Bali known as an island with a strong bound of solidarity ,respects and a very tide of harmony living in their social lives. Rituals and religious believes have hardly been ever separated from their daily life and activities.one of the most crucial ceremony in the whole human Balinese life is a three(3) months ceremony for the baby.this ceremony is represented to the ancestors who reincarnate to the baby body,having a full Balinese name and allowing the baby to touch the ground (as a mother earth) for the first time since the baby born. Generally Balinese speaks Balinese Language (bahasa Bali) as a daily speaking language and Indonesian language ( Bahasa Indonesia) as national mother language in formal situations such as at school,government offices,Bank,post office etc.now days, many of Balinese speaks English for most and others language such as german,French ,Russian,chinesse and many more languages due to the demand on the tourism industry.
As we talking about the Balinese names,The Balinese people has their own local Balinese names which describes sort of birth in their family such as putu,gede,kadek ,komang ,ketut and so on,before its followed by their full name or secondary names and of course,often you hear those specific names while you are in Bali.Formerly, those sort of birth names are used for the traditional Balinese family planning and supposed to have four(4) kids in the entire family.but nowdays,according the Indonesian Government family planning program “2 kids is enough” , the third and the fourth Balinese names soon will be reduced in usage or could be gone. normally in old passion Balinese name are not using or put the family name in their name,but some family starting to use a family name at the end of their Balinese name.it changed a lots, it is because of how important to put their family name for their next generation or might be it is because of modern influences from the western style name.and could be really important to put a family name in oerder to organize a passport or other legal papers for those who want to stay,study or even work in foreign country.
Here they are the 10th Balinese names :
1.the first born baby has 4( four) names,called:
- WAYAN,Taken from the origin word of “wayahan “ means the eldest or the most ripe if taken from the words of fruits and used for the girl and boy name.
- LUH,Taken from the origin word of “luwe” in Balinese it means female and used only for the women or girl name.
- GEDE,means “huge”,the biggest or the oldest and commonly used for the boy name.
- PUTU,taken from the word “cucu” means the grand child of the family.so it is more easy to call the first baby “ucu” or “cucu” from the grandparents. and costumized to putu.it used for a both gender name the girl and the boy.
2.the 2nd born baby has 3 names,called:
- MADE,Taken from the word “madia” or the middle in English translation .it means the kinds who are born in the middle or means the second born.those name are for a both gender ,boy and the girl’s name.
- NENGAH, which means in the middle or the origin word of and this name is also for the boy and girl’s name.
- KADEK, this name is the costumization from the name of Made.taken from the origin word “kade or adek” .it means the your brother or sister and this name is used for a both gender boy and girl.
3.the 3rd born baby has 2 names,called:
- NYOMAN,taken from the origin word of uman,means sisa or the rest.according the ancient Balinese life was suggested to have or better to have 3 kids and therefore would be expected much more matures or wise for the parent for leading or a better conduct to their family life.
- KOMANG, it is the costumization name from the name of nyoman ,cause the name of komang more used for a modern Balinese name for the 3rd born child. Due to the ancient herbal medicines were not effectively prevent the pregnancy and an abortion matter is something really taboo and forbidden among the Balinese society.some family were hardly to stop their pregnancy wife till they have more than 3 children.so then come the fourth.
4.the 4th born baby has the only name called:
- KETUT,taken from the word of kitut,means the bonus or also can be mean really the end of the rest.or it could be means as the belove child.the word of “kitut” in Balinese taken from the last or the lowest group of banana fruit.
So what happen if they have more than 4 children in the family? to named them has to reverse back again to the first name system and having the same circle and so on.it could be have 2 wayans or 2 kadeks in the same family.it sounds interesting,isn’t it? it is no wonder to have the same initial names in entire family in Bali.
The Balinese names also has an Article name which is refers to their gender.commonly used for the Sudra’s name but also some used for the Ksatrya names. the article ‘I’ in the Balinese name is refers to a male names, such as “I made…or I gusti…and so on. and the article “NI” is refers to a female names such as : Ni Luh…,Ni Komang…,and so on.All those names are applied in every castes level.it would be begun by their caste’s title and then followed by their sort of birth name in the family, such as:
- –Brahmana name : Ida Bagus Gede….,Ida ayu(Dayu) Putu…or and so on.
- –Ksatrya name: Anak Agung Gede…,I gusti putu…,Dewa ketut…and so on
- –Waisya name : Ngakan gede…,kompyang putu…, Sang Nyoman…, and so on.
- –Sudra name : has no title’s name and it is directly begun with their sort of birth name in their family as explained above.
Many of things has changed in this modern lives including the way of giving the children’s name. in the past,our parent were easily gave their children a name as they want or thought as long as not confused them when they call their children’s name.but now days ,mostly parent are really carefully choose or took the name for their children.sometimes, they have to ask the priest or wise people,or taken from the sanskrit words or famous figures name .so what’s the popular now? some of balinese children’s name is influenced by western name such as : kadek cindy….,or Putu robby adi….,komang vina…and so on.then combined with some others Balinese name.therefore,next time when you are in Bali and meet the Balinese for the first time, it would be no wonder for you at all if they introduce their balinese name and easily for you to recognize that they are Balinese people.