Thai Baby Names With Meanings

Thai names are typically composed of a given name followed by a family name, similar to the Western European naming convention. Most Thai given names and nicknames are derived from one or multiple of the following languages: Thai, Chinese, Malay, Sanskrit, Pali, English, and Japanese. Surnames were officially introduced to Thailand only in the early 20th century, so many Thai family names are newly created and only two or three generations old.

The Tai ethnic group, from which the Thai people are descended, migrated into mainland Southeast Asia over a period of centuries. The Thai people are related to other people that either live in or originated from the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, such as the Dai and the Lao. The word “Thai” is thought to have evolved from the etymon *k (ə)ri: ‘human being