I found a site that says:
"Adenium is named for Aden, the former name of Yemen, where the species is native."

I linked to it below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Adenium obesum

Gill,
A friend back home is from Malaysia and when I asked her last year if she would like one. She new right away of them as 'desert rose' and remembered them as a child (her mom always told her to be careful as they where poisonous). I will see if I can send a note to her and ask if she remembered in her native language if it was different.
Rick

Thanks for the replies folks. I asked on a travel forum and got several responses....one said it was the same ie Adenium, another suggested 'Kemboja Cina', others said 'Mawar Gurun' for Desert Rose, 'Fu Gui Hua' and 'Fu Kui Fah' were mentioned but these are both Chinese translations. My dtrs rellie is Malay from Kuala Lumpur. One pointed out that Kemboja also include the Plumeria/frangipani genus!! Very confusing!! Thanks anyway for your help.
Gill from the UK.