First Name = Your Given Name
Last Name = Surname (family name)
Sample:
Tan Ah Kow became
Ah Kow, Tan
(First Name), (Last Name)
Ahmad bin Abu
Ahmad - First name
Abu - Last name (father's name/surname)
Use name as in your Mykad..
Like my friend is Jerry Low but in mykad don't have Jerry.
Not from me but from another forum.:
QUOTE
"Tan Ah Kow" confuses westerners immensely. The poor inflexible sods.
If want to avoid them calling you "Ah" or "Kow", then do what the Taiwanese do and put your first/given name as "Ah-Kow". They'll probably pronounce it as "a cow" though
First/Given name is "Ah Kow" not "Kow", and the "Ah" is NOT the middle name - you should not put your name as "Kow A. Tan". We do not generally have middle names unless parents gave an angmoh-style name like "Terence Nigel Tan". Then Nigel is the middle name and can put name as "Terence N. Tan". Alternatively, if you are called "Terence Tan Ah Kow", you may opt to treat "Ah-Kow" as your "middle name" and call yourself "Terence Ah-Kow Tan" or "Terence A. Tan" or "T.A. Tan". Or if your full name is Terence Nigel Tan Ah Kow, then maybe you can call yourself "Terence N.A. Tan" also ba..
And we haven't even got to those Asian names with no family names or surnames, like those with s/o, d/o, bin or bte. Many westerners can't seem to grasp the concept that some other cultures do not use family names or surnames. The poor sods.
This post has been edited by nordingh: Jan 8 2012, 02:46 AM