Life style : Names

How names are given by Mien family Mien have a unique way of giving names to their children. Every Mien man has 3 names in his lifetime: a child name, an adult name, and a spirit or ghost name (primarily used when calling the dead). Each child’s name is counted like a number and must root to his/her biological father. Take, for example, a father whose adult name is Fu Tong, his family (clan) name is Phan, his child name is Nai Fin and his ghost name is Fa-Zan (all ghost names begin with ‘Fa’). Then, all Fu Tong’s children’s first names will end with ‘Tong’, somewhat like counting 1st Tong, 2nd Tong, 3rd Tong, so on. All of Fu Tong’s children’s first names would be as follows: # Sons Daughters 1 Kao Tong (or Tawn Tong) Meuy Tong (Mei, Mey, Muey, etc.) 2 Lo Tong (or Nai Tong) Nai Tong 3 San Tong Fahm Tong 4 Sou Tong Fei Tong (Fey, Feuy, Fuey, etc.) 5 Ou Tong Mahn Tong

Under the twelve Iu-Mien clans, each clan may have four, five or more subnames (generation names called buic) that form the basis of the adult names. In the case of Fu Tong, he is from the Phan clan which has generational names of Yao, Fu, Wuen, and Saeng (in that exact order). So, we know that Fu Tong is second generation. We now know that Fu Tong’s father is from the first generation, and his adult name must be Yao Fin, because Fu Tong’s child name is Nai Fin. We also know that Fu Tong is a second son of Yao Fin, because ‘Nai’ means second. All Fu Tong’s sons are the 3rd generation, therefore, their adult names must begin with ‘Wuen’, Fu Tong’s grandsons will be the 4th generation and their adult names must begin with ‘Saeng’, and all Fu Tong’s great grandsons will be the 5th generation. Their adult names will repeat, back to the ‘Yao’ generation (a cycle is completed). After each of Fu Tong’s boys reached 12 years old, he is considered a pre-teenager, or pre-adult. Therefore, he may choose his own name, but his name still has to carry the Phan clan’s generation name. Below is a table that follows the adult and child names of one chain of descendents of the Phan (Bienh) clan through one cycle of generational names (buic): Generation Adult Name Child Name 1-Yauh Yauh Fin unknown 2-Fu Fu Tong Nai Fin (second son of Yauh Fin) 3-Wuen Wuen Ziu Ou Tong (fifth son of Fu Tong) 4-Saeng Saeng Waa Kao Ziu (first son of Wuen Ziu) 5-Yauh (repeat) Yauh Meng San Waa (third son of Saeng Waa)

Tricky Names Miens also have some common names that they give for specific purposes, after physical characteristics, or in hopes of creating a change in the child. These names are used for both boy and girl. Name Meaning Reason/Intended Purpose Nyingv bony, skinny a baby born skinny, bony, weak Liuz final, complete a final child, no more after this one Zaih belated a child was born later than expected Zaanc cheap, priceless a child urinates soon after birth Lowc mid-way, road born while traveling, away from home Chengx born tangled with umbilical cord umbilical cord wrapped around neck Koyv or Yienc to alter (boy to girl or vice versa) have too many of same sex, parents want a change, hoping the next baby will be the opposite sex Note: The final consonant (v, z, h, c, x) in Mien names/words is used to represent the tone and is not pronounced. Nyingv is therefore pronounced Nying, Liuz pronounced Liu.

http://mien.hilltribe.org/english/