Or at least I think it’s a bit odd.

In 2014, 810 baby girls in the USA were named ‘Malaysia’ – up from 630 in 2013. It seems the trend started around 10 years ago and is rapidly accelerating.

Now, it’s a very pretty name, Malaysia, with all those fluid open vowels, that soft ‘m’ and gentle ‘sh’.

But I wonder… how will it be shortened? (most names seem to be, whether or not the parents intend it. Unless the name is so short already it gets lengthened, of course). May? Lacy? Shia (maybe not, especially if she’s Muslim).

And what if little Malaysia, at some point in her life, ends up living in – Malaysia? I remember some English friends whose daughter was (rather fashionably) named India. There was no end of confusion registering for visas and schools and the like when the family moved to Mumbai. And little India used to get quite cross when people asked her name, then thought she was telling them where she lived…