Amanda Natasha Nur Rania Alya, Meor Muhammad Azrai Tufail and Sharifah Nur Arissa Zulaikha Damia are among popular names parents choose for their chidlren.

These long names do not include the ‘Bin’ and ‘Binti’ followed by the father’s name for Muslims.

Ustaz Wan Akashah Wan Abdul Hamid told Bernama that parents like to choose long and unusual names for their children without thinking about the meaning behind the names.

“A name is not only what you call someone by, it is a prayer everytime the person is called by his name. Naming a child with a short and meaningful name is better than a long and unusual name with no meaning,” he said.

Meanwhile, National Registration Department (NRD) public relations officer Jainisah Mohd Noor said, there was a time parents chose unusual names such as Bontot, Pungut, Bongek, Patah, Punat, Tumpang but now the trend is to pick long and uncommon names.

Jainisah added that the NRD could not stop parents from giving their children these names as long as they are less than 80 characters including spaces, and the father’s name.

The NRD however, will advise parents if the names chosen carried a bad meaning behind them.

“Names that are too weird, unusual or uncommon are also not recommended, it can be a hassle for parents to come back to the NRD having to change their child’s name because they are too embarrassed to carry that name,” she said.

Every year, 500,000 births are recorded by the NRD but the department has no statistics of those registered with long names.

- Bernama