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NG - Lastname; how did it come to be??

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Ben

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Oct 26, 2002, 10:05:18 PM10/26/02
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Anyone have a clue as to how the Chinese lastname NG came about?
I mean, its just two letters without vowels. I've seen variations
such as ANG and ENG but at least those can be pronounced as spelled.

I have a vested interest and a hypothesis.

Joy

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Oct 27, 2002, 3:59:01 AM10/27/02
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"Ben" <beng...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Anyone have a clue as to how the Chinese lastname NG came about?
> I mean, its just two letters without vowels. I've seen variations
> such as ANG and ENG but at least those can be pronounced as spelled.

Just because *you* can't pronounce "Ng" doesn't mean that it can't be
pronounced as it is spelled. I have no problem at all pronouncing "Ng"
without any vowel sounds. Just as one can say "Mmmmm" without any vowels, it
is just as simple to say "Ng". It's a nasal consonant just like the "Nnnn"
or "Mmmm" sound, and treated as such if you study the international phonetic
alphabet. I know of many monolingual English-speakers who have trouble
pronouncing the "ng"-sound on its own, and I find it slightly mysterious
since they have no problem saying "ringing" or "hanging" - it's just an
issue of isolating the "ng"...

(That wasn't very helpful about the name's origins, but I just wanted to
point out that 'Ng' is not unpronounceable.)

I assume the surnames Ang, Eng, and Ng are all related to the same chinese
character, just pronounced differently by different regional dialects and
thus anglicized differently.

-joy


Peter L

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Oct 28, 2002, 1:31:50 AM10/28/02
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"Ben" <beng...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:17b64c43.02102...@posting.google.com...

Transliterated from the Chinese word. No need for any hypothesis. Ang and
Eng are different from Ng.

Don Kirkman

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Oct 29, 2002, 2:53:26 PM10/29/02
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It seems to me I heard somewhere that Ben wrote in article
<17b64c43.02102...@posting.google.com>:

Like all Chinese (and Japanese) names it's the pronunciation (in some
regional dialect, for Chinese) of the original Chinese character. It'll
be pronounced differently in other dialects. For instance, some Chuns
and Chens have the same name character.
--
Don
don...@covad.net

Ben

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Oct 30, 2002, 1:50:55 AM10/30/02
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"Peter L" <pete...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<apilej$1rro3$1...@ID-110472.news.dfncis.de>...

Which Chinese word is that?

royk

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Oct 30, 2002, 10:05:10 AM10/30/02
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NG is the cantonese pronunciation of the the last name WU.
Regardless of dialect, it is a homonym for the word five.

Don Kirkman <spamb...@covad.net> wrote in message news:<bentruc321k8pm1e5...@4ax.com>...

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