# Siamese twins
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 2, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374 "2011-10-02T20:51:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/1 "2011-10-02T20:51:29Z")
Is it true that more Siamese twins are born in Thailand then any other country?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/2 "2011-10-02T21:37:57Z")
If you take the term literally, then all twins born in Thailand are Siamese, and no twins born elsewhere are, since Siam is just another name for Thailand.
If you’re referring to conjoined twins, the reason they’re called Siamese is just that the first widely-publicized pair, Chang and Eng, happened to be Siamese.
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### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/3 "2011-10-02T21:42:54Z")
Conjoined twins are called “Siamese” because the famous early pair, Cheng and Eng Bunker, were from Siam.
I don’t think it has anything to do with a higher incidence in Thailand, although Wikipedia does document “a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa[[1]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siamese_twins#cite_note-scielo.br-0)”.
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### Author:  [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/4 "2011-10-02T21:50:50Z")
Of course, Thailand is probably considered “Southeast Asia” and not “Southwest”. That will teach me to read properly.
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### Author:  [@Enola\_Gay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Gay)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/5 "2011-10-02T23:24:56Z")
Cheng and Eng married sisters and fathered 22 children. Can’t imagine how that went down.
And no cite, but I believe conjoined twins occur at the same rate throughout the world, irrespective of country.
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### Author:  [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/6 "2011-10-02T23:43:55Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#):
>
> Cheng and Eng married sisters and fathered 22 children. Can’t imagine how that went down.
Poorly, according to Paradox Press’s “Big Book of Freaks”. The two wives (who were sisters) eventually disliked one another intensely and Cheng & Eng did a “joint custody” style thing where they would spend a couple days with one, then a couple with the other.
As for the actual romantic bits, the book didn’t say but it did have a section on the Hilton Sisters (another set of conjoined twins) in which it says they were initially shocked to learn that both of them felt reactions to one another’s romances but eventually learned to “blank out” their twin during intimate moments.
Obviously, not “experiencing” the moment still doesn’t change the fact that you’re 4" away from a couple people screwing as you read the evening paper.
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### Author:  [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/7 "2011-10-02T23:57:13Z")
> [@Enola\_Gay](#):
>
> Cheng and Eng married sisters and fathered 22 children. Can’t imagine how that went down.
And they lived in Andy Griffith’s home town of Mt. Airy!
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### Author:  [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2011, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/8 "2011-10-03T10:17:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> If you’re referring to conjoined twins, the reason they’re called Siamese is just that the first widely-publicized pair, Chang and Eng, happened to be Siamese.
And as it happens they were ethnically Chinese, so in Thailand conjoined twins are called Chinese twins.
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### Author:  [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/9 "2011-10-03T10:21:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> If you take the term literally, then all twins born in Thailand are Siamese, and no twins born elsewhere are, since Siam is just another name for Thailand.
>
> If you’re referring to conjoined twins, the reason they’re called Siamese is just that the first widely-publicized pair, Chang and Eng, happened to be Siamese.
Yes I was refereing to literal twins from Siam. It was a odd thought that went through my mind.
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### Author:  [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2011, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/10 "2011-10-03T10:24:42Z")
> [@Jophiel](#):
>
> Poorly, according to Paradox Press’s “Big Book of Freaks”. The two wives (who were sisters) eventually disliked one another intensely and Cheng & Eng did a “joint custody” style thing where they would spend a couple days with one, then a couple with the other.
>
> As for the actual romantic bits, the book didn’t say but it did have a section on the Hilton Sisters (another set of conjoined twins) in which it says they were initially shocked to learn that both of them felt reactions to one another’s romances but eventually learned to “blank out” their twin during intimate moments.
>
> Obviously, not “experiencing” the moment still doesn’t change the fact that you’re 4" away from a couple people screwing as you read the evening paper.
Wonder how this will work out with the man who married siamese twins (not conjoined) [Lucky man marries thai twins simultaneously](http://stranger-worlds.blogspot.com/2009/06/lucky-man-marries-thai-twins.html)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/11 "2011-10-04T02:55:11Z")
> [@drewder](#):
>
> Is it true that more Siamese twins are born in Thailand then any other country?
I have never heard this in all my years – decades, actually – here. And while it probably does occur, I’ve personally never encountered a pair.
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> If you take the term literally, then all twins born in Thailand are Siamese, and no twins born elsewhere are, since Siam is just another name for Thailand.
Yes and no. The name Siam was changed to Thailand in June 1939, then back to Siam at the end of WWII, then back to Thailand once and for all in 1949. As far as I can tell, _no one_ goes around calling themselves “Siamese” or Thailand “Siam.” While we do have the big Siam Square shopping area and a couple or three shopping centers that incorporate the word “Siam” as a nod to the past, usually when it’s ever used, it’s for some sort of tourism venture, to make it sound quaint for foreigners.
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### Author:  [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/12 "2011-10-04T02:57:05Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> I have never heard this in all my years – decades, actually – here. And while it probably does occur, I’ve personally never encountered a pair.
>
> Yes and no. The name Siam was changed to Thailand in June 1939, then back to Siam at the end of WWII, then back to Thailand once and for all in 1949. As far as I can tell, _no one_ goes around calling themselves “Siamese” or Thailand “Siam.” While we do have the big Siam Square shopping area and a couple or three shopping centers that incorporate the word “Siam” as a nod to the past, usually when it’s ever used, it’s for some sort of tourism venture, to make it sound quaint for foeigners.
Funny that you say that considering your name siam sam…
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/siamese-twins/598374/13 "2011-10-04T03:01:10Z")
A nod to the past. I _am_ rather old, heh 😉