Re: [CUL] Ho. va` te^n

[Hong Lam Vu <vuh000@goofy.zdv.Uni-Mainz.de>]

Hi ba'c Vie^.t,

> My Laotian friend told me that Laotians have family name quite recently. He 
> actually took the family name after his father in law' name.

I do believe it.

> 
> Many indians don't have family name.
> 

You mean Indios, not Asiatic Indian. well, that's right.

> My point on Cao Lo^~ was that Cao was the family name that was on the 
> first place not like DdNA' names where the family name was on the second 
> place as anh TTHoa`ng said.

I do not think that Cao lo^~ was a "name" whereby Cao was his family name
and Lo^~ was his surname. I think rather Cao Lo^~ was derived from a
"aboriginal" Giao chi? name. Cao lo^~ is just the translated one like Ly"
ninh or Ma~ Kha('c tu+.

Many scholars have the opinion that Viets in the pre-Chines time had no
family name. This hypothesis sounds plausible. But I do not reject the
following alternative hypothesis:

1- In case Viets had already their writen language: In the pre-Chinese
time, only Viet aristocrates could afford the luxus to hold a family name.
Common folks had only a "sur"name sometimes added by a nickname. E.g. Chi'
Phe`o, Da^.u Ma('n, etc.

2- If Viets had not a written language, then they had no family name at
all. Viets then took over the chinese name system. Their family name was
called after the name of their clan, their village, their boss, or what
ever. But the family name was used first only for some administrative
purposes, e.g. to register in so^? ho^. kha^?u (the Chines held often
census).

Since the 2. hypothesis seems to be more plausible, I think that we have
nothing to hate our present name system borrowed from the Chinese. The
point is that if our family name is not different from a Chines one, it
does not mean that our ancestors must be Han-Chinese. There are also some
typical Viet family name: Nguye^~n, Le^, Vu~ (Vo~) among the most large
ones. There are very very few figures named Nguye^~n, Le^, Vu~ in China as
well as in the Chinese history.


La^m
 > 
> PS: Kaysonne may be Cai So+n. The real name was Xin xin ha(?n Vay vay ha(?n
> 
> 
Hehe, the^' co`n o^ng Cai ha(?n Tho^i kho^ng dde?, Phu?i cho cha ddi con,
Xe?ng xu'c than xi?, Ha('c la`o Mo^ng chi chi't, O^m pha?n Lao ra
bie^?n...

Ca'c ba'c co' bie^'t tie^'ng Kho+` me Ddu+.c ca'p rum tu`m la^y la` gi`
kho^ng?