Posted by M. H. Yee (142.3.144.200) on July 15, 2004 at 13:33:52:
In Reply to: Chinese Surname posted by Tonya Williams on December 18, 2000 at 13:26:57:
: Is Yon a Chinese surname? My grandmother told me stories of relatives who were Chinese?
Hello,
If your ancestors were from the Siyi area, there are many possiblities as to a surname. Since some parts of Taishan pronounce the ng as n, this could be a variety of surnames: Yong or Weng meaning "old man", or Yong for Rong which means something as "guest?", or perhaps Yong for Yang which is a type of tree. If it is Yon, it may be for Yuen or Yuan which resembles the Chinese character for "far" or even Ruan, which has no real translation but is the same character for the Vietnamese surname Nguyen. Yon may also be a personal name since immigration officials often mix this up. Unfortunately, without a Chinese character, it is not easy to decipher a romanized spelling. You may try to look at a family tombstone as these often yield both place name and a personal name that are inb Chinese. Good luck on your search!
MHY