|
|
Post by schong on Nov 7, 2018 20:17:46 GMT -5
trying to figure out what part of China the Boey or Moey surname came from. Parents migrated to Malaysia in the 1940's. Hokkien is the dialect spoken by them.
|
|
|
|
Post by philiptancl on Nov 8, 2018 6:38:14 GMT -5
trying to figure out what part of China the Boey or Moey surname came from. Parents migrated to Malaysia in the 1940's. Hokkien is the dialect spoken by them. Hi Schong, Boey is the Minnan (閩南) transliteration for Mei (梅). Note Chaozhou (潮州) and Hockien (as is known in Malaysia) is of the Minnan (閩南) dialect. Singapore-born Chinese genealogy Web site developer Danny Boey had always thought his family originated from the coastal region of Chaozhou (潮州). But when he dug out his father's birth certificate, he discovered he was really Cantonese. Boey learned his grandmother's first husband, his real grandfather, came from Guangzhou, and when she remarried, her second husband, from Chaozhou, made everyone in the family adopt his surname and dialect. He even learned his surname, Boey, is the Chaozhou transliteration of Mui, meaning plum in Cantonese. I had a classmate in University of Malaya (from May 1965 to Feb 1969) with that surname Boey. Both of us were two of the three sponsored students from the national utility and we were subsequently became workmates for over quite some years before he left to join a consultant firm. His hometown is Penang and his ancestral place is China is Hoi San/Taishan (台山). According to him, how the surname Mei (梅) is transliterated may not be through the father but by midwife (depending on her dialect) who delivered them. My friend is Boey, his brother is Moey and a cousin his is May!! I had designed and constructed a pedigree line for someone in US of that surname some 8 years ago. The cover of the zupu is show below. If you are interested I could dig that out some chart related to it to post here.  Philip Tan |
|
|
|
Post by schong on Nov 8, 2018 9:34:21 GMT -5
So Danny Boey's father was using the surname of his stepfather, not his real father, meaning Boey was not his actual surname? Or did he start using Boey again as an adult? My parents did speak Cantonese as well as Hokkien. They also spoke an old dialect of Sing Ning, not sure about spelling. Thank you so much for the information you have already provided. Yes I have the same situation of Moey and Boey in my family with my siblings.
|
|
|
|
Post by gckimm on Nov 8, 2018 18:18:23 GMT -5
Hi:
The "old dialect" may be an important clue. The old name for Toishan/Taishan County 台山縣 was Sun Ning/Xinning County 新寧縣. The name was changed in 1904. This county has its own language, a variant of Cantonese. In Toishanese the Cantonese surname Mui (Mandarin = Mei) 梅 sounds more like "Moy."
Greg
|
|
|
|
Post by jasonwu on Nov 8, 2018 19:25:24 GMT -5
Hi schong, Would it be possible that your parents used Hokkien for the sake of communicating with and assimilating into the Chinese community in Malaysia, since that is the dominant language used? Philip and Greg have provided great context and observations!
I think Taishanese/Sunning Wah is a very particular dialect that would be hard to pick up, even for those who already speak Standard Cantonese - not to mention in a country where there are relatively few Taishanese people comparative to other major language groups. If it's true that schong's family is from Taishan/Sunning, then they might be from the Duen Fun/Oon Fun Township which contains approximately 119 Moy villages. Here's the village database page: villagedb.friendsofroots.org/display.cgi?level=Heung&id=35Here's the page for the Moy Family Association in Chicago, where many of the people from Duen Fun ended up: moysusa.org/aboutusmoys.html Jason |
|
|
|
Post by philiptancl on Nov 8, 2018 20:19:37 GMT -5
Schong mentioned his parents migrated to Malaysia in the 1940's and Hokkien is the dialect spoken by them. I suspect his parents could have migrated to Penang or Taiping regions of Peninsular Malaysia where Hockien would be the main Chinese dialect used. That his family has lost the use of Taishanese dialect is very prevalent among Chinese of Taishan ancestry that settled in Malaysia. Before I started my interest in Chinese genealogy, I thought there is one Cantonese dialect which is as spoken in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. I realized that there is Taishanese dialect after coming in contact with my dear friend Henry Tom and Gene Chin of US. Since then I discover many of my friends here in Malaysia have ancestries from Taishan but none of them seem able to speak in Taishanese dialect.
Philip Tan.
|
|
|
|
Post by schong on Nov 9, 2018 8:48:10 GMT -5
Yes, it is true that the reason my parents spoke Hokkien is that was the common dialect spoken in Malaysia and Penang is where we lived. I am the youngest and do recall my mother mentioning Taishan. I do live in the US now and many of my siblings have passed away. There is a Moey She Temple in Penang built in the 30’s but crumbling now. Will visit next time I am there. You all have given me so much valuable information. Thank you so much.
|
|
|
|
Post by philiptancl on Nov 10, 2018 4:08:23 GMT -5
trying to figure out what part of China the Boey or Moey surname came from. Parents migrated to Malaysia in the 1940's. Hokkien is the dialect spoken by them. Hi Schong, Below is a write-up on the origin of your surname Boey/Moey/Moy/Mei (梅) taken from the book “The Origin of Chinese Surnames” by CHUNG Yoon-Ngan. Also posted below is the distribution of the surname in China.   Philip Tan |
|
|
|
Post by schong on Nov 13, 2018 9:20:43 GMT -5
Really appreciate this, Mr Tan. Thank you. Will be in KL sometime in the next year or two, maybe we can meet up.
|
|
|
|
Post by philiptancl on Nov 14, 2018 3:25:38 GMT -5
Really appreciate this, Mr Tan. Thank you. Will be in KL sometime in the next year or two, maybe we can meet up. Hi Schong, Sure, would love to meet up with you whenever you are here in Kuala Lumpur. I shall send you me email and hand-phone through personal message in this Forum. Philip Tan |
|
|
|
Post by maureenb on Feb 8, 2019 22:02:12 GMT -5
Hello all,
I am really glad I came across this forum.
My grandfather came to Penang from China and we Boeys are definitely not Hokkien but it is the most commonly used dialect in Penang hence the need to get along and use Hokkien in daily life.
I grew up in KL while my cousins remained in Penang. We were all English educated and cannot read/write Chinese (other than our names!) but all of us speak fluent'Senning'/ Hoisarn, as this is the only dialect our grandparents can communicate in.
Most of us are in Europe now but when we get together, we converse in 'Senning'. It would seem that we are the last of our generation to use the dialect as none of our children or grand children speak it although they may understand the odd word or phrase.
I shall follow this discussion with interest.
MaureenB
|
|
