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Naming Rule

The full name of every Balinese not only indicates his or her caste but also his or her sequence of birth.

The first born is called Wayan (Gede or Putu in the upper castes)

the second child Made (or Nengah or Kadek)

then Komang or Nyoman

and the fourth Ketut.

With a fifth child the rotation starts over again. Today, with Bali's vigorous family-planning program, one meets fewer and fewer Nyomans and Ketuts.

Children also receive a formal, personal name. Thus, a Balinese called Cokorda Made Sita is the second-born son in the Sita family, belonging to the Ksatriya caste.

To make the naming system more complicated, parents' names change at the birth of each child. Identifying people by their descendants rather than by their ancestors reflects the direction of time flow from the present to the future rather than the past to the present.