Name Game

Our good friends Gede and Wayan just had a new baby boy two days ago. The baby's name is Made (mah-day). Their first boy's name is Gede. Gede's aunt's name is Kadek. Kadek is married to Komang. Komang's brother in law's name is Komang also.

Two little girls on our street are named Kadek. They both have older brother's named Wayan. I could go on like this forever... Are you getting confused yet?

This is probably a good time to introduce you to the naming system here on Bali. I know of no other place in the world that has a naming system like this, let me know if you have heard of one. It goes like this:

1st child, can be named either: Gede, Wayan, or Putuh
2nd child, can be named either: Kadek or Made
3rd child, can be named either: Komang or Nyoman
4th child, can be named: Ketut

So, it actually ends up harder to remember people's names because of this. Someone will be talking about Made, and I will ask, "Which Made?" Then it takes some time to describe which Made we're talking about. This happens several times a day. Most people have a nickname, a house name, a caste name, and their birth order name. It's tough to keep up because someone will introduce themselves with one name, but then another person will refer to them in conversation by a different name.

If you have more than four children, it starts over. So, because I'm the sixth child in my family, I would be Made. Kristi is the eighth child in her family, so she would be Ketut. My friends here say I need to start introducing myself as Made Jon... Maybe I will. What would your Balinese name be?