Setting up score sheets for over 1,000 students isn’t the most fun activity in the world.  However, reading through the lists and lists and lists of names can be very entertaining, to say the least.

First, let me describe how the naming system works, because it is different from back home in the USA.  I am used to people having a first name, middle name and last name taken from the father’s side of the family.  Of course, some variations do occur.  I myself have two middle names, which is not extremely common.  But that general pattern is not how it works in Indonesia at all.

In Indonesia, anything goes.  They really don’t have a “last name” thing…at all.  You might have a child that has six names because the family was honoring all kinds of relatives with the naming of the baby.  You also might have a child that has one name.  Yep, that’s right…ONE name.  If a child is named “Ed” with no other names attached to it, then that child’s name is Ed.  One their passport, the full name would read “Ed”…and that’s it.  So, you can imagine the crazy, interesting, surprising names that I have come across in the past year and a half.  Some are common, which you see all the time.  Other names can catch you off guard and brighten your day when you read them.

I have come up with a list of interesting names for boys and girls that are my personal favorites.  I will start with the FIRST NAMES:

Boys first names:                            Girls first names:

Yoan                                                           Pinky

Linggom                                                    Salsa

Handy                                                        Sorta

Lordy                                                          Lady

Sandiega                                                    Party

Dance

Now I will move on to the other names.  These could be considered middle names, if you wish, but to make it easier, I will just call them ADDITIONAL NAMES.  These are any names that come after the first name given.

Boys Additional Names:                        Girls Additional Names:

Lie                                                                       Yut

Navidad                                                             Jubilee

Jafar                                                                   Gees

Bonana                                                              Dorkas

Glorious                                                             Easter

Victory                                                                Budhy

Magnifasan                                                        Deng

Saint                                                                    Eunike

Mega

There are also plenty of “regular” names…meaning names that I am used to back home, only they may have very interesting spellings here.  Some are traditional, taken after either the Christian, Muslim, or traditional Indonesian cultural aspects of this complex country.  But no matter what name we are discussing, each unique combination is fascinating and I never get tired of learning their origins.