My sister the communist!

Who knew my sister was a communist! Or at least her name is... After meeting my Grandfather's nephew King Sen in Hong Kong and discussing our family tree, we finally discovered some interesting truths about our family name and our Chinese names.

First, our family name. For years no one could work out why all our family have the surname Gin, when we all knew that our actual Chinese surname was Ye 叶(葉). It turns out that when my great grandfather travelled to South Africa from China, and was processed through immigration, the immigration officers asked him his name. In Chinese culture, you always put your surname first, then your first and middle name after. His name was Ye something? Gin (Ye being his surname, Gin being his middle name) and the immigration officers mistook Gin as his surname. Hence all my family who descended from him in South Africa took on the surname Gin instead of Ye.

We also got some brilliant information on my sister's Chinese name! We all know her Chinese name was 跃进 (躍進), but my grandmother could never really tell us what the second character meant. When we wrote her name down for my King Sen, he immediately exclaimed "she has a communist name!". Yue Jin means leap forward. Google this and you get this... the great leap forward. The name of the Chinese communist economic and social campaign of 1958. I'm not sure if this was exactly what my great grandfather on my grandmother's side had in mind when he named my sister (I think he may have been aiming more for leaping forward in progress) but it still made me laugh!!

Apparently we all also have boys names, as Yue 跃 (躍) is apparently usually given to boys! Dammit! I have a boys name! Thank goodness the Chun bit (Spring) sounds a bit more girly!! 跃春 (躍春).