What do "Nonya" and "Baba Family" mean?

Baba Nyonya (or Peranakan/Overseas Chinese) refers to the people who settled in Managa (Malacca), Majapahit and Sri Lanka (Indonesia and Singapore) in the early 15th century. Children born from intermarriages between Chinese Ming Dynasty merchants and local Malays. Men are called "Baba" and women are called "Nyonya", commonly known as "Baba Nyonya".

In addition, Baba (Baba) also specifically refers to a Chinese ethnic group who calls themselves and called "Baba", which is the Baba in Malacca today and in Penang and Singapore before Malaysian independence. The Bahua people speak Malay, and they also call themselves "Peranakan" - "native people" in Malay, so "Cina Peranakan" means Peranakan. This word was originally used to identify "Baba people" and "New Zealanders". "Ke" - that is, immigrants from China. In the Malay Peninsula in the 19th century, this distinction was very obvious and important. "Baba" were natives, while "new guests" were immigrants. Their living habits and political consciousness were different. Although most of the Chinese in Malaysia today are born locally, the word "Peranakan" has become the exclusive self-identification of "Baba people".