learnpasathai:

A major cultural point in Thailand: Everyone uses a nickname.

Sometimes, people don’t even know their closest friends’ real first names. That’s how much these nicknames are used instead. It’s usually only formal situations where an official name is used, as Thai names can get very long and fancy. Nicknames, not so much.

Thai nicknames are unlike those in English. Here, they’re usually variants of the given name. William becomes Will or Bill, Elizabeth is Liz or Betty. Not always in Thailand. Their nicknames can be pretty weird once they’re actually thought about.

These nicknames can stem from a variety of sources. Your hair is curly? Chances are your nickname is Curly. You wear glasses? Your nickname might just be Glasses. Then again, food names like Oyster, Raisin, Chicken, Fish, and Shrimp are all common nicknames. And no, none of those are insulting nicknames at all, unlike how they would be here. Don’t doubt it, that’s just how it is.

To draw from personal experience, my mom’s nickname is Pig. (She moved from the country to Bangkok and mentioned to her friends that they raised pigs back home. The name stuck.) But depending on the situation, her name changes. If there are other Pigs, my mom becomes either Big Pig or Giant Pig. It just so happens that she’s taller than her friends that share the same name.

So don’t be alarmed if the guy on the bus introduces himself as Little or if you find yourself working alongside a woman named Turtle. It’s Thai, and it’s completely normal.