Zaw

Zaw is primarily a Burmese personal name element. In Myanmar, many people do not have family names; personal names are formed by combining syllables, and Zaw frequently appears as a standalone given name or as part of a compound name such as Zaw Win or Zaw Min. When used alone, it functions as a full given name rather than a surname.

Etymology and meaning: The meaning of Zaw depends on the other elements in the name. Burmese name elements are chosen for phonetic qualities, auspicious associations, or semantic meaning; however, there is no universal meaning attached to Zaw itself.

Other uses: In all-caps form ZAW, the sequence is used as an acronym for context-specific terms; this entry does not have a single canonical meaning.

Related terms include Zawgyi, a Burmese script encoding; it is sometimes encountered in discussions of Burmese typography.