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Post by totziens on May 11, 2005 6:53:35 GMT -5
This forum seems interesting.
Since I have a rare surname, I guess tracing my ancestral roots is very difficult. So, I guess I would like to try my luck here.
My surname is Yew. One family branch of my grand-uncle has changed it to Ewe. I am not sure whether there's a possibility that certain of them may change it to Yu or something else.
In Mandarin pinyin, my surname is Yu2. It has the same Chinese word as "yu" of "yu chi" (meaning "especially" in Mandarin) and "yu yi" (meaning "cuttlefish" in Mandarin).
My grandparents were in Penang, Malaysia. Majority of the family members remain in Penang till now. They call themselves the "baba nyonya" of Penang. My late grandmother and even my late aunties even used to dress in Malay costume.
I heard my ancestor originally came from Nan An (direct translation means Southern Peace), Hokkien (Fu Chien??) in China. My mom used to joke that they're all low class trishaw pullers (I don't know whether this is true). I heard my great-grand father/grandfather was in Indonesia (maybe Medan) before moving to Malaysia. If not mistaken, my great grand father was a businessman with rubber estates all the way in Myanmar but he lost everything after after World War 2.
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Post by totziens on May 11, 2005 23:04:33 GMT -5
Sorry, I forgot to mention the purpose of my post. I intend to find out the lost roots from the period when my ancestor left China and arrived Indonesia. I am not certain whether there are more generation in Indonesia and also not sure whether my ancestor left directly from China to Indonesia (who knows there was a stop over in Taiwan, The Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand or anywhere else???)
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Post by Raymond on May 13, 2005 19:18:42 GMT -5
Hopefully, someone who also has ancestral roots in Nan An in Fukien (aka Fujian and Hokkien) can respond favorably to your query. For various reasons the Chinese from Guangdong and Fukien Provinces migrated in large numbers in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. While many of the Chinese from Guangdong Province (especially those from Toisan County) migrated to America via Hong Kong, large numbers of the Fukien Chinese migrated to the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma and Thailand. So, it is not surprising that your being in Malaysia has ancestral origins in Fukien Province. Good luck in your ancestral search.
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Post by totziens on May 18, 2005 4:17:30 GMT -5
Well, it's quite difficult to find someone with the same surname with me in Malaysia. So far I have only encountered 2 of them who are not my relatives throughout my life. I think it's a rare surname even internationally. I am not surprise if I won't be able to find anything at all.
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Post by Curious on May 19, 2005 0:20:29 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity could you post your surname in Chinese character? Thanks
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Post by Curious on May 19, 2005 0:20:50 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity could you post your surname in Chinese character? Thanks
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Post by twoupman on May 19, 2005 20:09:27 GMT -5
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Post by totziens on Jun 14, 2005 5:29:54 GMT -5
twoupman, I think the URL doesn't work. Anyway, you can look for "Chinese surnames" at the site, click on it. Then pick the surname at 14th row in the 8th column. That'll be my rare surname.
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Post by twoupman on Jun 14, 2005 10:19:08 GMT -5
Totziens, you are right. Just type in { after the URL (that's what is missing when you try to access it) and you will see it.
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Post by totziens on May 11, 2006 3:26:13 GMT -5
Sorry, it takes me so long to reply. Actually, it is the word without the Chinese "fish" word on the left. Just remove the "fish" word and you got the surname correct already. I think I got the "cuttle fish" thingy wrong - my Mandarin is crap!
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Post by skyblue on Jul 21, 2011 8:40:17 GMT -5
Hello! I'm also a Yew from Penang, Malaysia as well. What a small world!
My Chinese character 尤 means exceptional or special. Well, that's what I got from my Google search earlier.
Do you know where our ancestral village in China is?
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Post by laohuaqiao on Jul 21, 2011 12:29:10 GMT -5
The Chinese surname You 尤 ranks #124 with about 0.1% of the Han people, or 1.5 million, most of whom live in southern China or Taiwan.
Even though this surname has existed since the beginning of Chinese civilization, population with this surname remained very low until the 5 dynasties period, about 1000 years ago. In one instance, many in Fujian with the surname Shen 沈 for superstitious reason changed the name to You 尤. Presumably, people of Fujian, which is a coastal region, depend their livelihood on the sea, Shen 沈 both looks and sounds like chen 沉, meaning to sink. So the water radical was dropped and became You 尤.
With 1.5 million, there are more than one village or region with this surname.
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tc
Member
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Post by tc on Aug 6, 2017 15:10:11 GMT -5
Hi have you managed to find out more about your ancestry? I have a similar surname like you guys and am in the process of digging about my ancestry. Dad is from Bagan Serai, Perak.
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Post by moonriver on Jul 19, 2018 13:20:50 GMT -5
Hello I also have the same surname. It's yu, meaning especially or honor.. My late grandfather from my father family moved from china to indonesia and stay in bandung. I havent met other with same surname until college when i met my majormate. He is from medan, and he also said our surname is rare there. It is not surprised that our surname more in malaysia, though. Because on 1998, many chinese in indonesia migrate from here to malaysia and singapore.. Anything i can fill in? Me and my brother trying to find our ancestry since we child... Glad to find this forum
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Post by philiptancl on Jul 20, 2018 4:10:46 GMT -5
The surname You (尤) is not too uncommon in Yongchun County (永春縣) of Fujian Province (福建省) where my ancestors originated from. Based upon the census done on July 2003, there were 9,024 people with that surname and it ranked 15th as the most populous within that county. I could count 18 towns in that county that have people of that surname; the most numerous being Peng Hu (蓬壺) with 5,699 people. There were 23 villages within Peng Hu (蓬壺) itself that have people of that surname; the most numerous being Tang Cheng Cun (湯城村) with 2,606 and Kui Yuán Cun (魁園村) with 1,750 people of that surname. I could see two You (尤) clans listed in Yongchun County (永春縣) and both clans have their zupu updated from time to time.
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