From as early as the 16th Century, when migrants travelled from their home country to Malaya, some began to adopt the local culture and inter-married with the locals. Indeed, there are many tales that attempt to trace the origins and identity of this unique hybrid culture termed Peranakan.

Some folklores suggest that Peranakan roots in Malaya began with a princess from China who married a local prince. Historically however the term Peranakan was used to refer to a number of different ethnic and cultural groups in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. The root word for Peranakan comes from the Malay and Indonesian word ‘anak’, or child, referring to locally born descendants.

Besides the Straits Chinese Peranakans, there are also the Peranakan Jawi, Peranakan Dutch, Peranakan Serani and Peranakan Chitty.

The beginnings of the Peranakan-Chinese in South East Asia date back to the 12th Century. Many Southern Chinese merchants had actively engaged in trade more than 2000 years ago, but the first permanent settlements in cities on the isle of Java and the Malay Peninsula were not established until the 13th Century.

This identity within the Chinese community began to form when Chinese traders intermarried with local women and adopted South East Asian social practices and the local language. The Peranakan Chinese have picked up many nicknames over the years: from being honored as ‘the Kings Chinese’ during colonial times, to more recent times being called orang cina bukan cina (Chinese people who are not Chinese), they have indeed garnered quite a reputation!

The term Baba is an honorific term for a Peranakan male. Strictly speaking a Peranakan-Chinese Baba is a descendant of a Chinese who has had long residence in the Straits, as opposed to the local-born children of nineteenth century Chinese immigrants. Nyonya is term given to a Peranakan female.

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混血后裔

从16世纪开始，许多中国华人开始移民到马来亚来谋生；同时他们的生活习性也受到当地文化色和于当地人通婚而产生了变化，跨越了民族之间的栏杆。马来亚的词汇里唯有“混血后裔”来形容如此独特的文化。

当地的民间传说提到了混血儿的词汇的源由是来自于中国古时后的一名公主嫁给马来亚的王子。历史学记载此词汇只用于特定的文化(马来西亚，印尼和新加坡地域)。词汇构造则是从马来和印尼民族“孩子”演变而来，“混血后裔”指的必须是当地长大的混血儿。

除了马来亚海峡华裔混血儿，也有爪哇裔混血儿，荷兰裔混血儿，蒲萄牙裔混血儿和印度裔混血儿。

华裔混血儿在东南亚社会的起源可追溯至12世纪。许多的中国南部的生意人早在二千年前接触当地，但是马来亚和爪哇的都市在13世纪才开始出现。

这群生意人接触了当地文化习性和语言后，便娶了当地都市女人为妻并组织家庭，混血后裔的文化才慢慢地在华人社会萌芽生根。

在漫长的岁月里，华裔混血儿也被冠上了许多称号，比如：华裔王（殖民时期）和非华人华人（现今）;他们的生誉的确响亮!

峇峇描述了有身份地位的马来亚华裔混血男人，娘惹则是描述马来亚华裔混血女人。严格来说，峇峇娘惹必须是其华裔前辈在本地长居并且曾参与当地生活习性。