win (စန္ဒာနေဝင်း)
- Sandar is a Burmese loan of Pali chanda, "moon"
- Ne and win are native Burmese words
- Tayza (တေဇ) (also spelled Tay Za by media)
- Tayza is a Burmese loan of Pali teja, "glory"
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 6 September 2008, at 13:40.
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