Naming guide
What makes a great Indonesian name
Indonesia has more than 1,300 ethnic groups, so there is no single Indonesian naming system. A few rules still cover most people, and getting them right is what separates a believable Indonesian character from a list of random words.
Most Indonesians have no inherited family name. A name like Bagas Aditya is two given names, and Bagas's children will not inherit "Aditya". Many people have just one name; the first two presidents, Sukarno and Suharto, were known by a single name all their lives.
The Javanese, the largest group, build names from Sanskrit and Old Javanese roots. Male names often end in -o (Joko, Prasetyo, Nugroho, Wibowo), female names in -i, -wati or -ningsih (Lestari, Rahayu, Kusumawati). The prefix Su- means "good" (Susilo, Sulistyo), and Sri, meaning radiance or honor, opens many women's names. Sanskrit numbers record birth order: Eka for a first child, Dwi for a second, Tri for a third. Javanese nobility carried titles such as Raden Mas for men and Raden Ajeng for unmarried women, as with the national heroine Raden Ajeng Kartini.
Balinese Hindus use birth-order names. The first child is Wayan, Putu or Gede, the second Made, Kadek or Nengah, the third Nyoman or Komang and the fourth Ketut; a fifth child starts the cycle again. I marks a male and Ni a female, so I Wayan Sudarma is a first-born son. Upper-caste families put a title first: Ida Bagus or Ida Ayu for Brahmana, Anak Agung or Cokorda for Ksatria.
Sundanese names from West Java are known for repeated syllables and rhyme (Cecep, Neneng, Yani Mulyani) and often end in -na (Supriatna, Permana, Suryana). Some groups do have inherited surnames: the Batak of North Sumatra carry a patrilineal clan name, or marga, such as Siregar or Nasution, and Minahasa families in North Sulawesi use a fam such as Wenas. The Minangkabau of West Sumatra are matrilineal: clan membership passes through the mother, and men receive a title, or gelar, when they marry.
Islam shapes many names: Siti (from Arabic sayyidati, "my lady"), Nurul ("light of"), Rahmat ("mercy") and Ramadhan for a child born in the fasting month.
Indonesian name ideas
Male Indonesian names
- Bagas Aditya: Javanese bagas, "robust", with Sanskrit aditya, "sun"
- Joko Prasetyo: "young man" and "loyal vow", a classic Javanese pairing
- Wahyu Nugroho: "revelation" and "grace", a name for a child seen as a gift
- Damar Waskita: "lamp" and "perceptive", for a clear-sighted man
- Adi Wicaksono: "excellent" and "wise"
- Rahmat Hidayat: Arabic "mercy" and "guidance", common in Muslim families
- Fajar Ramadhan: "dawn", for a boy born during Ramadan
Female Indonesian names
- Lestari Ayu: "enduring" and "beautiful"
- Wulan Sari: Javanese "moon" and "essence"
- Candra Kirana: "moonbeam", the princess heroine of the Javanese Panji tales
- Ratih Kumala: Ratih is the Javanese goddess of love; kumala means "jewel"
- Kartika Dewi: "star" and "goddess"
- Siti Aisyah: "my lady" with the Indonesian spelling of Aisha, "living"
- Sri Wahyuni: "radiant revelation"; Sri also honors Dewi Sri, the rice goddess
Balinese names
- I Wayan Sudarma: first-born son; Sudarma means "virtuous"
- Ni Made Ayu Lestari: second-born daughter, "beautiful and enduring"
- I Nyoman Surya: third-born son named for the sun
- Ni Ketut Sari: fourth-born daughter, "essence" or "flower"
- Ida Bagus Oka: a Brahmana-caste man, marked by the title Ida Bagus
- Anak Agung Ayu Laksmi: a Ksatria-caste woman named for the goddess of fortune
Sundanese and Minangkabau names
- Asep Supriatna: Asep comes from Sundanese kasep, "handsome"
- Cecep Permana: a doubled-syllable Sundanese name with the typical -na ending
- Yani Mulyani: a rhyming Sundanese pairing; mulya means "noble"
- Euis Rahayu: Euis has the distinctive Sundanese eu vowel; rahayu means "safe and well"
- Rizal Chaniago: a Minangkabau man using his mother's clan, Chaniago, as a surname
Batak and other family names
- Togar Siregar: a Toba Batak given name with one of the most widespread marga
- Sondang boru Hutapea: Batak women write boru, "daughter", before their marga
- Ahmad Nasution: a Muslim given name with a Mandailing Batak marga
- Yohanes Simanjuntak: a Christian given name common in Toba Batak families
- Johan Rondonuwu: a Minahasa first name with a North Sulawesi family name
- Hendra Tanoto: a Chinese-Indonesian surname built on the clan name Tan
How to create your own Indonesian name
Combine two meaningful roots. Most Indonesian names pair words with complementary meanings: a nature word and a virtue (Bintang Setiawan, "loyal star") or an image and a quality (Citra Ayu, "beautiful image"). Choose the meaning first, then the words.
Use the gender endings. The suffixes -wan and -wati are male and female forms of "one who has": Setiawan and Setiawati, Kurniawan and Kurniawati. For a Javanese man, end on -o or a consonant (Hartono, Wibowo); for a woman, end on -i, -a or -wati.
Encode birth order or birth month. A third son could be Tri Wahyudi, a second daughter Dwi Ratna. Month names are common too: Agus for a boy born in August, Oktavia for October, Desi for December.
Pick a period spelling. Before the spelling reforms of 1947 and 1972, names used Dutch-style letters: oe for u, dj for j, tj for c. Older characters, or families who kept the old form, write Soekarno, Djoko or Tjahjono rather than Sukarno, Joko or Cahyono.
Tips for using Indonesian names in your game or story
Give characters a call name. Indonesians usually go by a short, often doubled form of one part of the name: Hermawan becomes Wawan, Puspita becomes Pipit. Using it in dialogue makes a character feel lived-in.
Use the right honorific. Pak or Bapak is used for a man and Bu or Ibu for a woman; Mas and Mbak address young Javanese adults; Bang is an older-brother term in Jakarta and Sumatra. Honorifics attach to the given name, so it is Pak Budi, never Mr. Utomo.
Do not treat the second name as a family name. Siblings often have unrelated names and a wife keeps her own. If your story needs a shared surname, make the family Batak, Minahasa or Chinese-Indonesian.
Match the name to the island and the faith. A Balinese Hindu is unlikely to be called Siti, and a Batak Christian is more likely to be Yohanes Simanjuntak than Raden Mas Wibowo. Remember too that c is always pronounced "ch", so Candra is CHAN-dra.