What’s in a Name?
Understanding the History of Chinese Surnames
Culture | Mitchel Rey
Names are powerful things. The weight and meaning that they carry are especially important in Chinese culture. A Chinese person’s name typically consists of a family name (姓 — xìng) and a given or “first” name (名 — míng). The unique character used as the family name or surname serves as the key to understanding deep family ties and years of history.
Returning to the Mainland Roots
It is said that many Chinese people have one common ancestor — 黃帝 (Huáng dì) or the “Yellow Emperor,” who reigned over the newly-united lands and tribes that would later become China. Nearly 4,000 years ago, he decreed that all families should adopt hereditary surnames.
From there, all existing surnames during the Song dynasty were listed in a Chinese poem known as 百家姓 (Bǎi jiā xìng) or the “Hundred Family Surnames.” This classic text included 504 surnames and 564 Chinese characters; its widespread use as a learning material for young scholars in Imperial China led to the use of the expression: 老百姓 (Lǎo bǎi xìng). Although its literal meaning is “one hundred old surnames,” the term is used to describe commoners or ordinary folks.
Chinese surnames were derived from multiple sources and used to commemorate ancestral identity and to promote clan cohesion. Some surnames came from titles of nobility (e.g. 王 — Wáng, 姜 — Jiāng, 姚 — Yáo), while others came from territories or places of origin (e.g. 宋 — Sòng, 吴/吳 — Wú, 陈/陳 — Chén, 谭/譚 — Tán). Family names were also derived from professions, ranging from official positions (e.g. 司马/司馬 — Sī mǎ / “Minister of War”) to lowly occupations (e.g. 陶 — Táo / “potter,” 巫 — Wū / “shaman”).
The Chinese empire was a rich melting pot of cultural exchange, trade, and intermarriage with foreigners from all corners of the world; some of these foreigners decided to adopt Chinese surnames to integrate into society.
The so-called “barbarian” groups on the northern frontier of China, namely those with Persian, Sogdian, Turkic, and Indian origins, adopted the surname 胡 (Hú). Meanwhile, people with eastern-Siberian Jurchen and Manchu origins adopted the surnames 金 (Jīn) and 满 (Mǎn), respectively.
An interesting use or hybridization of family names with foreign languages also arose from the attempts of neighboring states to curry favor with the Chinese empire during the Tang dynasty. The Vietnamese name Trần, Korean name Jin, and Japanese surname Chin all originate from the same Chinese surname 陈 (Chén). In countries with long histories of Chinese immigration, the Chinese family names have completely blended in with local ones. In Thailand, for example, 陈 (Chén) has been localized as Sae-Tang, Sae-Tan, or Sae-Chin, while in Indonesia, 谭 (Tán) has been integrated as Tandiono, Tanasal, Tanadi, Tantomo, among many others.
Mabuhay! It’s Messier in the Philippines
From the 12,000 surnames originally preserved in the 百家姓 text, only 25% remains in use today; the other 75% was either lost or simplified, perhaps as a result of the patrilineal inheritance of surnames. Many residents from Southern China also chose to flee from the social unrest or instability in their homeland, which greatly contributed to the loss in surname variety.
Did you know? Upon marrying, Chinese women do not take on the surnames of their husbands; instead, they retain their maiden names.
While registering the newly-arrived Chinese migrants, immigration officers often had to use their own discretion in translating Chinese surnames into the local language. Since there was no standardized system for the romanization of Chinese surnames, a single surname could have many translations. Not only that, two different but similar-sounding surnames could have the same translation, as immigration officers often disregarded the proper pronunciation of Chinese characters. They were also confused by Chinese naming conventions and often registered migrants with their given names listed as their surnames and vice versa.
Many overseas Chinese communities were established in this way, including that of the Tsinoys (Chinoys) in the Philippines. Majority of the Chinese that emigrated here originally hailed from the nearby Hokkienese- or Cantonese-speaking coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong.
Under the Spanish rule, Chinese emigrants were almost entirely males who intermarried with Filipinos; their progeny were known as the Chinese mestizos. They adopted Spanish name formats to assimilate into society, either by using Spanish surnames (e.g. Mendoza, de la Cruz, Garcia, etc.) or by using multisyllabic Hispanicized Chinese surnames derived from the complete family name of the clan’s patriarch (e.g. Cinco, Cojuanco, Gokongwei, Yuchengco, etc.). Spanish transliterations of the Hokkien surname or suffix 孫 (Sūn / “son”) came into popular use when the Spanish colonials carried out mass deportations and persecutions to control the ethnic Chinese in the country. Examples of such transliterations include Tuazon, Dizon, Lacson, Guanzon, and Tiongson, among others.
Around the 1900s, during the American colonial period, migrants would combine adopted Spanish or English names with their Chinese names. They usually had monosyllabic surnames that are still commonly in use to this day, such as Ang, Ching, Chua, Co, Go/Ngo, Lee/Dy, Lim, Ng/Uy, Ong, Sin, Sy/See, Yao, and Yap.
In this time period, however, the Americans approved laws that limited the migration of Chinese laborers into the U.S. One such law — the Exclusion Act of 1902 — was controversially applied to the Philippines as well, though its enactment did not necessarily prevent Chinese migrants from entering the country. It was common practice then to 1) purchase surnames, 2) purchase alien landing certificates of other Chinese residents who emigrated back to China and subsequently assume their identities, or 3) allow younger migrants to be adopted by a Chinese resident with a Filipino nationality. In this way, migrants could pass off as legal, long time residents of the country.
With all these arbitrary origins, imposed restrictions, and cultural crossovers, it’s no wonder that a variety of Chinese surnames are among the most common surnames in the world. A clan’s entire history can be traced all the way back using surname databases like this one from My China Roots. Ready to take a trip down memory lane?
References
Chinese surname. (2017). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Chinese_surname&oldid=1003283
National Archives and Records Administration. (2022). Chinese exclusion act (1882). Retrieved from https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/chinese-exclusion-act
Choo, C. (2020). 8 things you didn’t know about your Chinese surname. Retrieved from https://www.mychinaroots.com/blog/genealogy/8-things-you-didnt-know-about-your-chinese-surname/
Evangelista-Agaloos, L. (2021). The fascinating history of buying Filipino surnames. Retrieved from https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/87045/story-behind-buying-surnames-a2848-20210814-lfrm
History Learning. (n.d.). Chinese trade in the Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.historylearning.com/history-of-the-philippines/pre-colonial/chinese-trade-in-the-philippines/
Ngo, D. (2020). Understanding the different Chinoy surnames. Retrieved from https://www.chinoy.tv/understanding-the-different-chinoy-surnames/
See, T. (2005). Chinese in the Philippines. Encyclopedia of Diasporas, 760–769. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-29904-4_79
Tree, L. (2019). Chinese last names: A history of culture and family. Retrieved from https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/chinese-last-names
