How do the Khmu people change their names?

(Baonghean.vn) - While Mong men are given a new name by their maternal family when they get married, the Khmu of Nghe An women are given a new surname when they get married and when they have children or grandchildren, they are also called by a different name.

We arrived at Cha Ca 1 village (Bao Thang commune - Ky Son) on a sunny day. In the Khmu stilt house, Mr. Moong Pho Hoan said that it was okay to call him Moong Van Thanh because that was his birth name.

I don’t understand why the Party Secretary of Bao Thang commune has two names like that. He smiled and said that his first child’s name is Hoan, so now he and his wife also changed their names to follow their son’s. Not only him, but his parents were also named after their first child.

When the Khmu people get married and have children or grandchildren, they are called by the name of their first-born child or grandchild. Photo: Dao Tho

According to Mr. Pho Hoan, in the way of naming of the Khmu people in Bao Thang commune, when a child is born, if it is a boy, the middle name is "Van", if it is a girl, it is "Thi" like other ethnic groups. However, when they become husband and wife and have their first child, everything is changed, the father has the middle name "Pho", the mother is called "Mother". For example: Cut Mother Lan, Cut Pho Duong... Not only that, grandparents are also called by their grandchildren's names: Moong Ta Hoan (grandfather) and Moong Ba Hoan (grandmother).

Khmu women change their surname to their husband's family when they move to their husband's house. Photo: Dao Tho

It must also be said that, at present, there is still a phenomenon of Khmu girls changing their surname when they get married. Mr. Cut Pho Anh in Hin Pen village (Bao Nam commune - Ky Son) told us that before getting married, his wife had the surname Ven, but after getting married, she changed her surname to Cut. Although her birth certificate and identity card still retain her old surname, according to the convention of the village community, of course, that girl has lost her surname.

A young Khmu mother carries her baby to the market. Photo: Dao Tho

Village elder Ven Xieng Men in Luu Thang village (Chieu Luu commune - Ky Son) said that this custom has existed since ancient times. At that time, people lived in dense forests and mountains so they did not have any kind of identification papers. Changing their names did not affect anything, moreover, it was a way for others to know who had a wife, a husband, children, and grandchildren. This was an unwritten rule in the Khmu village community.

However, according to village elder Xieng Men, nowadays "changing names" also brings a lot of trouble because the identity papers and names do not match. Many people go to register and hear their names called but still do not know. Because of this, in many Khmu villages, this custom of changing names has been abolished.

Dao Tho