'Rebranding' through Names: A New Revolution in the Malays’ Identity Identification

Abstract

It is a common belief among Malays in Malaysia that someone’s name will have a great influence upon the development of their personality. As for Malays who are Muslims in religion, some guidelines for naming a child are included in their religious teachings. The general practice of Malays in selecting names for their children involves the names in Arabic with some meaningful denotations. However, some Malay parents nowadays seem to ignore their Malay tradition and religious teachings in naming their children. This new practice of naming children among Malays apparently has signaled the process of ‘rebranding’ the Malays through their names that resemble English names which is currently pervasive in that community. Therefore, it is important for the perception of the Malays with their English-resembled names or à la English names to be examined because this seemingly new revolution in the identification of the Malays’ identity can probably give rise to many problems in the sense of identity association via names.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n9p264