Jamaican Chinese Surnames - Hakka

[helen]

www.chinesejamaican.com/index_files/Page1468.htm

www.chinesejamaican.com/index_files/Page465.htm

[danmagee]

Do you have anymore information on how Chinese names were assimilated to Jamaican/English surnames? For instance my mother's surname was Mahwing. I am assuming that my grandfather was of Ma/Mar/Mah family. Is the Wing part important? Would that be his real 'first' name?

[raymond]

Dan,

In my brief search of the internet, it does not appear that the Chinese immigrants to Jamaica were required to change their names to Jamaican-sounding names as they were likely required to do so in countries like Thailand and the Philippines. Check out this interesting weblink about the Chinese in Jamaica - - to me it doesn't appear that the Chinese changed their names at all: www.jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0055.htm Also, there are very few 2-syllabled Chinese surnames, and I don't think Mahwing is one of them. Thus, I suspect that Mahwing must have been the surname Mah fused together with the given name Wing, probably early-on by a Jamaican immigration officer. Good luck in your genealogical search.

Raymond

[lyncookie]

my last name is lyn-cook....my great grand father was from china, they said the origanl name was lyn, but there is mystery surrounding how we got cook added to it

[Ah Gin]

Dan, Lyn-cook et al,

As Raymond said a double syllable surname of "Lyn-cook" would be very unusual and rare -- more like his surname was Lyn (Lim?)

As to Dan's question, I suspect your mother's surname is "Mah"

One of my strange hobbies is to collect Chinese names, as recorded by our Colonial Masters in Ooostralia, to be more precise, New Gold Mountain in the State of Victoria, Australia. And it is quite an amusing collection. There are many "Surnames" with "Ah" -- which, eh, not quite their surname.

The Celestials were under great deal of pressures to assimilate. I know of a few families who have changed their surnames to fit the Anglo style. And if one were to look at the surnames carefully and then pronounced with Hoisanwa in mind, then the "Anglo style name" is really a Chinese name -- either the original Surname, or part of the given name of the Chinese pioneer (Loosely, the native dialect of the Siyi Region was Hoisanwa -- OK, let's not really debate that issue as one can debate that. I am from Hoiping/Kaiping, so I can object to that classification )

In the gold city of Bendigo, there are many families with Anglo sounding names, and now they rightly claim their rich Chinese heritage. Samples of Anglo Sounding names with Chinese heritage: O'hoy, Ahchee, Lisson. Equally, there are many who denied that they have any Chinese blood. And I smile with amusement -- you are what you are.

Regards, Ah Gin

[lynny83]

Hi there,

I came across this thread when doing a little research about my family history. I am from Jamaica and my last name is Lyn. My grand dad told us that our last name was Lyn Chin before he changed it to Lyn. He was born in Jamiaca in 1916 and his father was from China.....not sure where his mother was from ........not finding much info online. Any thoughts would be appreciated .

Thanks

[Doug 周]

lynny83

Start from the beginning, with what you know.

1. From your parents, start with confirming your surname.
2. Interview your uncles, aunts, & cousins for clues. Start a pencil & paper family tree chart to help organize yourself. Insist on using names rather than titles of your relatives. Chinese heritage always emphasizes the title. You will be amazed at the reluctance in divulging names since in the old days it was considered improper to call someone by their given name.
3. Document times & locations in your ancestors' arrival country. Then discover from what part of China your ancestor came. Clues will come from any birth records or legal or travel documents in your ancestor's possessions. Get yourself a magnifying glass for those scraps of papers or the writing on the back of the photographs.
4. Search local archives, libraries, newspapers, associations, societies, organizations, and museums. Remember the internet is only the tip of the genealogy iceberg. Most information has not been digitized. Remember to have access to a scanner when you come across a treasure trove of information.
5. Consider the information on your ancestors' gravestones, especially if in Chinese characters. Post a digital photo of the gravestones if you need help in the interpretation. siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=names&thread=235&page=1#1566
6. Start recognizing your surname & ancestral village in Chinese characters. There is no need to read, write or even speak Chinese to be comfortable with Chinese characters.
7. Consider purchasing this U$35 resource, considered by some to be the best How-To book on Chinese genealogy. houseofchinn.com/YouAreRoyalty.html Be aware that the author twoupman<=click is a moderator of a subforum. I have neither financial interest nor any relationship to him. However his web site has a lot of basic information for free and will give you an inkling of what is in his book.
8. Post your findings & specific questions and we will try to discuss ways around any roadblocks.

You will discover that genealogy research is a never ending but enjoyable endeavor, and if you run into a seemingly impenetrable obstacle, take a break. You will run across clues to the desired answer 3-6-9 months later. The serendipity of discovery occurs only to those prepared.

Doug

[jlyn]

Hi,

See interestingly enough, my last name is Lyn. My hometown is kingston, originating from guangzhou. the running story about my last name from my aunties and uncles was that it was a mistake and all Lyns are related to me some way. But it felt weird about this since my great-grand father who the name comes from only immigrated to Jamaica with 2 other brothers. And indeed my grandfather noted many other lyns even elderly who immigrated at the same time as his mothers family (1850s). So ok. Now I know I'm not the only one. And my uncle says when he was youncher people called his dad Mr "ling". Then I got my grandad to write down his name in characters from what he remembers of Chinese school. And indeed it did spell Lin/ling! Then I contacted a professor at the university of Toronto who studies immigration to the west indies and she said that although she was not 100% about Chinese, she knows that the British would often purposefully change indian's names to be more British/they didn't know how to spell it and the immigrants at least in the beginning were often not well educated. So now I believe that my last name must have been a deliberate respelling of ling/lin hence why multiple families have this spelling. I feel like this name is both a blessing and a curse because all throughout my life, I'm not accepted by the Chinese community because I'm mixed and don't have the Chinese name, but then I'm also not black and clearly " all Jamaicans must be black" as ive heard 100,000 times. I never feel accepted in any of my cultures. Anyways glad I found this and if anyone has any information please respond!!

[dyap]

Did you try checking With the Chinese Benevolent Society? Their FB page is  www.facebook.com/The-Chinese-Benevolent-Association-of-Jamaica-109413161854/?fref=ts

[twoupman]

jlyn,

I had a quick look at a couple of tombstones at the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA)Cemetery Gallery and both of them show Lyn as 凌 which is Ling in Mandarin or Lihng in Cantonese which is close to Hakka. Can you post the character your grandad wrote down? I do not believe it is 林 which is Lin in Mandarin or Lam/Lum in Cantonese. Is you ggf buried in Kingston cemetery? If so do you know his name in which case his tombstone will have Chinese inscribed on it which will confirm his actual Chinese surname. CBA also has a database showing hand written records in Chinese characters.

twoupman
houseofchinn.com

[dung]

Mah-Wing 馬榮, Mah 馬 is the family name and Wing 榮 is the first name and he has a brother named Mah-Leung 馬良,I am from Jamaica and I'm good friend of Victor and Eddie Mah-Leung .

[Doug 周]

Consider contacting Robert at this website:
cbajamaica.com/gallery/login.php