Terence Pang with his wife, Agatha Soh, and their sons Trevor Pang and Tyler Pang. - ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
SINGAPORE: Two-year-old Trevor Pang Hyin Hing’s Chinese name shares the same second character as that of his younger brother Tyler Pang Hyin-En, who is six months old.
They both have the character xian (Chinese for “to show”) as part of their names.
There is a long history behind what might seem to be just a simple way for two siblings to have similar-sounding names.
The practice of using generation names has been passed down through decades and even centuries of Chinese families, though the number of families that upkeep this tradition in Singapore appears to be declining.
A generation name – bei ming – is a common character used to name children born in the same generation, according to their family tree.
Often, families such as the Pangs will have a book or document to refer to.
The book could be a jia pu, which usually refers to a book for a branch of a much larger family, while a zu pu is for a whole tribe. Both are used among Chinese Singaporeans.
These books usually contain a Chinese poem or couplet which describes the hopes and aspirations for the family’s descendants.
The poems could have eight, 16 or 24 characters, depending on the family, and each character in the poem would become a generation name that is typically used as the middle character.
In the case of the two Pang children, their generation name is xian.
For their father, Mr Terence Pang, 38, whose Chinese name is Sze King, his generation name is the Chinese character shi.
This is the same character in the name of his cousin Pang Sze Yunn, 52, who co-edited the 12th version of her family’s genealogy book that was published in 2022.
Families like the Pangs are increasingly rare as the use of generation names has been declining over the years, experts told The Straits Times, citing anecdotal evidence and personal observations.
There are no official statistics or records that show the prevalence of its use.
Fewer families keeping up tradition
Associate Professor Lee Cher Leng from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Chinese Studies has taught an annual undergraduate course on bridging the East and the West for about a decade.
As part of the course, she asks students to find out about their own names, in English and Chinese, and those of their parents and grandparents.
Over the years, the number of students whose families use the zu pu or jia pu to determine generation names has declined to a handful – not more than 10 – in a cohort of about 200, she said.
It is rare to find students who, before the course, already knew of their generation names and family history, she added.
Dr Peter Tan, a senior lecturer in the Department of English, Literature and Theatre Studies at NUS, said he once had some students do a project on generation names, where more than half of the 20 they surveyed did not have one.
Today, with young parents in Singapore being mainly English-speaking, traditions like generation names may feel old-fashioned and would not be something they identify with, he added.
Mr Ng Yew Kang, president of the non-profit Genealogy Society Singapore, said generation names can help family members connect, especially with people scattered worldwide.
If they meet someone with the same surname and middle name, they might have reason to suspect a potential relation, he said.
He suggested that families that wish to rekindle this tradition create a new poem.
The society also advocates that Singaporeans record their family histories in detail, with biodata such as education level, contributions to family or society, and photos of family activities.
Dr Foo Suan Fong, executive director of the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, said preserving the use of generation names and the jia pu or zu pu is also a means to show respect to senior members of the family.
“Now in English everyone is just uncle or auntie – strangers are also uncle and auntie. With generation names, you will know better the relationship between you and your relative, it becomes more personal,” he said.
The decline in the use of generation names is sad, said Ms Pang, chief executive of neuroscience company Neurowyzr.
Generations of her family have used their book and the poems within since the 1800s.
Being female, she could not pass on her family’s use of generation names to her children, and her husband did not have access to his family’s book. Instead, they asked around for the character for their children, and an aunt told them.
Ms Pang’s generation name helped her realise she was related to a close university friend’s mother.
Once when trying to call her friend at home, she could not reach him, so she left her name and number.
When he called back, he said they might be related, as his mother shared the same surname and generation name. It turned out that 16 generations ago, their respective ancestors had the same grandfather.
Her cousin, Mr Pang said he was very conscious of his generation name as a child. The spelling and pronunciation was difficult, so he would get teased by classmates in school.
“My name Sze King made me the butt of all jokes – like ‘If you’re sea king, then is your brother land king or sky king?’ I was a bit embarrassed,” said Mr Pang, who is Shopee’s chief operating officer.
As a teenager, he gained more interest in the tradition at family gatherings when his father introduced him to relatives with the same character in their names.
Mr Pang said he always assumed he would carry on the tradition for his parents.
With his wife, they decided they wanted three children to each embody three values – heng for perseverance, en for kindness and le for happiness.
It happened that the character for their generation was xian (to show), which fit nicely.
“As you have your own family, you start thinking about heritage and ancestry. I imagine it would be the same for my kids. When they become parents, the choice is up to them,” he added.
Some are taking on new practices
Nowadays, many young parents and grandparents do not insist on using the family’s book in naming children, said Dr Foo from the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language.
Many do not know how they can follow the tradition, without the reference book. Others want to come up with their own names, he added.
Prof Lee said for many Chinese Singaporeans, it would not mean much if the practice died out, as society had become more Westernised.
“But I think it’s admirable for those who bother to continue, because it shows a sense of identity, which names are always connected to.”
This loss of tradition is rather inevitable, said Dr Tan, citing a stronger focus on the immediate family today, instead of the whole clan.
With the practice of generation names declining, experts said they see more turning to other ways to name their children in Chinese families.
Prof Lee from NUS said that among the names of the students in her course, increasingly more are based on the advice of geomancers or the number of strokes for each character.
It results in the use of very rare characters, because certain “elements” have to be added to the character chosen, such as missing “water” or “gold”.
These characters are tweaked from those that reflect what parents want for their children, such as zhi hui (Chinese for “wisdom”) for girls and jun (from Chinese phrase ying jun, meaning “handsome”) for boys.
There are other ways to mark familial connection, such as having the same initials, said Dr Tan.
Some parents may still choose a common character for all children so they can identify as siblings, but this may not be shared with cousins, he added.
Mr Teo Swee Meng, 53, a taekwondo coach and muay thai trainer, was named using the practice of generation names.
But he did not name his children with it, as he did not know where his family’s book was.
While it was sad to see the tradition die, Mr Teo said he preferred to use fengshui to name his children.
“If we go by the jia pu, the certain character might not sound very nice, it doesn’t give you a lot of options. My wife and I felt that as the newer generation, we didn’t have to follow,” he said.
“The surnames are still there, so there is still some tie back to our roots.” - The Straits Times/ANN
