I come from a rather small family so I dont have much titles to share. However, this is how its done in my family,

Father's eldest Sister: Mak-koh
Father's youngest sister: Koh-Chik

Mother's elder brother: Kuku

Grandmothers: mama
Grandfather: Ah Kong

I also have a really old Mak-koh-poh...which i suppose whould mean that she's my mother's koh-poh..
I am 21 years old and I can see that the peranakan culture is certainly dying away in my generation..I do hope that by the time I have children, I will manage to instill some sort of peranakan culture into their lives even if its something as simple as calling relatives by their peranakan titles.

Thanks for your input Chels, hope we can get some more information from the other members here as well as all the Peranakans out there who haven't registered here yet. We would like to know how this is done in Malacca style, Singapore style and also Penang style. I am pretty sure there will be some variation and some similarities. I hear it gets quite complicated especially when there is a wedding occassion where the newly married couple will have to address each and every member in the family going through the Tea Ceremony offering tea and collecting angpows and there is usually a lady called a "Sang Kek Ng" who will be very well versed in all the wedding etiquettes to help everyone along. Apart from this very special occassion, the only other days we do this would be during Chinese New Year visits once a year when relatives have to get together for the traditional family dinner and paying respect to all the older generation and wishing them long life by saying to them panjang panjang umur which in Malay means long long life translated literally.

Dear Hocky,

That's the trouble with Peranakans nowadays ... Parents do not incalcate the habit of addressing the elders in the traditional way. Everybody is "auntie", "uncle" macham friend-friend; like got no blood-relation.

Addressing our elders properly is important so that we can know their rank in the extended family hierarchy and also whether they are from our paternal or maternal sides.

Don't need a "Sang Keh Um" to teach lah, they would have known how to address each individual if practiced from young. Moreover, any elder will be well-versed in this addressing issue.

I shall not run through the whole list but for the rule-of-thumb, male elders in the same hierarchy as our grandparents, you will add "kong" as suffix, female add "poh"; those of great grandparents hierarchy, add the suffix "cho" for both sexes. Thus, you get "jee ku kong", "si ee poh", "twa ee poh cho" etc ... Not very difficult if you know the basic rules.

I believe Peranakan communities in Melacca, Singapore and Penang abide by the same formula when addressing the elders, since these are all in Hokkien. Differences are subtle if any ...

Till today I address all blood-relations, even the distant ones by the proper terms. If your parents call someone "Ee", then she will automatically be your "Ee Poh". Hope my explantion sheds some light somehow ...

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

[color=purple][font=Verdana][font=Verdana][font=Verdana][font=Verdana][size=10pt]Hi,

I'm new here and am in my 30s. My parents are both peranakans and my hubby's side is half (his dad's side)My family used to be big but one by one my granduncles and grandaunties passed away (God bless their souls). We were taught by my parents to call them according to their ranks like Eldest GrandUncle and Grand Aunty on Mom's side is 'Tua Koo Gong" and "Tua Kim Poh" and 2nd born granduncle and aunty are " Ji Koo Kong" and "Ji Kim Poh" and the list goes on. I call my mom's sisters (my aunties) Tua Yee, Ji Kee, Sa Yee and my dad's sisters, Tua Kor and Ji Kor. All according to the birth ranks.

My kids now call my uncles and aunties the same as what I call them cuz I feel that that generation still follows the tradition and would like them to be called that as a form of respect, But my sis and bro wants to dispense with the formalities. I have two other siblings with me being the youngest. My sis is eldest, my brother than myself. So eventhough my mom wants my kids to call my sis "Tua Yee" and my bro "Tua Koo", they said it doesn't make sense cuz there are only 3 of us unless I have two sisters or two brothers than yes, by all means. My mom is frowning on us for that  ;D[/size][/font][/font][/font][/font][/color]

Hi Chillipadinut,

For your case, you need only to get them to call your siblings "Ku Ku" or "Ee Ee", unless your mum is expecting more children in the near future  ;D

Cheers
Bunga_Telang

[quote author=bunga_telang link=topic=214.msg893#msg893 date=1215051225]
Hi Chillipadinut,

For your case, you need only to get them to call your siblings "Ku Ku" or "Ee Ee", unless your mum is expecting more children in the near future  ;D

Cheers
Bunga_Telang
[/quote]

Yap. That's what my mom wants my kids to call my brother and sister but for my bro, he says that "kuku" sounds really bad like crazy so he doesn't want that. BTW, what do you all call your sisters and brothers? I was thought to call my brother "Hia" but my sis is still "Che"

[quote author=hocky link=topic=214.msg817#msg817 date=1211833591]
We are not getting any input in this thread maybe it seems just too obvious, but please come in and let us have some information from you members on how this was done in the good old days. Was it in Hokkien or in Baba Malay? Is it still being practised now or has it all been wiped away with auntie and uncle and hello, how are you?
[/quote]

One more thing I forgot to add, esp during the CNy period, we still kneel down to my elders and say "Panjang Panjang Umur". I taught my kids to do that to our parents. Hopefully they will remember. ;)

HI All

I am a baba melaka, born and brought up in Melaka but now making a living in Singapore as a PR.

My peranakan parents came from a very big family and there for I had to remember so many names to address them all.
Just to list a few of them here:-
Ee Cik = youngest aunty (mom side)
Tua Ee = oldest aunty (mom side)
Ji EE / Ee Neo / Ee etc = other aunty (mom side)
Engku = Uncle (mom side)
En Teo = aunty's husband (mom's brother in law)
Engkim = Uncle's wife (mom's sister in law)
Eng Cek = Uncle (father's side)
Mak Eemm = Uncle's wife (father's sister in law)
Ko ko = Aunty (father's side)
Ko Poh = Grandmother's sister
Ee Poh = Parent's aunty
Ma Ma = Grandmother
Ah Khong = Grandfather


Going through the other posting, it seems that there are many version of address that one will use for the elders.

Both my mom and dad are actually related (they are cousins) and there for both side of my family knows each other. When come to any wedding dinners or CNY or family events, one can surely meet all my uncle and aunties from both side of the family at that event.

The peranakan culture will require us to address our uncles and aunties before we start "makan" by telling them "so and so.... makan". Just imagine how many people that I have to address before I can start my meal.
If you do not do it, you will be considered "Kurang Ajar" and some old people will not hesitate to pull your "Kuping" and scold you.... which some how or rather will only end after they said the magic word "Kek Sim".

Being rude to the eldest is a big NO NO.

Just like Chilipadinut, during every CNY, I will wish my eldest "panjang panjang umur".... the girls will have to "kwee" when doing this while the boys do not.

I am now teaching my daughter to call my aunties Ee Poh, and my uncles Kong Kong. Too many uncles and aunties, so don't wish to confuse her with all the name calling at the end of each Ee Poh and Kong. I hope when she grows up, she will continue to address her elders in the Peranakan form and not uncle and aunty..... everyone else walking on the road can be uncles and auntys but never your immediate family.

Hi Song,
Thats a very good and detailed list of your relative's descriptions or titles and their position in the whole family. We used some of it , but did not go beyond the closest relatives as we did not mix with those further away. We mixed with uncles and aunties and cousins only. All the others we greeted with hello uncle and auntie, ha ha ha.

sometimes there is a slight variation..

ah kong (more towards the hokkien) = ng kong (as how my javanese-peranakan great-grandmom instructed her grandchildren)
ma ma (not sure but sound more chinese) = em ma (or shorcut, 'mma')
ta chi = big sister
ah koe = big brother
adek = small brother/sister

cheers from melaka.

[quote author=chels link=topic=214.msg837#msg837 date=1212824774]
I come from a rather small family so I dont have much titles to share. However, this is how its done in my family,

Father's eldest Sister: Mak-koh
Father's youngest sister: Koh-Chik

Mother's elder brother: Kuku

Grandmothers: mama
Grandfather: Ah Kong

I also have a really old Mak-koh-poh...which i suppose whould mean that she's my mother's koh-poh..
I am 21 years old and I can see that the peranakan culture is certainly dying away in my generation..I do hope that by the time I have children, I will manage to instill some sort of peranakan culture into their lives even if its something as simple as calling relatives by their peranakan titles.
[/quote]

It's the same with my family! I address my brothers as "Ah Hia" though, or "Yeya" to be exact from the way I pronounced it since young. But strangely I'm like the only one who address my brothers like this, my cousins uses terms like "Kor kor" instead.

Hello Everyone

I am new here, also newly married into a Perankan household.
There are many things I like to know about this culture.

Glad to find this site

:D 

Hello , I would like to know is there a difference in addressing
maternal and paternal Grandparents or its the same both side ma ma and kong kong ?

As I come from a Teochew/cantonese family
my sister;s children address grandma as PoPo, granddad kong kong ,
my brother's kid address grandma as ma ma and granddad as Yeye. 


Tks,  8)

Just to add on a few more :

Ku Kong - Granduncle (mother's uncle)
Chek Kong - Granduncle (father's uncle)
Chim Poh - Grandauntie (wife of father's uncle )
Tiong Kong - Granduncle (husband of father's auntie)

Hi guys

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

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

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'.

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

Hi Everyone!

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

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!

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! :P

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

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?

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....

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

Dear Ruangfu,

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

Cheers!
Bunga_Telang

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. ;D

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.

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".

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.

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!