Why is Hatyai called Hatyai?

Hi friends,

How are you? I hope you are fine.

I should have gone to Hatyai, my hometown during long holidays, but the train ticket was fully booked.

As I am thinking of Hatyai, I read about its history on the Internet so I would like to introduce some information to you.

Do you know why Hatyai is called Hatyai, which means the city of big beach? (Despite the fact that no big beach left now)

I have wondered for a long time as well. I have got the answer and here is it:

Long time ago, there was a very big white beach along the U Ta Pao canal. This beach was able to serve 50 boats to park on. Most people dug out the sand from the beach to use for their house construction, and a large amount of sand here seemed not to be used all. Therefore, people in the past called Hatyai by its name.

In the meantime, some people said the name of Hatyai was originated from the tree of Ma Hatyai, or in Thai “ต้นมะหาดใหญ่’. As people in the south always shorten the words, they called the village of Ma Hat Yai as Hatyai.

Note: For your information, in the past the U Ta Pao canal was used as the important water transportation between Songkhla to Kedah State, Malaysia. (Now, there is no big area of beach left.) It was said that Hatyai has been founded for almost 100 years. It was developed from a village, then Amphur and now a metropolitan.

Again, time for lunch now and I am thinking of a Dim Sum food shop in Hatyai!

 Happy weekend

Thanks for the information on http://www.songkhlahealth.org/paper/1182 , http://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/อำเภอหาดใหญ่

and http://th.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071109092356AAxEXeS