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Should Malaysian honours read as titles? (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin gives given Tan) #1180
Description
Malaysian names in official use open with a run of honours and styles, and almost none of them is in the vocabulary, so the first one reads as the given name (measured on master ccaf6ad):
| Input | title | given | middle | family |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin |
'' |
Tan |
Sri Muhyiddin |
Yassin |
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad |
'' |
Tun |
Dr. Mahathir |
bin Mohamad |
YBhg. Dato' Sri Abu Samah bin Nordin |
YBhg. |
Dato' |
Sri Abu Samah |
bin Nordin |
YB Datuk Abd Mijul bin Unaini |
'' |
YB |
Datuk Abd Mijul |
bin Unaini |
Haji Abdul Hadi Awang |
'' |
Haji |
Abdul Hadi |
Awang |
ASP Abdullah Sani bin Ramli |
'' |
ASP |
Abdullah Sani |
bin Ramli |
Laks. Muda Abdul Rahman bin Ayob |
Laks. |
Muda |
Abdul Rahman |
bin Ayob |
Measured (2026-11-08) on the 2015 King's birthday honours list (The Star, 1,504 names, every honour written out): 1,227 names open with an honour, and the title holds the whole run in 670.
| Group | Word (names in the list where the run misses it) |
|---|---|
| Federal honours | Dato' 32, Datuk 23, Datin 23, Dato' Sri 5, Datuk Seri 2, Dato' Pahlawan 2, Tun 1, Puan Sri 1 |
| Styles | YB 15, YM 7, YA 5, Senator 2 (the dotted YBhg. and YBrs. already read, by H2's shape) |
| Pilgrimage | Haji 40, Hajah 16 |
| Academic | Prof. Madya 7 (associate professor) |
| Police | ASP 19, DSP 12, ACP 10, SAC 4, DCP 2, P/ACP 3, P/SAC 1, P/SDCP 1 |
| Navy | Laks. Muda 2, Laks. Pertama 1 |
Puan, Cik and Tuan (345 more names) are the subject of #1179.
Added as titles in a Lexicon (a simulation, not a proposal of kinds), the whole run reads in at least 1,143 of the 1,227. The count understates it: it listed no Dr. or Prof., so a run the title holds with one of those in it counts as a miss. The real misses left are the Ab/Md. shape of #1178 and Sri/Seri written after its head (below).
The honours address the given name, as Sir does (Tan Sri Muhyiddin, Datuk Seri Anwar), which is also what lets a two-word honour be written as a phrase (addresses = "given", the build's check 8).
Collisions to settle per word
Tanis the commonest Chinese Malaysian surname (Encik Tan Chee Chaiin the same list), soTan Srican only be a phrase, nevertanalone.Puan Srilikewise.Tunis also a Chinese surname (Encik Tun Yoke Wahin the same list; Wikidata 3 given, 5 family). Simulated as a title,Tun Yoke Wahreads titleTun.Hajiis a given name (US SSA 105+ births, Wikidata 17 given and 35 family), and it stands inside abinchain as part of the father's name (bin Haji Abdullah), where it must stay a name word.SriandSeriqualify the honour written before them (Dato' Sri,Datuk Seri,Laks. Muda), the qualifier-after-head shape AGENTS.md's titles gotcha warns about, and are given names too (YBrs. Dr. Seri Chempaka binti Mohd Yusof).ASPhas a family reading and a credential reading inen.toml, andACPa credential reading.Datuk,Dato',Datin,Hajah: no bearer found (US SSA under 5 a year, Wikidata 0), so these look safe as defaults.YB,YM,YA: two capitals, the shape of a pair of initials.
Also in the list
34 names end in the service designations TUDM (Royal Malaysian Air Force) and TLDM (Royal Malaysian Navy). All 34 read them into the family (Kept. Anuar bin Mohamed TLDM gives family bin Mohamed TLDM). Should they be post-nominal suffixes?
Open questions
- Which of these are defaults, and which need a choice of
ms? - One issue or several? The police and navy ranks are a separate batch from the honours.
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