If you visit Bali, Indonesia, you’ll quickly observe that the pool of popular names among the locals seems shockingly small.

And maybe after meeting your fifth Wayan you’ll ask, why?

In a remarkably pragmatic turn of events the answer is: birth order.

Birth order determines your name, uniform for both male or female.

Firstborn is Wayan.

Second is Made.

Third is Nyoman.

Fourth is Ketut.

The pattern repeats with the fifth child being called Wayan Balik, generally meaning “another Wayan.”

(One can’t help but wonder if this disincentivizes the introduction of a fifth. In a sea of Wayan’s who wants to be known as another Wayan in one’s own family?)

But this interesting observation seems to suddenly disappear when you set foot anywhere else in Indonesia, which frankly feels like a different country from Bali. The distinction begins to make a bit more sense when you learn that Bali houses an 86% Hindu population and the rest of Indonesia houses an 87% Muslim population.

And now, curiosity strikes again: how did that come to be?

Primarily focused on the religious divide, Hinduism was introduced two thousand years ago by Hindu priests traveling from India.

But then in the 1200s, Arab Muslim traders arrived, convincing most of the leaders to convert and pushing those who still followed Hinduism to Bali.

Then, along with a good many number of other countries, experienced Dutch rule, then Japanese rule, then Dutch rule again, before finally gaining independence in 1949.

Interestingly, initially adopting the named The United States of Indonesia.

And since their time as an independent country has continued to live in this bifurcated state of religious concentration.