Researching Chinese Vietnamese Family Names
From: Daniel C. Tsang
Date: Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 3:38 PM
Colleagues:
A patron was trying to find the history of his family surname and the route to Vietnam taken by the clan members.
He is a Viet Hoa Kieu whose father believes his ancestors came from Guangzhou region.
Can anyone on the list suggest a good source for Chinese Vietnamese names? Or a source for Chinese migration to Vietnam?
dan
Daniel C. Tsang
Social Science Data Librarian
Bibliographer for Asian American Studies, Economics, Political Science & Business (acting)
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From: Helen Pho
Date: 2009/1/24
Hi,
I wrote a research paper on the ethnic Chinese in Vietnam for an undergrad seminar two years ago and came across a few sources that briefly discuss Chinese migration to VN:
Li, Tana. "The Chinese in Vietnam", for The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, Archipelago Press and Landmark Books, Singapore, 1998.
Purcell, Victor. The Chinese in Southeast Asia. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1965
and possibly:
Skinner, William G. "Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 321 (January 1959): 136-147
I think most of the Hoa are descended from settlers from Guangdong and Fukkien provinces.
Helen Pho
Yale, BA History '08
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From: Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Date: 2009/1/25
Actually, Hoa people in Vietnam were organized into 5 "bang": Quang Dong (Guangdong); Phuc Kien (Fujian); He (Hakka); Hai Nam (Hainan) and Minh Huong/Trieu Chau (Chaozhou).
More works are available about the Chinese in Vietnam, including the edited volume by Li Tana and Nola Cooke, Water Frontier.
In the South, people whose surname was Hoang (Huang/Wong) was turned into Huynh in deference to the first Nguyen lord, Nguyen Hoang.
When Hoa people were forced to take up Vietnamese nationality in 1955 in South Vietnam, a lot got their names Vietnamized, sometimes erroneously. For example, friends of mine whose surname should really be Huynh (Wong) got renamed Truong (Zhang).
Most Vietnamese names, including the ubiquitous Nguyen (Ruan) can be found in China as well.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
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From: Grace Chew
Date: Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 5:57 AM
Dear Dan,
Sorry for this late posting.
Your friend may like to take a look at these websites first. Please note that I've not checked the accuracy of the contents, but the first listed below is interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Chinese_surnames
http://www.yutopian.com/names/06/6zhu14.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_surname
Is your friend able to check the place where his ancestors come from more accurately? From there, he can check where the clan/lineage association of his ancestors is in VN or, if it still exists in VN. Alternatively, he may like to trace his roots in China (mainland). 'Qiaolian' (an organization that deals with Chinese overseas) may also be able to help.
Does he read Chinese? There are books published on the migration of people from Fujian (Quanzhou, Nanan, Anqi, etc), Guangdong (Chaoyang, Guangzhou, Foshan, etc), Hainan (Wenchang) and so forth. He will be able to get some idea of the migration from these. What's his family name in Vietnamese? Which part of Vietnam was he from?
Best wishes,
Grace