One of the most significant problems for anyone conducting genealogical research on their relatives is the difficulty of finding the names that their relatives are listed under in archival databases. Chinese in Canada were frequently listed in official records under names, spellings, and romanizations that they did not use in their day-to-day lives. Canadian customs officials were frequently unfamiliar with Chinese naming practices, used various and inconsistent methods of romanizing Chinese names, or recorded Chinese names incorrectly. Knowing a person’s Chinese name often does not help with locating that person’s records in Canadian archives.

When searching archival collections and databases, you may have to try using several different spellings, name variations, and conventions to find the right records.

It may be difficult or nearly impossible to figure out what name someone was listed under in official government records without having another official government record, such as a birth or death certificate, a citizenship certificate, an obituary, or an image of a gravestone, that provides an alternate name.

Chinese Naming Conventions

According to Chinese convention, names are written with the family name first, and the given name last. Canadian customs officials were frequently unaware of this practice. When searching for a Chinese name in a database, try swapping the name order.

Chinese men traditionally went by multiple given names throughout their lives, though their family name would stay consistent. Men frequently used both a birth name and a generational name , which they took on after marriage.

Chinese women followed a similar practice after marriage. In records, Chinese women are frequently listed with a name that follows the convention of: “[Family name] Shee”; for example, “Wong Shee”. Rather than being a given name, “Shee” was the romanization for a Chinese character that indicated the woman was married; the English equivalent of “Shee” would be “née”. Thus, the name “Wong Shee” would indicate that the woman’s family name before marriage was Wong.

Romanizations

Customs officials did not have a consistent system for romanizing Chinese names. The same name in Chinese may have been listed under multiple different romanizations, or may have been misspelled. This finding aid from LAC lists variations of common Chinese family names and given names in Canadian records.

Paper Names

Chinese Canadians may have been listed under a paper name separate from the name their relatives knew them by. If they arrived in Canada as a paper son or daughter, they may have been listed in official government records under their paper name throughout their entire lives.

In 1962, the Canadian government offered amnesty to Chinese Canadians who had used paper names. Those who received the amnesty were able to use their true names  in identity documents issued after 1962. However, not all paper sons and daughters applied for and received the amnesty.

The most reliable way of finding the records of someone who used a paper name is to identify an official Canadian document that lists the person’s paper name, and then to conduct searches looking for the paper name.