THE CASE OF SRI LANKAN MALAY SURNAMES
by Tuan M Zameer Careem.

The Malay Community is indeed an entity famous for its unique sounding patronymics, alas, since recent past many Malay surnames have gone extinct presumably due to frequent intermarriages.

Unlike the other Muslim counterparts, the Malays use distinctive prefixes along with their rare sounding surnames. The prefixes Tuan/ Maas/ Raden are used by the male folks while their women use Gnei/Nona/ Sitti Nona/ Gnonya. The Malay community despite its small number is made up of an intricate network comprised of several sub ethnic groups who trace their descent from the archipelagos of Indonesia and from the Malayan Peninsula. So the Patronymic helps trace the ancestry, social class, creed, caste etc. of a Sri Lankan Malay individual. For example, the Malay Patronymics such as Lye, Chunchie, Doole, Kitchilan, Kutinun, Kanchil, Sainon, Bongso, Bohoran, Kuppen, Lappen and Booso helps reveal their Peranakan lineage or those of mixed Chinese-Malay heritage. Patronymics of Sanskrit/ Indian origin include Jayah, Weerabangsa, Sinhawangsa, Jayawangsa, Wangsa, etc. while Saldin,Rahman, Drahaman, Bucker, Ramlan, Rajap, Jumat, Mannan, are those derived from Arabic literature.

The progenitor of the Malay Kayath family in Ceylon was a local Chieftain from the Banda Archipelago known as Orang Kayat who was exiled to Ceylon by the Dutch, so the present day Kayath’s aren’t really Malays by ethnicity instead they are Bandanese. Alas, Deen Azeez Kayaths are on the brink of extinction with just a single family left on the Island with no male line descendants. While the Raden‘s anglicized as Rawdin belong to an aristocratic clan, however Raden is a Javanese title of respect and not a patronymic as used today. The ancestor of late Minister, Dr. T. B. Jayah was Raden Thurtho Perma Jayah, an aide de Camp to the Javanese King who was exiled to Ceylon.

Thus it is clear that some of these quirky yet ancient ethnic surnames which can be considered to be endemic to Sri Lanka are dying out rapidly while some are already extinct.