In Search of Your Asian Roots : Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames

Sheau-yueh J. Chao, a librarian on the staff of the Newman Library of Baruch College, has prepared a groundbreaking treatise on the related topics of Chinese-American genealogy and Chinese onomastics. In fact, her new book is the first basic tool in English that traces the origins of Chinese surnames.

Listing names, important terms, and titles in English and Chinese, this reference work categorizes and discusses the origins of 622 Chinese surnames. In addition, it has introductory material, a history of surnames, long bibliographies of works in Chinese and English, and some Chinese history. In an interesting chapter on the history and origin of Chinese surnames, Chao, a librarian at Baruch College in New York, particularly notes that a handful of names (Li, Wang, Chang, Liu, Chao, Yen, Ch'en, Sun, Ma, and Wu) are by far the most common of hundreds of surnames. Given names, of course, are a matter of family choice and not based on precedent. Chao does not note the meanings of names unless the meaning is involved in the origin, and she distinguishes different listings (the five different Chung listings, for example) by their Chinese characters. This reference, which seems very complete and up to date, should be useful for Chinese Americans searching for their roots, although Chao assumes some knowledge of written Chinese. Recommended for academic libraries and public libraries serving a large Chinese population.DKitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.