The wedding is of the eldest son of Paul's cousin, the eldest of his generation. It is really quite interesting to trace the family tree through the middle name. And it is during weddings that one start to figure out the lineage and connection.
Paul's father's generation - Kai
Paul's generation - Kwai
Our sons' generation - Kah
Paul has only one brother but many male cousins with names starting Kwai, in Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and NZ? And, our sons should know that if they should meet some strangers in these countries with names starting Kah, it is possible that they are related somewhere along the lines. Of course, surname got to be Chan!
It is therefore important for the Chinese tradition of naming and keeping the same middle name for each generation.
For our sons, at birth registration, the Singapore government at that time Hanyu Pinyi- nized the names.
From Chan to Chen
From Kah to Jia
Such thoughtless interference... It is one thing to promote Chinese Hanyu and it is another to alter the romanised generational names. (but in Chinese it is still the same)
We have an aunt (the paediatrician) who has been enthusiastically capturing all family events and gatherings in her video camcorder, she probably knows all the Kai, Kwai and Kah.
1 comment:
How fascinating this information is! For Anglos, the last name is the one that is followed... but does not allow for adoptions or other deviations from the direct family line to be tracked properly. Keeping the middle name makes quite a bit of sense. Thanks for sharing this1
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