And no, her name has nothing to do with her famous asian heritage. Her parents were a big fan of John Lennon.
Yet, if anybody manage to step into my small village tuck somewhere in lush Bau and happen to look for a lady named Jacqueline; that person would not be able to find me.
Why? Because in my village I'm known by my Bidayuh name. Or I am known as the daughter of 'quote' my dad Bidayuh name.
For a race that was descended from a rather primitive race why do we have English name? I'm not sure what historian written about this but here's my parents story & why their name had been changed.
The reason was simple. Education.
During my parents time, they are born with with Bidayuh name; as was their parents and their ancestors. However, nearly a hundred years ago, Christian missionary started to penetrate the indigenous Bidayuh villages and surrounding lands. Bringing with them Catholicism and also education that was approved by the current ruling.
And with education, the promise of a better life. However, there was a catch. To be admitted to a 'proper' school, the child must have a Christian name. I'm not sure whether this was a 'must' but I think that my grandparents were given the impression that it was a must. Therefore my parents add into their Bidayuh name English name. My father put it into his identity card because his father thought it will be easier for him to find jobs.
When Sarawak gained its independence and join Malaya, our parents still thought that to get us into school we must have English name.
So, thats how its started. The generation of Bidayuh with Christian/English name. Thus my name is Jacqueline Michael.
Nowadays, this particular strange traditions carries on. And when come to naming kids I find Bidayuh can be quite creative.
When my nephew was born my brother gave him a rather interesting name; Garryvino Alonso. I didn't agree at first because I wanted a simpler English name.
Aragorn. :-D
And don't try to find Garryvino in our small village. His Bidayuh name is Bujoi.
Go figure.
Recommended Posts
My full Bidayuh costume.
A nice Malaysian.
|
|
Well written article.
ReplyDeleteThanks Melody, & by the way, my other nephew is named Jeremy. From the Prophet Jeremiah coz his Dad is a devout Christian.
ReplyDeletei think bidayuhs should start give bidayuh names to their children. Bidayuh names nowadays are so fancy that i have problem spelling them.
ReplyDeletemost christian thought that christian should be named with an English name but why??? did anyone really know that the Christianity originates from middle east?? Arabs and Jews? Sure, why would a devoted christian name their child Yousoef, Noh,Isa, Mariam??? Hell no.....but that is the facts...history..forgotten...
ReplyDeleteIt all starts from Isa, then Isiah, Mesaiah, finally Jesus as the religion travels from middle east to rome then to the english who spreads the religion to borneo and so we have english-christian name when it should be mikaiel as micheal.
now that we know the roots of religion, would we accept it by the names of arabs??
In Iraq, names like Tarikh Aziz, one of saddams jeneral is a chatolic...
I am a Bidayuh. 100%. However I do not approve of fancy Mat Salleh names given to their children such as Luvciarra ak ..,George Michael ak .., Gaudentius ak .., Simon Templar ak .. etc.. These people really do exist. What happened to old classic Christian names such Teresa, Esther, Paul, Simon? Where are the Bidayuh names? look at the Chinese and Orang Ulu. They always add their Chinese or Orang Uu names after their Christian names. They are also educated. Be proud of our heritage. My future children (if any) will have a Bidayuh name after their Christian names.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with u.. Even sabah people use their sabahan names.. Like Marsha Milan Doh and so on..
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a joke sometimes hearing all those glamourous names...
It seems that they like to combine names and make it up themself.. Example: Kimberly + Vanessa = Kimbernessa and`many many more.......
can anybody give few examples of bidayuh names, with their meanings...for girls and boys please.....
ReplyDeleteI have nieces and nephews with Bidayuh names on their ICs/Birth certs n we r proud of the names..Eldest one is Bitatis (independent), second is Baja, 3rd is Qidow (a bidayuh warrior),then followed by Bikabur (Flying), Bikoduh (Running), Abun (Mist) and Kaat (Light)..
ReplyDeleteThat's actually pretty cool. If I got kids next time, they'll have Bidayuh name.
DeleteIt is true that when a group of people stop using their native names, these names would soon be forgotten. Actually even the English (who also originally came from a tribal group known as the Anglo-Saxon and the Celts) lost some of their old English names when they converted to Christianity. Old English names are more likely to be Rowan, Gawain, Kay, Gwen, Edmond,Egbert etc People took names from the Bible for their children.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with you on this. I am married to a Bidayuh and before we got married 15 years ago, we both agreed to give our future children ethnic names because we wanted to retain our ethnic (Dayak/Kadazan)heritage. And yes I agree we should be proud of our native names. My daughter's name is Trisha Latana, and my two boys are Jeremiah Keepat and Josiah Keesaz.
ReplyDelete