Sabtu, 29 September 2018

The Unique Naming Tradition in Madurese

Assalamu'alaikum Wr. Wb.
Hello friends ... How’s your day? InsyaAllah I’m sure, you’re all good, yeah ... Amen. Alhamdulillah, the second written  on my blog has been completed finally, and one thing that make me happy is there are those who read this blog again ...πŸ™Œ πŸ™Œ(Horeee!!). As usual, this blog was created to fulfill the task of post-intermediate reading subject. In the previous blog, I told you about history and meaning of my name. Well, on this blog I will review about the process and tradition of naming someone in each region. Alright because I am a Madurese, so I will explain the naming tradition in Madura itself.


The issue of the naming people for most Madurese is very crucial, because the name is prayer. They are very careful in this regard because the Madurese have the motto of their ancestors " asmah nika menangkah duweh ben tengka lakoh " which means this name is synonymous with prayer and shows his behavior. Therefore, Madurese are very selective in giving names to their children by paying attention to good pronunciation and the most important is the meaning of the name. Basically, Giving baby names is given to their parents. But it has become a tradition before choosing names for their children, most Madurese will spend (in terms of Javanese "sowan") to kyai or teacher to ask for names to give to their children. Because they believe, the kyai who is in fact close to the Creator “Allah” knows more about the names of good people in pronunciation and their meaning.


When asking the name to Kyai, commonly Kyai will ask about the time, day, place, etc. That related to the birth of the baby. This is done to provide a name that is appropriate for the baby. In general, the names of the people chosen by the kyai has taken from the language of Al-Qur’an or Arabic which has a good meaning. It is impossible, they will give the name "Naru Jahannam, or Khati'ah Najisah" to the child even though the pronunciation was in Al-Qur’an, because those name have a bad meaning that are Jahannam Hell and who is sinful, unclean and dirty.

Commonly, if they have sons, Madurese will put the name "Muhammad or Ahmad" before their original names like Muhammad Ali Ferdiyansyah and Ahmad Musfiq Amrullah. It was done to attribute to Prophet Muhammad SAW. with the hope that someday the child will have the good character like the Prophet Muhammad. However if the child is a girl, usually before the original name will be added with the name "Siti" which comes from the word "Sayyidah" ​​which means "mistress" like Siti Khumairah, Siti Jamilah, Siti Khodijah, etc.

The taking of names from the language of Al-Qur’an or Arabic is certainly not separated from the diversity of the Madurese who are predominantly Muslim. Even the Islamic Boarding School has a pivotal role in Madurese life. Even so, there is also the possibility that there are also names that do not come from Arabic such as Selvi, Dimas, Anton, etc. Such names are called by the name Ajam nation. In Arabic, Ajam (ΨΉΨ¬Ω…) has the main meaning: "separate from Arabic". It literally means "illiterate," "silent," or "mute", and refers to non-Arabs in general. In the first sense it has a neutral meaning which means "foreign" or "outsider".

Another unique of naming tradition in Madura is how to call the nickname of people, especially those who speak Arabic. This is different from calling the names of people in other regions. In Madura, in calling a name consisting of two words such as Muhammad Ali, there will be a letter sounding so that only the final syllable that will remain, the syllable "Muh-ham" will experience disappointment, until only the syllable "mad" However, the pronunciation of the word "mad" in its realization when pronounced will change to / t //, therefore Muhammad Ali is called Mat Ali.

This is influenced by the structure of the Madurese language (the level of morphology) that is often spoken in everyday life, namely the form of reduplication that occurs in its words. For example the word orΓ¨ng-orΓ¨ng and lake'-lake ', then in the first word, the syllable "o" and "la" will experience disappointment, then only remain " rΓ¨ng " and "ke’", so that " orΓ¨ng-orΓ¨ng " will be " rΓ¨ng-orΓ¨ng " and " lake'-lake’" to " ke'-lake’ ".
That’s all the tradition of the Madurese people in giving their children names both their full names and their nick names. I do apologize if there are words that are a little bit  misunderstanding. Hopefully it will be useful for us and Don't forget to like and comment gengs ... 😎 😎 see ya on next blog!!!
Wassalamu'alaikum Wr. Wb.

Sabtu, 22 September 2018

The Wonderful Meaning of the Name "Nafisah"

The Privileges of ur name that you sometimes never realize


Hello guys!! πŸ˜€ 😁 how’s it goingLet me introduce my self. My name is Nafisah. This is the first time I posted my written  on its blog.  Well, on this blog l would like to tell you the  history adn meaning of my name. Of course, somebody who has name “Nafisah”  is not me only, but one of you who read my blog, there might be a name called Nafisah,too.  Alright, Have you ever felt that the name “Nafisah” was less beautiful and you want to change its nameplease, don’t be hurry guys!! Because here I would review the features behind the name “Nafisah that will make you love and be proud of your name. πŸ˜Ž 😎

Talking about names, It’s sure that everyone has their own name. The name is used to know someone or be known by others and to distinguish someone from others. . And the essence of giving names to children is so that they are known and glorify them. Therefore, every parent have to give name for their children. if someone is not given a name, then he/she  will become a majhul (unknown) by the community  because the child's name is an identity that will be recognized since birth, baby, adult, and until the end of his/her life.

The criteria for the name itself are very diverse, there are arabic names (using the islamic names) western namesSundanese names, and sometimes even a mixture of all of them. These names are given by our parents through very mature thoughts. Sometimes, each parents see in terms of their history and there are also those who see in terms of their meaning. Furthermore, the name of each person is different, some are short, for example the names of ancient people like Soekarno, and also some are too long like Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono  Jokowidodo Putraningrat ... (I think it will take a much time when he writes his name during the national exam*LOL*).πŸ˜† πŸ˜† πŸ˜‚ πŸ˜‚


In this era, it is normal for parents to give their children names with a modern name that is long enough for example consisting of 2-3 syllables. But it’s not for me, my parents gave me a name that was quite short and far from the modern word,  that is Nafisah. As a madura girl who grew up in Karawang area, I ever felt that my name was ugly and sometimes I hate it because it’s unlike the names of my friends. My name consist of only 7 letters, (NAFISAH) and I think the name is not too popular and modern for me. Sometimes I was thinking that if the renaming procedure is not as difficult and complicated as the reality, maybe I have changed my name to a bit longer and modern. But whatever the power, my hand didn't change it all. Because of the shortness of my name, sometimes people don't believe me when I say my full name is NafisahMoreover, it's quite strange that my nickname doesn't match as my name (OH My GOD !!! πŸ˜©). From childhood I was called Fifi by everyone except my father (Abi) who always called me  AlidahThat’s all also made people wonder more about the clarity of my name. Until finally I asked my parent  why I was called fifi even though my name was Nafisah.

According to my father story (Abi’s story), the name”Nafisah” is not just any name that has no meaning. Even to get the name, it needed a big struggle and it’s not as simply as I think. Abi has to go to Madura to meet a Kyai for asking a good and beautiful name for me even though at that time my family's financial economy was going down. Then Mr. Kyai suggested to give me name “Nafisah”. According to Mr. Kyai, Nafisah is a good and beautiful name for Islamic baby girls because it’s seen by the terms of the meaning of “Nafisah” which has a lot of  meanings, such as (1) Very valuable gems (2) Precious (3) High position. We can also interpret it with a very precious and high-ranking gem (Permata yang sangat berharga dan Berkedudukan tinggi) as a prayer so that our baby girl candidates are expected to be great, noble, very beautiful, very resilient and respected by many people. Then why was my nickname “fifi” ? It turned out that in 2001, there was a presenter who was quite famous named Fifi Aleyda Yahya .. Abi was very fond of  its presenter and wished I could be like her later until finally Abi wanted to change my name from Nafisah to Fifi Alidah Yanti. But considering to Abi's struggle when asking my name to Kyai, Abi finally resigned his intention to change my name. Even so, Abi always called me as Alidah while the other family and friends called me fifi. As a result, people thought that my name was fifi instead of Nafisah.😏 😏

Since I heard Abi’s Story , I realized that behind of my name that was so short, solid and clear it turned out that there was a meaning of struggle that was quite hard. This also gave me inspiration to give my child a name later. I will give name my children with Islamic names combined by the names of Islamic figures. If I have a daughter, I will name her Aisha Shakira, which means living happily and always thanking of God. From that name, I hope that my daughter  will have noble character like Aisha, the wife of Rasullullah. But if I have a son, I will name him Muhammad Haidar Ali which means that he is praiseworthy, brave and high in his position. From that name, I hope my child can follow the attitudes and morals of the friend also son-in-law of Rasullullah , Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Well, Thanks  a lot for reading this strange story and  I have a little message for you guys. That is to thank and love your name because of your name today you are known and know other people. Your name today is the best for you tomorrow. So don't beat  your own name bad before you know what the secret is and the reason why does your parents gave the name to you. And now I am proud of my name Nafisah”  because I think Nafisah” is a name that suits me very well because seeing from the length of each letter  in Indonesia meaning are:  

N= Nice artinya, A= Akulah orangnya, F= Fifi Panggilannya, I= InsyaAllah Indah perangainya, S= Selalu sabar orangnya, A=  Apapun masalahnya, dan H= Hingga akhir hayatnya. Amin. πŸ™ πŸ™ πŸ™

NB: don't forget to comment  what should I correct in publishing my story today and next blog... see ya!!! πŸ™Œ 😚 😚