Scholars like Kaim Ang suggest the name of the people, Hoanya, comes from Taiwanese HokkienHoan-iá (番仔, lit. "barbarian"), originally from the perspective of ethnic Chinese referring to non-Chinese, especially historical natives of Taiwan and Southeast Asia.[2][3] The name of the people group retained the obsoletediminutivesuffix-iá (仔) in Hokkien, which originally came from a weak form of kiáⁿ or káⁿ (囝) and today survives in Hokkien as the diminutivesuffix-á (仔). Huán-nià (番仔) is attested in the Dictionario Hispanico Sinicum (1626-1642)[4] and use of the obsolete -iá (仔) suffix is also recorded in Medhurst's 1832 Hokkien dictionary.[5] The modern form of the aforementioned word in Taiwanese Hokkien is Hoan-á (番仔), which over the centuries took on a derogatory connotation in Taiwan in reference to Taiwanese aboriginal groups in general or to any unreasonable persons. However, the same word, Huan-a, has different connotations in other Hokkien-speaking communities, such as in Fujian (China), the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
^Ang, Kaim (2021). "「Hoanya」族名辯證及其周遭族群" [The Debating of the Ethnic Name 'Hoanya' and its Surrounding Ethnic Groups]. Taiwan History Research. 22 (4): 1–40.