In Reply to: Indonesian names posted by maurjohn on Friday, 2. February 2007 at 11:20 Bali Time:
Hi
The only definite thing about Bali names is there does seem to be any rule.
We have just had over 400 kids fill in a questionnaire with one of the questions being " My call-name is ________" because your question is one that is asked by most sponsors.
Bearing in mind that they may have up to 6 names, some use any one of them, some used a combination of two or more, or parts of two, and some used something totally different.
Indah means beautiful.
In Bali your name is very important for the development of your character. At birth a personal name is decided upon for the baby, but many people may not know what the name of someone else is because he or she is more likely to be called by some nickname while growing up, or by his or her birth order name or caste name.
The most common birth order naming system is that of the 'Wayan - Made - Nyoman - Ketut' cycle. If the family has more than four children, then the cycle begins again, with a different personal name.
There are, however, other names to indicate order of birth. The first born could be called Putu or Gede, the second Nengah or Kadek, and the third Komang or Koming.
Also, a name is given according to a person's caste.
In the Hindu-Bali system there are four castes;
1. Brahmana - Priestly caste. Names are prefixed by ‘Ida Bagus' for males and ‘Ida Ayu' for females
2. Ksatria - Warrior or Ruling caste. Names are prefixed by ‘Tjokorde' for males or ‘Tjokorde Istri' for females. ‘Anak Agung' also indicates a person of this caste.
3. Wesia - Blacksmith or Tradesman caste. Names are prefixed by ‘Gusti' or ‘Dewa' for males and ‘Desak' for females.
4. Sudra - Everybody else (i.e about 95% of Balinese). As well as using the birth order names, they are prefixed by ‘I' for males, and ‘Ni' for females.
I know this hasn't solved your problem, but at least it may give you a little insight.