๐ How Rare Are You in Thailand?
๐น๐ญ Genetic Landscape of Thailand
Thailand's genetic landscape reflects its position at the heart of mainland Southeast Asia, with Tai, Mon-Khmer, Malay, Chinese, and indigenous hill-tribe ancestry creating subtle but real genetic variation. The Thai-Chinese community (up to 15% of the population) adds East Asian genetic influence, while southern Thai populations show Malay genetic markers. Thailand's hill tribes โ Karen, Hmong, Lisu, Akha โ each carry distinct genetic signatures from their migration histories across Tibet, China, and Myanmar.
Surnames arrived late in this country, and the way they were introduced made them extraordinarily varied. Before 1913 most Thais had only a given name; the Surname Act under King Vajiravudh required each family to register one, and the rule has long been that a new family name must not duplicate an existing one. The result is a nation of long, elaborate surnames assembled from Sanskrit and Pali roots โ and of people who hardly ever use them. Daily life runs instead on the chue len, the short nickname given in childhood, which may be a colour, an animal, a fruit or an English word, and which follows a person into adulthood and into the workplace. Families descended from royalty carry a separate naming system altogether.
๐ The Year Number on a Thai Document
Thailand counts years in the Buddhist Era, so the year printed on a Thai document is 543 higher than the one you would write: the Royal Gazette date on the Names of Persons Act B.E. 2505 is 23 November 2505, and that is 23 November 1962. A birth in 1994 is written 2537. The part worth knowing is that the Thai year has not always started where yours does, and one statute records the change — the Calendar Year Act B.E. 2483, Royal Gazette of 17 September B.E. 2483, volume 57, part 0 ก, pages 419–422.
Section 4 fixes the calendar year at twelve months, 1 January to 31 December, then ends B.E. 2483 on 31 December and begins B.E. 2484 on 1 January. Until then the year had started on 1 April: sections 6 and 7 both deal with money payable annually beginning from 1 April, and section 6 tells officials to work out the payment for B.E. 2483 at nine months only. So B.E. 2483 ran nine months, and no January, February or March date falls inside it — on that reckoning, no birthday in those three months belongs to that year at all.
๐๏ธ Eye Color
| Dark Brown | 94% |
| Brown | 5% |
| Other | 1% |
๐ Hair Color
| Black | 95% |
| Dark Brown | 4% |
| Other | 1% |
๐ฉธ Blood Type
| O+ | 37% |
| A+ | 22% |
| B+ | 30% |
| AB+ | 8% |
| O- | 1.5% |
| A- | 0.5% |
| B- | 0.7% |
| AB- | 0.3% |
Trait frequencies on this page come from public and institutional datasets โ see Data Sources.
🧮 Calculate Your Rarity in Thailand
Pick your eye colour, hair colour and blood type. The calculator uses Thailand's own figures from the tables above, not world averages.
This is an estimate, not a measurement. It multiplies three national frequencies as if they were independent, and they are not: eye and hair colour share pigmentation genes, so a combination that tends to run together, such as blue eyes with blonde hair, is more common than the multiplication suggests, while one that rarely does, such as blue eyes with black hair, is rarer. Blood type is independent of both. The frequencies are national averages from public datasets — see Data Sources.
That number describes the body you were born with. Fraeon, our other site, does the same arithmetic for the part you chose: the films, series, games, books, anime and manga you have actually finished. Start your log →
โ๏ธ Section 12, and the Year It Was Struck Down
The statute that governs Thai names is the Names of Persons Act B.E. 2505, published in the Royal Gazette on 23 November 1962. Section 8 is where the no-duplicate rule lives — a family name may not duplicate “a family name granted by a king or family name already registered”. Its section 12 read, in full: “A woman who has a husband shall use the family name of the husband.”
That sentence stood until Constitutional Court Ruling No. 21/2546 declared section 12 unconstitutional and inapplicable. The Names of Persons Act (No. 3), B.E. 2548, given on 8 January 2005 and published in the Royal Gazette on 19 January 2005, replaced it: “The spouses have the right to use each other’s family name according to their agreement or either of them shall use his or her own former family name.” Since then the married surname is something a couple settles between themselves.
๐ Writing a Thai Name in Roman Letters
Counting how many people share a name is partly counting spellings, and a Thai name in Roman letters is a transcription. Thailand legislated that, and it gave personal names a proclamation of their own. Thai Wikisource collects the Prime Minister’s Office proclamations with their dates: one on transcribing Thai letters into Roman, 6 March B.E. 2482; one on writing Thai names in Roman letters, 19 October B.E. 2485; and one specifically on writing a person’s name in Roman letters, 19 November B.E. 2485 — 1942.
The most recent Thai-to-Roman entry in that list is เธซเธฅเธฑเธเนเธเธเธเนเธเธฒเธฃเธเธญเธเธญเธฑเธเธฉเธฃเนเธเธขเนเธเนเธเธญเธฑเธเธฉเธฃเนเธฃเธกเธฑเธเนเธเธเธเนเธฒเธขเนเธชเธตเธขเธ, dated 23 April B.E. 2542 — 1999. The two 1942 entries repay a second look: they are written in a Thai spelling the 1999 title does not use, เธญเธฑเธเธชเธฃ where the later one has เธญเธฑเธเธฉเธฃ. If you want the same question asked about your own name, that is what Name Rarity is for.
โญ Rare Facts About Thailand
Where Thailand’s numbers come from
Thailand publishes two population counts: the National Statistical Office runs the Population and Housing Census, while the Bureau of Registration Administration, in the Department of Provincial Administration, keeps the household register. Adult height is measured in the Thai National Health Examination Survey, but the height figure here is not traced to a published NHES table. The blood figures are not traced to a published table from the National Blood Centre of the Thai Red Cross Society either. No national statistics office collects eye or hair colour and no census asks, so those percentages are estimates with nothing official behind them — see Data Sources. The statutes and dates above come from Royal Gazette scans on Wikisource. Last checked September 2026.