Singaporean Last Name Generator

Generate last names as they are written in Singapore: Chinese surnames in dialect spellings such as Tan, Quek, Sng and Seah, Indian family names like Pillai and Menon, Eurasian names like Oehlers and Westerhout, and Arab-Singaporean names like Alsagoff. One surname per entry, 500 in all.

About Singaporean last names

Singapore surnames come from several naming traditions at once. About three quarters of residents are Chinese, and their family names are mostly written as they sounded in an ancestor's dialect when the name was first recorded, not in Mandarin pinyin. The surname that pinyin writes as Chen is Tan in Hokkien and Teochew, Chan in Cantonese and Chin in Hakka; Lin becomes Lim or Lam; Zhang becomes Teo, Cheong or Chong. That is why Tan, Lim, Ng, Goh, Chua, Quek and Sng read as Singaporean. A spelling hints at a dialect background but never proves one.

Most Malay Singaporeans have no family name: a given name is followed by bin or binte and the father's name. Most Tamil Singaporeans likewise carry a father's given name, often as an initial or after s/o or d/o. The Indian entries here are names that do pass down in families, such as Pillai, Nair, Menon and Naidu, Sikh names like Singh, Kaur and Gill, and Sindhi and Gujarati family names.

The list also holds Eurasian surnames of Portuguese, Dutch and British origin (Pereira, de Souza, Westerhout, Shepherdson), Arab-Singaporean family names with Hadhrami roots (Alsagoff, Aljunied, Alkaff), and a few from the small Jewish and Armenian communities. Each entry is one surname, with no characters or glosses.

How to choose Singaporean last names

• Let the spelling carry the backstory. Tan, Lim, Goh and Chua are Hokkien or Teochew spellings, Chan, Leong and Kwok are Cantonese, and Chin and Chong are common Hakka forms. Treat that as a hint about a family's roots, not as proof.
• Put the Chinese surname first when you build a full name: Tan Wei Ling, or Rachel Tan Wei Ling when the character also uses an English name.
• For a Malay character, skip the surname altogether and use a given name, then bin or binte, then the father's name. The Singaporean Name Generator has full names in that pattern.
• Keep one spelling per family. Quek, Kwek and Kuek, or Chua and Chuah, are separate spellings that are all in use, so choose one for a household and stay with it.
• For a Sikh character, Singh is the usual name for men and Kaur for women, sometimes followed by a family name such as Gill, Sidhu or Dhillon.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common last names in Singapore?

Tan, Lim and Lee are the three most common surnames among Chinese Singaporeans, followed by names such as Ng, Ong, Wong, Goh, Chua, Chan and Koh. Because Chinese Singaporeans are by far the largest community, these also lead the country as a whole.

Why are Singaporean Chinese surnames spelled differently from surnames in China?

Most Chinese families in Singapore descend from migrants who spoke Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hakka or Hainanese, and their names were written down as they sounded in those languages, long before pinyin existed. The result is spellings such as Teo, Heng, Sng, Phua and Seah, which keep the dialect sound. Families generally kept those spellings even after Mandarin became widely taught. A smaller number of families use older Mandarin spellings such as Hsu, Hwang and Chiang, which are in the list too.

Do Malay Singaporeans have last names?

Mostly not. Malay naming is patronymic: a person's own name is followed by bin (son of) or binte (daughter of) and the father's name, so nothing is passed down as a family name. That is why this list has no invented Malay surnames. Some families of Arab descent do carry inherited names, such as Alsagoff, Aljunied and Alkaff.

What is a Eurasian surname in Singapore?

Eurasians are Singaporeans of mixed European and Asian descent, and their surnames come from the European side of the family tree. Many are Portuguese in origin, such as Pereira, de Souza, Rodrigues and Theseira. Others, such as Westerhout, Shepherdson and Oehlers, have Dutch, British or other European roots.

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All 500 Singaporean last names