Sawatdee ka,
I got a question from one of my YouTube viewers asking what my nickname ‘Mod’ means, so I post this question on my Facebook page and received a few more questions regarding nicknames. A few people would like to know the most common Thai nicknames, so I searched for it and found “Top 10 most common Thai nicknames” surveyed by the The Ministry of Culture of Thailand.
1.เมย์ May /may/ : It is a girl’s nickname. I am sure every May was born in May.
2.พลอย Ploy/ploy/ : It is a girl’s nickname, meaning precious stone or gem.
Thai super star named ‘Ploy’
3.แนน Nan /naen/ : It is a girl’s nickname. This is not Thai language, these days Thai parents like to name their children with Western names.
4.ไอซ์ Ice /ái/ : It is both girl and boy’s name. It is a fashion nowadays that Thai parents choose an English word they think it sounds cool or cute to name their babies.
5.แบงค์ Bank : Boy’s name. Yep! It is another English word-that-sounds-cool-to-Thai-ears name.
6.น้ำ Nahm /náam/ means ‘water’. It’s a girl’s name.
7.ฟ้า Fah /fáa/ : Girl’s name meaning ‘sky’, ‘blue color’, or the short word for นางฟ้า /naang-fáa/ meaning ‘angel’
8.นิว New /niu/ : It is both girl and boy’s name. Another chosen English word.
9.บอล Ball /bon/ : boy’s name, as in round object you kick or throw or hit in a game
10.เบียร์ Beer /bia/ : Yes, it is ‘beer’ like in English meaning. Please don’t ask me why parents would want to name their children like this. Hopefully they are not alcoholic. 
I was laughing when I read these names in the list because I know many people with those names. I think I know about 10 guys named บอล “Ball”.
Once in a while my friends and I discuss the topic ‘Why new- generation Thai parents have to name their babies with weird nicknames?’. The most strange nickname I ever heard of is สเตตัส ‘status’ , this is a name of my high school mate’s baby boy. She did update a lot of Facebook statuses during her pregnancy.
Thai kids in my generation or my parent’s are named after cute and small animals like แมว Maew (cat), นก Nok (bird), ปู Poo (crab), ปลา Pla (fish), กวาง Kwang (deer) etc. Those names seem to be uninteresting in present day, so people came up with some cooler names like “แร็คคูน”(Raccoon) who has brothers named “บีเวอร์” (Beaver) and ”ชิพมั้งค์” (Chipmunk)!!
Beaver
Chipmunk
If you think those names are not weird enough, a famous Thai actor named his baby boy แอร์บัส (Airbus). He probably would like his son to be a pilot in the future:)
Air Bus: a leading aircraft manufacturer, with the most modern and comprehensive aircraft family.
There are still so many exotic Thai nicknames on my list that I have to write Part 2 and 3. I would like you to share more exotic Thai nicknames you know:)
Oh! by the way, do you know anyone named in the Top 10 list?
มด Mod
Some of the children in my kids’ informal learning classes have names like: Proud (girl), Grand, Focus, Frame and Thankyou
there are other names but right now these are what I remember
ผมรู้จักผู้ชาย ๑ คนชื่อว่า ข้าวเหนียว (ชื่อจริง “Cornell”) ครับ
ชื่อน่ารักดีนะคะ แล้วคุณคีธไม่อยากมีชื่อเล่นภาษาไทยบ้างเหรอคะ
yes i know a few Ploys and Balls, May and a New and a Fah. some weird ones i have come across is Plai, Pang, Milk, Proud, Big (he is short though), Gate, Art, Yo. i would be able to come up with many more if i thought about it harder.
Most of my friend’s name are on the top list. =)
I would love the nickname Bank. That rocks. If I wasn’t almost 50 years old I would give myself that nickname now.
ํYou still can have that nickname now:)
I’m from Malaysia and I have a few Thai acquaintances that I met through my line of work, but I don’t know any of them well enough to be on a nickname basis with them. I refer to them as ‘Khun [first name]‘. But my cousin, who is a girl, was given the nickname ‘Porntheep’ by a Thai Buddhist monk when she was a child. Does the name Porntheep mean anything?
My favorite nickname using a Thai word is ‘Tangkwah’ which means ‘cucumber’. Tangkwaa just sounds so cool!!! And we do use the English phase ‘cool as a cucumber’.
Hmmmm… Here it goes! Ame Aum Bow Bowza Bowy Micky Cookie Donut Gift Fresh Patty Natty Nong Pepsi Diamond Candy Dar Golf Niu and Somchai(name for male character in Western novels 555)
my girlfriends parents nick named their kids with names of cars..
bmw, mercadies benz, jaguar… i think she said it was whatever car her father was driving when they were born..
Those are pretty cool names;)
It’s funny how in English Raccoon would translate in Thai to “Love You”. I love languages. So interesting
Very Nice post Kruu Mod,
I will add:
Mam=for Thai women
Lek= for Thai woman
Seuaa=Tiger
Singtho, Singha, Singdtho =Lion
Singtho is my Thai nickname LOL
my nickname is ling noi
My Thai nickname is Pla. I was given that because Simon, my English name sounds like Salmon to Thai people. A friend ( also called Simon) who smokes was nicknamed Smoked.
I know a girl who was names Sai ( Sand) by her father. She didn’t like that as it is beneath the feet so she changed her nickname to Mind.