'Along, Alang, Angah, Teh, Usu?'

My family consists of 8 people.

Now, according to Japanese standard, a family of 8 can be considered big.

I have 6 siblings, (4 boys and 2 girls) and it so happens that I am the eldest.

Even so, I don't display any physical traits that might give give the slightest hint to my 'seniority' among my siblings.

Simply put, my younger brothers are more 'well built' and definitely looks more matured than I do!

I don't know what went wrong, but every time I show someone my family photos, I will always receive the same comment; "You're the eldest?! But your younger brothers look so much more 'older/matured' than you! "

And, every time I hear that, I am always at lost with words.

I mean seriously, what am I to say?

 

What am I to blame? Different genetic built? Don't think so.

That I use some special ointment (jamu) that helps keep my youthful looks? I don't even know what 'jamu' is!

I don't know, but I've secretly believe that I owe my youthful looks to my happy-go-lucky, hakuna matata spirit. 

But, thats not the point that I want to deliver.

Japanese factor

Now, if I'm born Japanese, life might be a little bit more easy.

No matter how you end up looking, people can easily figure out if you're the eldest, number 2, 3rd child and so forth.

How come? Well, its because that the Japanese have come up with a simple way of naming their child (boys only, though) by the order of one's birth.

Example, if you're a first born male in the family, most probably you'll be named 'Ichirou' （一郎） which means 'The eldest son'.

(If you're a baseball Major League fan, then I guess the name above should ring some bell)
'Jirou' （次郎）for son number two.
'Saburou' （三郎）if you're the third in line,  and 'Shirou'（四郎） if you're the fourth.

The fifth son will be called, 'Gorou' （五郎）. 
(Well, don't ask me what do they call son number six and more. I did asked once, but since not many japanese have many kids, even they can't tell)

Easy right?

Malay factor

In Malay custom, we don't name our child according to their birth order.

Naming a child is complicated. There are no 'fixed' rules that you can refer to.

But, Malay people don't use the actual name of a child within the family's everyday lives.

We usually substitute it with 'kinship term' (one of the forms of address when speaking to others, especially when speaking to family members and close, intimate friends) in our daily conversation.

Usually, the first born will be addressed as 'Along'.

It comes from the malay word, 'sulung' which literally means 'eldest'.
Then, if you're the youngest, you'll also be known as 'Usu' which comes from 'Bungsu'; which is 'youngest'.

Now, that much is clear to me and everyone that I interviewed.

But what do the Malays call their 2nd, 3rd, 4th born and so on?

I've heard some Malay families uses the kinship term Angah, Alang, Uda, Tam, Teh, Andak, etc to address family hierarchy, but I am not clear which one of these should come after 'Along'.

Another thing is where does these kinship terms comes from?

As mentioned earlier, I deduced that the term 'Along' derives from 'sulung', and 'Usu' comes from 'Bungsu', but what about the rest?  
I suspect the term 'Angah' comes from the word 'Tengah' which means 'the middle one' but most of the times, families use this kinship term after 'Along'; referring to number 2.
What does 'Alang' stands for?
How about 'Teh'? 'Tam'?

Can someone please help me clarify?