Naming customs of Taiwanese aborigines
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The naming customs of Taiwanese aborigines are distinct from, though influenced by, the majority Han Chinese culture of Taiwan. Prior to contact with Han Chinese, the Taiwanese aborigines named themselves according to each tribe's tradition. The naming system varies greatly depending on the particular tribes. Some tribes do not have family names, at least as part of the personal name.
Under the strong influence of Chinese culture and forces of cultural assimilation brought by Han Settlers in the 1600s, the aborigines have gradually adopted Han names. In the 17th century and 18th century, possession of a Han surname was considered to be a sign of being civilized, in part because adoption of a Han surname meant that that person was now entered into the population registration books and could be taxed. Upon possessing a Han surname, most of the lowland aboriginal tribes assimilated with the Han immigrants, and eventually no longer saw themselves or were seen as a distinct population.
The handful of highland tribes generally kept separate names until after WW II when the Government systematically assigned Han names to indigenous Taiwanese. Aborigines settled near Hakka communities were sometimes assignd Hakka-like family names. For instance, aboriginal pop singer A-mei (張惠妹) may have a name with Hakka characteristics.
For a few decades in the first half of the 20th century under Japanese rule, a strict policy was put in place to quickly assimilate the island's inhabitants en masse by instituting Japanese names. These names were generally abandoned in Taiwan after 1945 when Japanese rule ended.
In the last two decades some aborigines have again taken up traditional names or chosen to emphasize them. However, few have abandoned their Han names, in part because the Austronesian names are difficult for non-aboriginals to remember or pronounce. As a legacy of the anti-romanisation policy of the past, even these names are often written in Chinese characters to mimic their native sounds, even though Formosan languages are typically written in the Latin alphabet.
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[edit] Aboriginal names
The naming rules of Taiwanese aborigines:
- Bunun: given name + clan name
- Tsou: given name + e + clan name + ne + birthplace
- Paiwan: name of birthplace + given name
- Atayal: given name + given name of father
- Saisiyat: given name + given name of father + clan name
- Ami: given name of maternal grandmother + given name, given name + given name of father, or given name + na + dynastic name + clan name
[edit] Romanization
- Aboriginal name transcribed into Han characters, romanization via piecewise character reading
- 瓦歷斯尤幹＝瓦歷斯＋尤幹, Wa-li-ssu Yu-kan
- Aboriginal with Romanized name, and transcribed into Han Characters
- Walis-Pelin, 瓦歷斯貝林
[edit] References
- Documentary on Aboriginal names, in Chinese
[edit] See also
- Chinese name
- Japanese name
- Korean name
- List of Taiwan-related topics
- List of most common surnames
- Courtesy name
- Generation name
[edit] External links
- Indigenous People Regain Their Names
- Chinese name generator (in Chinese, generates names that are statistically similar to Taiwan's general population)
- Top 10 family names in Taiwan (in Chinese)
[edit] Name lists
These names are mostly male names and they belong to Taiwanese people of the past one to two hundred years. Most of these are not Taiwanese names and are indistinguishable from Chinese names.
- Ministry of Education's Scholarship Awards winners
- 36 historically important persons of Chiayi County
- A list of Taiwanese poets
- A list of early 20th century school teachers who worked at a Chiayi County elementary school
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