This supernatural belief affects many areas of the Thai way of life; it can even influence how they choose names for their children. Unlike people in the West much of the population Thailand will use nick names instead of their first name most of the time. It is only really on formal occasions and for business that they use their proper first names. In years gone by nicknames were chosen based on what could be considered negative attributes. Common names include; Lek which means short, Gop which means frog, Uan which means fat and Daeng which means red.