Karl Could you give me an idea where Hang-Hein might have orignated. Thanks. Garth ----- Original Message ----- From: Karl Ho <kkho@ihug.com.au> To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 1:12 PM Subject: Re: [CHINA] A Long Shot > When we talk about English transliteration of Chinese names, we must first > understand the fact that different Chinese dialects have a great impact on > the way the names are transliterated. In Hong Kong where most people speak > Cantonese, the transliteration is done on the basis of Cantonese sound. > While in Singapore/Malaysia where there are a lot of Chinese who are of > Fujian origin, the transliteration is based on the Hokenese (Fujianese) > sound. One example of this difference is: Chan (Cantonese) and Tan > (Hokianese) mean Chen in Mandarin. Now, Tong, if in Cantonese, should mean > Tang in Mandarin. Because I don't know Hokianese, I don't know the > Cantonese Tong's equivalence in Hokianese. > > Furthermore, because of the fact that there are four tones for a sound in > Mandarin and nine tones for a sound in Cantonese, the English > transliteration of a Chinese name does not really tell people the actual > Chinese character which stands for that name. > > Karl > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Cindy" <mai_shiranui@hotmail.com> > To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 6:21 PM > Subject: [CHINA] A Long Shot > > > > Posted on: General China Query Forum > > Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/China/General/265 > > > > Surname: TONG > > ------------------------- > > > > I know this is a long shot, but still worth a little try. The surname TONG > > is relatively uncommon compared to other Chinese surname. My ancestors > > were all immigrants to Singapore as it was a migrant city in the past. > > My surname is Tong and I am of Hockchew dialect. Was your grandfather this > > dialect too? If there'a similarity, I could dig up a little more on my > > family history. > > > > >

Garth, Because of my limited knowledge in languages and my background in Cantonese, I am afraid that I may not be able to give you an accurate answer to your question. To me, Hang-Hein may be some transliteration done along the way that people in Hong Kong do. However, two points need to be discussed: 1) The transliteration of Chinese names (based on Cantonese sounds) has never been standardized in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, experiences and records had somehow devised some sort of common ways to transliterate certain Chinese words, especially family names. 2) It was quite common in a certain period in the past that a hyphen was put between the first and second names when Chinese names were transliterated into English both in Hong Kong and Taiwan. This practice however has somehow faded. In mainland China nowadays, in their transliteration system (Pinyin), the first and second names are joined together to become one word, e.g. if someone's name is Chen (family name)Da(first name)Men (second name), the mainland Chinese will write it as Chen Damen (the usual way) or occasionally Damen Chen. Going back to Hang-Hein, I am not sure if it is a family name or a combination of a first and a second name. In Hong Kong, "Hang" is commonly used to transliterate certain Chinese words (in Cantonese sound). "Hein" is not a common word used to transliterate Chinese names. I would say that, of the same sound, "Hai" is the word which is commonly used in Hong Kong. After saying all these, I am sorry to tell you that I really don't know where the name has originated. What I can say is that, the way the name was transliterated, it seems to me that it might be a transliteration done in Hong Kong in the days when "standardization" (in a loose sense) still had not occurred, probably before WWII. Since most of the Chinese in Hong Kong are from Guangdong province, I suspect that Hang-Hein was a person who had gone to Hong Kong from a certain place in Guangdong (and then migrated to the overseas?). Karl ---- Original Message ----- From: "garth patrick" <garthpat@iprimus.com.au> To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 8:02 PM Subject: Re: [CHINA] A Long Shot > Karl > Could you give me an idea where Hang-Hein might have orignated. > Thanks. Garth > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Karl Ho <kkho@ihug.com.au> > To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 1:12 PM > Subject: Re: [CHINA] A Long Shot > > > > When we talk about English transliteration of Chinese names, we must first > > understand the fact that different Chinese dialects have a great impact on > > the way the names are transliterated. In Hong Kong where most people > speak > > Cantonese, the transliteration is done on the basis of Cantonese sound. > > While in Singapore/Malaysia where there are a lot of Chinese who are of > > Fujian origin, the transliteration is based on the Hokenese (Fujianese) > > sound. One example of this difference is: Chan (Cantonese) and Tan > > (Hokianese) mean Chen in Mandarin. Now, Tong, if in Cantonese, should > mean > > Tang in Mandarin. Because I don't know Hokianese, I don't know the > > Cantonese Tong's equivalence in Hokianese. > > > > Furthermore, because of the fact that there are four tones for a sound in > > Mandarin and nine tones for a sound in Cantonese, the English > > transliteration of a Chinese name does not really tell people the actual > > Chinese character which stands for that name. > > > > Karl > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Cindy" <mai_shiranui@hotmail.com> > > To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 6:21 PM > > Subject: [CHINA] A Long Shot > > > > > > > Posted on: General China Query Forum > > > Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/China/General/265 > > > > > > Surname: TONG > > > ------------------------- > > > > > > I know this is a long shot, but still worth a little try. The surname > TONG > > > is relatively uncommon compared to other Chinese surname. My ancestors > > > were all immigrants to Singapore as it was a migrant city in the past. > > > My surname is Tong and I am of Hockchew dialect. Was your grandfather > this > > > dialect too? If there'a similarity, I could dig up a little more on my > > > family history. > > > > > > > > > >