Name Styles and Structure of Chinese American Personal Names

Abstract

Chinese Americans, the largest and most diverse of the Asian American groups, range from sixth generation, English-speaking only families to recent immigrants speaking various Chinese dialects and other languages (from different countries). Their name styles are a unique synthesis of American and Chinese languages and cultures, closely tied to the number of generations in this country and the understanding of American ways, revealing, in addition to individual taste and sense of history, intimate ties to history and to feelings of nationalism.