Can anyone help with uncommon surname "seng"

[seng]

Hi everyone! For these past few weeks I have been trying to track down the history of my family name, Seng. With very little references I have come to a stop. Sadly, my fathers side of the family are deceased. What information I can give you is that my father is not only Chinese but part Cambodian, hence the Chinese surname Seng. I've found out that "Seng" came from "Teochew" of the Southern Min group. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I apologize in advance as this is still very confusing for me.

Also I have tried hard on researching how "seng" is written. I know with all the different dialects everything is written the same but is pronounced differently. As such 成 is "cheng" in mandarin but in teochew it is "seng" but also I have found/sound like 僧 or 陈 张. If anyone can help me on how to understand exact characters both simplified and traditional would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you

[lachinatown]

Seng, I guess you have no Chinese documents.

[seng]

Lachinatown,

Unfortunately no. It's not really much I or anyone else can work with

[laohuaqiao]

Seng,
Possible surnames are Cheng 成 and Sheng 盛. Cheng 成 has a large population in Guangdong, about 160,000, and many have migrated overseas, especially in Malaysia and Singapore. Sheng 盛 surname is mostly concentrated in the Yangtze /Chang Jiang river delta region, not many in Guangdong.

Zeng 曾 is also possible.

Have you made inquiries with any community associations of Cambodians of Chinese ancestry? Perhaps they can help.

[philiptancl]

Seng, could your surname be Shěn “沈”? In Southern Min group of dialects (Teochew and Hainanese languages are part of the group), it usually Romanized as “Sim”. I do not think it is (陳/陈) which would be Romanized as “Tan” in most Southern Min group of dialects. Those people with surname (陳/陈) originating from Teochew that I know of, have their surname Romanized as “Tan”. I do not think it could be (張/张) either as it would likely be Romanized as Teoh/Teo in Southern Min. I would suggest that you seek out the gravestones of any of your father’s side of the family to see if any Chinese characters were written thereon.

[Doug 周]

Seng,

You have encountered the first and most major obstacle of many overseas Chinese family historians: surname first. This means knowing your surname in Chinese characters, not the phonetic spelling from your Ancestors new country.

This goes back to basic genealogy: the interview of your elders. If they are incommunicado, you will need to interview their descendants and search their family mementos and artifact for Chinese characters.

Include in the search Chinese given names. This is even harder because of the multiplicity of given and nick names used by Chinese.

See this wiki: How to Start Your Chinese Family Heritage Research^click

The second coordinate in locating your heritage is the Ancestral Village. Again, it must be in Chinese characters.

It will take months, if not years, to slowly interview and gain the trust of your relatives (because of the bigotry against them in their host country, Chinese are a suspicious group). Don't give up. Whereas you may lament that your ancestors have passed, your descendants will appreciate you recording your research while certain distant relatives are still alive. In the future when your descendants restart your research, the information available to them will be even more distant. Times waits for no one.

[richardc]

Bavaria, Germany is the ancestral home of the Seng family. See: www.houseofnames.com/Seng-history?A=54323-292

[nhat0705]

Hey, are you still interesting in the topic. My mother last name is Thạnh in Vietnamese which is Sheng in Chinese. It is an extremely rare last name in Vietnam. How is your reseach going on?

[lseng]

Hello! seng We could potentially have shared the same ancestors :-)

Yes, you are right. My grandmother's surname is Seng and she is of Chinese descent and Teochew dialect from the Southern Min group.
Her surname is written as 辛 in simplified Chinese, which means hardship/laborious.
According to wiki, Teochews were known as agriculturalists and merchants. I can confirm that this is true for her side as most of her family were merchants. How about you?

She is alive and very well if you would like to find out more about our potential shared heritage, feel free to reach out if you are still keen.

[xoxomelody]

Hi, it’s funny because I have the exact same family history as you. Just recently started inquiring and looking into the meaning of the surname Seng and this thread came up. Maybe we’re related! I’m also on Insta as xoxomelodyinsta if you want to get in touch!