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[justice]

Looking at the various terms below, I cannot help but feel amazed by the fusion of different cultures which I believe they reflect. I've tried to make sense of the terms from the perspective of a non-peranakan chinese so do correct me if I'm wrong, because for the most part I'm just trying to make intelligent guesses  

As I scrutinised the various terms posted by wellenstan, I realised that as a Hokkien Chinese (I'm not peranakan), I can identify with many of the terms, some of which seem to be hokkien equivalents of chinese terms. If so, the variations aren't actually confusing, and actually "obey" the rules on Chinese convention of addressing your elders/relatives, depending on whether they come from your mum's/dad's side. For instance, your father's sisters are addressed as "gu gu" in chinese, and this seems to correlate with the various "koh" terms mentioned below. your father's elder brother is "bo bo", which is "pek" in hokkien. Sisters on your mum's side are called "yi" which is again matches what was mentioned. I can also identify with many other terms such as "koh poh" ("gu po" in chinese, for your grandfather's sisters), "ku kong" etc.

Of course, as mentioned by wellenstan, the terms incorporate many malay influences as well, such as "ngah" for tengah, matched with the hokkien "Koh", and "chil" for kecil to denote the youngest. I think the malay influence in also reflected in how the so- called "proper" order in Chinese is reversed, like "Koh Ngah" instead of "ngah koh" as it would be in chinese. i find that really interesting!:P

and finally i believe the practice of calling "Aunty" followed by their names reflects western influence, since addressing your elders by their name is generally frowned upon in asian cultures, though I'm not too sure of that.

whatever it is, the rich blend of influences reflected in something as simple as terms of address is something I can't help being fascinated about!

[hocky]

I was taught to call my eldest uncle dad's side as Pay pek, his wife was Mak Mg. 2nd uncle was Chay chek and his wife we called aunty followed by her actual name don't know why. My mum's side we called our 1st uncle Ku ku followed by where he came from and the 2nd one by Ku Ku and his last name after that. Dad's side eldest sister was called Mak Koh and those following by their number in rank like Jee Koh, Sar Koh, See Koh etc.  Mum's side we called her sisters using aunty followed by their actual names or nicknames. Don't ask me why all these variations, I wouldn't know. Called my elder sis Chay Chay and all lower by their first names. Grand uncle Mum's side was Chek Kong. Maybe grand aunty was Chek Mg? Looks like we haven't been too strict about using the "correct" titles for all in the family, but we got along very well with our own variations. Most of the oldies have gone by now so we don't have to use their titles anymore. Its almost all cousins and the lower ranks left.

[bunga_telang]

Hi Wellenstan,

Here in Singapore, it's a little different :

Older brother : Koko or HiahHiah
Older sister : ChayChay or ChiChi

Instead of "KohSeh", we use "TuaKoh"

Instead of "AhPek", we use "EnPek". We use "En" to replace "Ah".

[wellenstan]

Be prepared. this is going to be very complicated, but a knowledge in Malay and Hokkien would help. Both my parents are Malaccan peranakans. I wonder if it's the same for singapore and penang.

to elderly siblings (cousins/second cousins) who we aren't very familiar with, we use koh-koh NAME for male and cheh-cheh NAME for female. We address to ALL younger siblings and elder siblings we are very familiar with by only their name, also when we progress into adulthood.

For my dad's family, here's how I address my aunts and uncles, and their respective husbands and wives, the most elderly to the yougest from top to bottom. my dad is the 5th child. M denotes Male, F denotes Female.


1st(F) Koh-seh ("Koh" for female order, "seh" is short for beseh/besar(big), meaning eldest)

2nd(M) Ah pek (Pek denotes elder male order, "Ah" denotes eldest). Ah Um ("Um" loosely for wife) for his wife.

3rd(M) Ji pek (Ji denotes 2nd position). "Ji Um" for his wife.

4th(F) Koh ngah ("ngah" denotes tengah, meaning middle, roughly second). "Um Tio" for her husband, "Tio" denotes husband.

5th(M) My dad. Other cousins(children of the above siblings) refer to him as sa chek, "Sa" means 3rd(Male), "chek" denotes a lower male order than "pek" . Other cousins refer to his wife(my mom) as "sa chim".

6th(F) Koh-chik. ("Chik" is short for Kechik/kecil, meaning small or youngest. All cousins of her children call her husband "um tio".

7th(M) Beh-chek. "Beh-Chim" for his wife.

For my mom's family, here's how I address my aunts and uncles, the most elderly to the yougest from top to bottom. my dad is the 5th child. M denotes Male, F denotes Female.

1st(M) Ah Ku. "Ah" for eldest, "Ku" for male order. sorry i  forgot how to address his wife as she left him when i was still young.

2nd(F) My mom. Children of the above refer to her as "Koh Seh". So to my mum's family, her position is just like the "Koh Seh" in my dad's side. Children of the below refer to her as "Tuak Yi", "Tuak" meaning big in Hokkien, denotes eldest. All cousins of my mother's side call my dad "um tio'.

3rd(F) Yi Ngah. Since I don't have a "Tuak Ee" (as she's my mom), I shall refer this "Yi" as "Ngah" for tengah(middle, roughly second.). Her husband is called "um tio".

4th(F) Yi Chik. Chik for "kechik/kecil", in malay language it means small or roughly youngest. Her husband is called "um tio".

Phew... what a long list. note that there are some way of addressing that i don't know due to the structure of my family, e.g. I don't have a younger uncle on my mom's side.

For elderly, We call kong/gong for all grandpa, and mah/mama for our grandma. For elderly elder than grandpa and grandma, we add 'cho' the front of of these names, e.g. kong-cho mah-cho, meaning "great" as in great-grandma.

To make things more complicated, there are even ways of addressing distant relatives. for elderly relatives of the same level as our grandma and grandpa (e.g. siblings and cousins of grandparents), we refer to males as "kong" and females as "po". we also add "Ku", "Um Tio" etc to the front of the male "kong", e.g. "ku kong", "um tio kong" etc. Similarly, we also add "Yi", "Koh", "Chim" to the front of the female "poh", to form "Yi Poh", "Koh Poh", "Chim Poh" etc. I am not quite sure about when we use the front designations, especially they are relatives we usually only visit during Chinese New Year, and it takes some questioning who is who's who to make a sense out of the ways of calling. but to think it carefully it would make sense if we could plot a family tree and trace each others' designation and way of addressing.

It is not uncommon during chinese new year or dinner events/visitings for people to make sense of how a relative is related to his immediate relatives, to make up with a correct way of addressing. often it is conventional to do this so as to show respect and give recognition of their position in our relationship, so as to not treat them as "orang luar" (outside people). by not showing respect in addressing, or even just call them auntie or uncle, they'd deem us(and even our family!) "kurang ajeh" or impolite.

Among old folks, they can also call each other by nicknames. these nicknames are usually used in the absence of the people being nicknamed to give their name a sinister taste. i know nicknames like "Nyamuk" (meaning mosquito), "Semut" (meaning ant), "Si Kangkang"(the squatting one) etc.

Things like wishing "panjang panjang umur" often goes to ppl with "cho" designation. we also wish in this matter to very elderly relatives e.g. >80~85 years old.

[hocky]

Used to call my Dad ... Papa and my Mum...Nya Nya. Just picked this all up since we were still kids. Called my elder sisters Chay Chay and the younger ones by their names. Actually called all of them by their names as I wasn't the youngest, more in the middle of the pack! Sometimes it was better if I used their proper title like during CNY. Now with my own family, I am called Papa and Dad by different people and it doesn't worry me at all.

[bunga_telang]

Dear Ruangfu,

You may like to contact Peter Wee from Katong Antique House.

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

[raungfu]

Dear member,
I am a new member to this website. I am a professor at NUS.  I have a linguistics professor coming from Taiwan from Feb. 9th to 12th, and he would like find some informants who are able to speak BABA MALAY.  Can you help find some?  Where can I find those friends for him?  Please help.

    Best wishes,
    Raung-fu

[fuzzoo]

I would keep the Baba culture alive if I was familiar with it but unfortunately my mum passed away when I was quite young and my maternal grandma is so frightful.  Now that I am older and have children of my own, I begin to appreciate culture more and am trying to educate my kids on their Chinese heritage (I'm half Baba, half Chinese).  I am a kantang Chinese so I am actually not too familiar with Chinese culture either but it is a lot easier to learn because there is so much more on Chinese culture in books, on TV, Internet, etc.  Baba culture on the other hand is not as accessible.

It is my hope that Babas will keep the culture alive even after the hype over the show is over.  I'm not worried about the Chinese culture because although the Chinese here are Westernised, there are so many Chinese in the world and Chinese culture is very well documented and accessible.  But if Babas do not make the effort to practise their culture and to pass it on to the next generation, very soon Baba culture will only be found at the Peranakan Museum.  Maybe there should be Baba Studies class, like how Christian children attend Sunday School....

[betul_baba?]

Hi all -- I believe it depends if you are either a Hokkien Baba or Teochew Baba. Given the variations that I encounter on this thread.

Again, I am sure after the long separation from our Melaka cousins, and the mixing with "pure" Chinese, all the terms got mixed up. Or corrupted. Or becoming more cina in tone -- and horror of all horrors, *pronunciation*.

Like CHOR CHOR instead of CHO CHO. For the sake of trivia, the correct term is Mak-Cho. This is what I remember very clearly from my childhood days, when my great-gran's friends would phone and ask, "Mak-cho mana?"

A good suggestion would be asking our Melaka friends about the original terms and such. After all, Melaka is where our source, or "hometown" is. Want to practice to talk Bahasa Baba, it is best to practice with them.

May I add too that some of our terms of address are of JAVANESE origin: Ng/eng-soh, ng/eng-ko,etc.

And to our friends who just recently re-discovered their Baba roots and think it's darn **cool** to call oneself Peranakan now: Oh no, I am not making this up or plucking from thin air.

One question I am dying to ask you all: Would you all strive to keep the culture alive once it is NO LONGER COOL?? Especially the superficial aspects like: wearing the sarong kebaya -- because they make you look darn coquettish and sexy right? -- and eating Nyonya food?

So these are the be-all and end-all? More than enough for you to go around calling yourselves "Peranakan"?

I mean, where were you lot when the culture was dying?? Before the revival, and no thanks to the Little Nyonya? Proudly calling yourselves "CHINESE" right?

Talk of which, despite the cheena-ness of the series, at least they got it right. Nyonya instead of Nonya. Just take a look at those Malaysian websites, all the spellings are NYONYA.

Again, no I am not making this up. But if some of you cannot read Malay, too bad?

[bunga_telang]

Dear All,

The Peranakans call their father "Tia-tia" and mother "nya-nya" instead of just "Tia" or "Nya". We call great grandparents "Cho-cho" instead of "Chor-Chor". Mediacorp artistes pronouced the words terribly!

What's more ... in the "Little Nonya", even the father-in-law and the mother-in-law are called "Tia" and "Nya". No self-respecting Peranakan will be caught calling their parents-in-law inaccurately!

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

[fuzzoo]

I had never heard the terms "Chor Chor", "Tia", "Nya" until Little Nonya.  I am Peranakan on my mum's side.  I called my mum "Mummy", my materal grandma "Mama" and my maternal great grandma "Lau Ma".  I called my big brother "Hia Hia" and my big sister "Che Che".

Someone mentioned addressing all elders before a meal.  I believe this is a Chinese practice.  We did this for both my mum's and dad's sides of the family.  When the whole family was together, we had to go all over the place calling every single elder before we could sit down for the meal; took quite a while!

[Nyonya Thia]

Hi Everyone!

Father-Tia
Mother-Nya
Grand mother-Mama
Great Grand mother-Chor Chor

[graceluo]

Hi

Even though, i am not a peranakan, but i must say that we ought to know how to address our elders in a proper way. Ee is for the female siblings of mother and Ku is for the femal siblings of father.

Some of my nieces and nephews( fact that i have plenty of them) greeted me as Che when we meet for CNY. not good.

We Chinese whether peranakans or pure, should address each other properly.

Regards

[curious grandchildren]

Hello!
As everyone or most of you know, Little Nyonya has been a hit in Mediacorp. The descendants of Peranakans address their grandmothers as Chor Chor or Ma Ma.

Well, my brother and I are just curious because we have been addressing our paternal grandmother as 'Ma Ma' and paternal grandfather as 'Kong Kong'. The way we address our paternal grandparents is different to that of how our friends address theirs.

After watching a few series of the show, Little Nyonya, we wonder how and why we address our grandmother as 'Ma Ma'. We have asked my dad but he has no idea about it. Even my aunt (daddy's sister) does not know why we address our grandma as 'Ma Ma'.

Also, my father calls his mother 'M-ma'. Since young, my brother and I have this question in mind.

"Why does daddy call his mother 'M or M-ma' and why do we call our grandmother 'Ma Ma'?"
This is so different from our friends'.

[ahpek_lion]

Hi guys

I am new here   My father side is peranakan ...

Eldest uncle - Pek Pek
Aunties - Ko Ko
Grandma - Ah ma