We’ve all heard about parents naming their children to commemorate special events in their life (hello, Brooklyn Beckham).

But how far would you go to name your child after your country?

According to a report by Sinar Harian, at least 74 people are named Malaysia in our country.

The news portal revealed that the first baby named Malaysia was born on 22 March 1962 - which was before Malaysia was officially formed, as confirmed by the National Registration Department.

And as of 12 September 2019, the last baby to be named Malaysia was born in August 2017.

Imagine someone saying
Among those named Malaysia are history teacher Mohd Malaysia Ismail, as well as retired teachers Nor Malaysia Rose and Malaysiawati Asha’ari.

Malaysiawati told the Malay daily that she had no problems securing a job thanks to her name.

“I was never under pressure during job interviews because the interviewers were more interested in my name,” she said.

As for Nor Malaysia, her father initially wanted to name her Normala but changed his mind after a chat with a couple of policemen during the registration process about the history of Tanah Melayu.

Malaysia Day celebration in 1963.
Malasiah Alwi, 56, said that her name was given by her late grandfather to commemorate Malaysia Day, but unfortunately, her name was misspelt.

But the spelling error didn’t come to light earlier in her life because her family had misplaced her birth certificate and even registered her name as Malaysia when she enrolled in school.

It was made known when they eventually recovered her birth certificate.

Do you know anyone else named Malaysia? Ask them to share the story of how they got their name; we’re sure it’s a very interesting one.

With that being said, we hope it’s not too late to wish you Malaysias and Malaysians a Happy Malaysia Day!