Fun Facts About Foreign Names In Indonesia And The USA

 Flag of Indonesia, bordered. From Wikipedia Commons.

In Indonesia many people have a first name but no family name. 

This leads to an amusing situation when they reach the USA. There a first name and family name must be listed in the boxes on forms for birth, marriage, death, passports and contracts. Sometimes the first name is listed in both boxes. 

The Indonesia prefix Su is very popular. It means good. Hence names such as Sukarno. And Suharto. 

In English we have family names such as Goodman. There are many more, such as Goodall, Goodwill, and Goodwillie. Goodman is more popular than Goodwillie. I wonder why.

Useful Websites

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_names