An Analysis of the Meanings and Sources of Student Names at Anuban Srinakhon School in Sukhothai

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analyze the meanings and sources of the names of students at Anuban Srinakhon School in Sukhothai. Data were collected using questionnaires issued to the parents of 350 students, studying the meanings of names separately for male and female students, name givers, and important reasons for naming. The research findings revealed 12 meaning groups for male student names, arranged from most to least: honor and power, knowledge and abilities, wealth, goodness and prosperity, human and family, beliefs and religion, happiness, characteristics and qualities, existence, natural environment, appropriateness and comparison, and manners. The meanings of female student names were divided into 11 groups, arranged from most to least, including knowledge and abilities, goodness and prosperity, human and family, wealth, honor and power, happiness, appropriateness and comparison, natural environment, characteristics and qualities, existence, beliefs and religion. In terms of the name's sources, 6 sources were discovered, listed in order of the most found: mother, father, a naming guidebook, elderly relatives, other sources (websites, television media, and journals), and monks.
For the important reasons for naming, 10 reasons were found, arranged from most: auspiciousness, beautiful sounding, easy pronunciation, connection with family members, astrology, exotic, proper names, connection with family surname, changing destiny (recovering from illness and becoming wealthy and prestige), and other reasons (an important national day and month of birth).