Mizo name

Mizo names are personal names used by the Mizo people in, or originating from, Northeast India and Myanmar. In the Mizo traditional system, a given name is specifically gender-based and the whole name is single-worded (mononymic). As in many Asian traditions, the Mizo and related Tibeto-Burman names normally do not have surnames. However, unlike other Tibeto-Burman languages, the Mizo language adopted gender classification in the given name: a suffix with -a denotes a male and -i, a female. However, not all clans of the Mizo universally use the system and modernised names have multiple parts, including English or other foreign given names and surnames.

The British rule of the Mizo people and the ensuing mass Christianisation coupled with westernisation had huge influence on the Mizo naming system. Erstwhile not known names, including foreign names and surnames, became commonly adopted. The proper names in modern times are popularly a reflection of Christian worship; some of the common prefixes, Lal, Van and Vanlal, which were once restricted to regal names, are popular as allusion to god and heaven. An impetus for the change into and popularisation of foreign names and western naming order consisting of first, middle name and surname, or at least two-part name is that Mizo traditional names, both spelling and pronunciation, are difficult for others, some countries prohibiting single-part names (like the Middle East countries) and some Indian official registry requiring surnames and other parts of the name. A modern convention of incorporating clan names as surnames in multi-part names is still not technically a surname system, since surnames are not used in the calling name.