What's in a surname?

For some of us, it can really be very fascinating to unpack.

Take YouTuber duo Munah & Hirzi, for instance, who took turns in two separate videos to discuss their heritage, as well as the meanings of their own family names, resulting in, as we would entirely expect of them, two highly-entertaining and surprisingly engaging educational clips.

In his video, Hirzi, whose full name is Ahmad Hirzi Bin Zulkiflie, spoke about the common misconception people have where patronyms, including his own, are thought to be surnames. We then learn about his heritage as a descendant of the North-western Sumatran Minangkabau tribe.

Other Singaporeans descended from this tribe include our first president Yusof bin Ishak, and Eunos Bin Abdullah — interestingly, he points out, the Eunos station's unique architecture is based on that of the Minang houses as well.

You can watch the full clip here:

In Munah's video, she speaks about her Arab heritage and the origin of her paternal tribe name Bagharib, where its roots date back all the way to pre-Islamic Arabia.

She also says that tribe names starting with the letter A are said to be direct descendants of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad — these include the surnames Aljunied and Al-Khatib, which also, like Eunos, have made their way into naming Singapore residential areas, and by extension, our MRT stations.

Here's her clip:

And of course, with Munah and Hirzi, you know it's never going to be a boring history lesson.

Apparently, if there's enough demand for a sequel, Munah and Hirzi will elaborate more on their heritage — incidentally, both of them happen to have Chinese blood on the other side of their families.

And of course, that inspired them to end the video with the following:

#Savage

The duo aren't the only ones who posted videos exploring their names; the indefatigable comedienne Preetipls also has one:

Her Nair surname is also shared by prominent Singaporean figures such as the third Singaporean president Devan Nair, Sembawang GRC MP Vikram Nair and former radio DJ Divian Nair, the dude behind the We Are Majulah movement's viral video "I Will Not Die For Singapore".

In her usual witty, sharp delivery, she educates viewers on the history of the Nayers(Nairs) being that of Kim Possible brave warriors that only needed a shield in battle, when Portugal was battling for control over India.

All these, with enough airtime to throw shade at talkative cab drivers and a namesake hair removal product:

While these are plugs for the History Channel, they're still very informative and entertaining videos that pack so many interesting trivia about our origins, mixed with the fun hilarity we've come to know and love from our social media stars.

We could definitely use more educational content like this.

Top image adapted via MunahHirzi's Facebook video and Preetipls's Facebook video