In English, the words ‘famous’ and ‘popular’ are similar, yet still have different meanings.

‘Popular’, according to a dictionary says, “regarded with favor, approval, or affection by people in general.” For the purposes of this article I want you to assume it means “well known and liked by a large number of people”.

‘Famous’, according to a dictionary says, “having a widespread reputation, usually of a favorable nature; renowned”. For the purposes of this article I want you to assume the type of famous typical of a movie star.

However in Thai there is no distinction between these two types. You’d use the same ‘famous’ to describe the kid in your class who has a lot of friends that you’d use to describe Lady Gaga or Saddam Hussein.

I’ll go over the various ways to say famous/popular below. Keep in mind that they all generally mean the same thing, and so can be interpreted as either ‘famous’ or ‘popular’.

ขึ้นชื่อ, ได้ชื่อ – kuen3 cheua3, dai3 cheua3 – To become famous, to ‘get a name’

ดัง – dang1 – famous (this word also means ‘loud’)

ชื่อดัง – cheua3 dang1 – famous (also means ‘loud name’)

มีชื่อเสียง – mee1 cheua3 siang5 – is famous (also means to ‘have a name’)

เขาไม่ดัง – kao5 mai3 dang1 – He isn’t famous.

เขาไม่ดังมาก – kao5 mai3 dang1 maak3 – He isn’t very famous.

So what if you just want to say ‘popular’? There is no single word you can use, so you’ll have to actually spell it out in full . . .

เขามีเพื่อนเยอะ – kao5 mee1 puean3 yuh4 – He has a lot of friends.

เขารู้จักคนเยอะ – kao5 ruu4 jak2 kon1 yuh4 – He knows a lot of people.

As a side note, I looked long and hard for a good practice video without much luck. This following video has a lady describing her thoughts on why people have dreams about famous people. Just listen to see how many times you can pick up the word เชื่อเสียง.

ทำไมชอบฝันถึงคนที่มีชื่อเสียง? – Why do [we] like to dream about famous people?