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Interesting facts about Chinese surnames | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| cacue23 Triglot Groupie Canada Joined 4299 days ago 89 posts - 122 votes  Speaks: Shanghainese, Mandarin*, English Studies: Cantonese | Message 1 of 3 08 November 2013 at 9:25am | IP Logged |
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Don't know where this should go but here it is:
How Maps Unlock the Mysteries of Chinese Names 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4444 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 2 of 3 08 November 2013 at 5:24pm | IP Logged |
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This is more a for people who are interested in family history or genealogy. I'm sure a lot of people would like to
find out more about themselves and their families. Over the years the Chinese population have dispersed to many countries around the world. Places like the US, Canada & Australia have high numbers but over the years I have met Chinese from remote corners of the world most Chinese wouldn't know where the country is located on a map including Jamaica, Suriname, S. Africa, India, Mauritius & Fiji. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| strikingstar Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5173 days ago 292 posts - 444 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, Cantonese, Swahili Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 3 08 November 2013 at 7:43pm | IP Logged |
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Interesting. I was just thinking about this the other day after coming across (and playing around with) an
interactive version of the 《百家姓》 (Hundred Surnames) at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. It shows an etymology of the names, which part of China they originated from, and how the characters used to look in older scripts (oracle, bronze, seal etc.) My surname in Mandarin is 吴 but it isn't romanized as "Wu". Instead, it takes the Teochew dialectal form. My paternal side of the family is Teochew, which is Chaozhou in Eastern Guangdong. The word 吴 is an archaic word which doesn't have any meaning in and of itself, besides referring to the ancient state of Wu during the 3 Kingdoms period. The state of Wu (吴国） was south of the Yangtze, around Zhejiang. As can be seen from the map in the Atlantic, 吴 is predominant in Zhejiang and Guizhou. Which is all very confusing, because I doubt I have any ties to either 吴国 or Guizhou. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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