Thai nicknames and meanings, and how to find her again

Almost nobody in Thailand goes by their full name day to day. Everyone has a short nickname, usually given by their parents in childhood, and it is what family, friends, workmates and customers call them. Women who work in Pattaya bars use theirs at work and everywhere else. Nok, Ploy, Bee, Fern, Fon: those are not stage names. They are what she is called.

Why the nickname is the right name

Thai formal names are long, often four or five syllables, and they are used on documents and at school, not in conversation. Her nickname is the name she answers to, the one her mother uses, and the one her bar knows her by. It is also the one she gave you, which is reason enough to use it. Writing it tells her you remember her, and it is the name that finds her again.

Common Thai nicknames and what they mean

Many nicknames are ordinary Thai words, chosen because they are short, sweet or lucky. Others are English words, picked for the sound. Some of the ones you will meet most often:

And some of the English ones: Bee, Fern, Mint, Gift, Joy, Cream, Apple, Beer, Ice, Milk, Pim, May. They mean what they sound like, and nobody finds them odd.

Two things follow from this. First, a lot of women share the same nickname, which is why the bar matters when you are looking for her. Second, a translator will sometimes translate a nickname rather than leave it alone, so a reply that mentions "Bird" may be about Nok. If a sentence suddenly has a sky or a star in it, check whether it is somebody's name.

Spelling it in English

Thai is written in its own script, and there is no single way to write a Thai name in English letters. The same name turns up several ways:

• Nok, Nock
• Ploy, Ploi
• Fon, Phon, Fone
• Dao, Dow
• Fah, Fa
• Kaew, Kaeo, Gaew
• Aoy, Oy
• Bee, Bea

The letters h, k and p often come and go ("Phon" and "Pon", "Khwan" and "Kwan"), because English has no neat way to show the Thai sounds they stand for. If one spelling finds nothing, try the shortest version, then the others.

How to find her on this site

Every woman here has her own page under her nickname. The way to search is Discover, which needs an account; it is free to make one.

• Search her nickname or her bar. The search on Discover takes either. Her nickname alone may bring up several women; add what you remember about the bar and it narrows quickly.
• Look at the photographs. Signed in, each result shows her photograph and the bar she works at, so two Noks are easy to tell apart.
• Scan her QR code. Some bars have a QR code for each woman, on a lanyard she wears or on a card on the table. Scanning it opens her page directly, and you can write to her from there.

If you only remember the bar and not her name, search the bar and look through the women who work there.

If she is not here yet

Not every woman has joined. If you cannot find her, the honest answer is that she is not on here, and any page claiming otherwise would be a fake. The women on this site are real people who chose to be here and are 20 or over, which is the whole reason a message to one of them gets a reply.

If you had her LINE and have lost it, the guide to reaching her again after losing LINE has the routes that work and the ones that do not.

Using her nickname well

• Use it as she wrote it. If she spells it "Ploi", so do you.
• Add a Thai touch if you like. Thai people often put "nong" (younger) or "phi" (older) before a name. You do not need to, but "Nong Nok" is friendly and correct if she is younger than you. The Thai texting phrases guide explains more.
• Do not replace it with a pet name. A name you invent will be translated literally on her side, and it will not mean what you hoped.

Meet the women on Up To You KaMeet the women on Up To You Ka

Related guides

• Lost her LINE contact? How to reach her again
• First message to a Thai woman: three simple examples
• Thai texting phrases: 555, ka, na and what they mean

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