Chinese Surnames of Immigrants from Guangdong

 Chinese surnames pose problems for several reasons not the least of which is that the word order in Chinese is the opposite of that in English with the surname coming first so that Americans often assume that the surname is the person’s given name. 

Since the Chinese name is represented by an ideogram or Chinese character it is necessary to create a phonetic version based on how the Chinese name sounds when spoken. However, there are often slightly different spellings or anglicized versions. In practical terms, this may not be a major problem because the variations all sound more or less the same.  

However, when these variations of the same name are written with letters of the alphabet instead of spoken some major problems can arise. For example, if a Chinese wanted to leave the country for a visit, he must file for a Certificate of Registration before his departure so that he can return later.  However, if the spelling of his name on different documents is not identical, he risks not being readmitted even though he has proper documentation.

The authoritative guide to Chinese surnames published in 1904 in San Francisco was by David D. Jones, the official court interpreter in  San Francisco.

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As 'bonuses', included are definitive explanations of major topics of relevance to Chinese immigrants and people who deal with them such as the difference between a merchant and a laborer, rules regarding the status of sons of merchants, rules governing partnerships, rules governing rights of Chinese employed on U.S. ships, and rules about right to reenter the U.S. after leaving.

One surprise was learning that in 1904 Chinese laundrymen as well as restaurant operators were classified as laborers, not as merchants, even if they had earned a large sum of money. 

This fact raises the question of why many laundrymen were not deported if they had not been born in the U.S. and protected by birthright citizenship. Many laundrymen who came as paper sons would have not been protected by this mechanism and probably deportable.  My father would have had that tenuous status but he did pay $500 to be a "paper merchant" and I have to wonder if that action protected him from possible deportation.  I will examine this further in a future post.

An archive has a free readable and downloadable version of the entire volume.