Posted by Mei (210.49.90.202) on February 12, 2010 at 09:44:11:
In Reply to: Re: I want to know the meaning and origin of my surname Taing! posted by Benson Kwong on October 10, 2000 at 11:25:06:
I hope this is not 10years too late.
I am infact a Taing too.
My ancestry is Chinese. Our family speaks teochew (dialect from South of China, not sure where). In mandarin this is Chen, a very common surname 陳 or 陈. My family then migrated to Cambodia. From my understanding many teochew chinese migrated to Cambodia, after living there for generations have lost their heritage.
My father then moved to Vietnam where our surname was translated to the Vietnamese surname Tran. It was normal for this, Wu because Ngo, Huang became Huynh, Li became Le, etc. Due to the war in Vietnam, we then migrated to Australia where we have now lived 20+years.
I am wondering if I should change this back to Tang or Taing. It's very frustrating having other people try to tell me I am Vietnamese. I don't think anyone other than myself has the right to tell me who or what I am.