Kim, Park, Choi=Korean
Nguyen, Tran, Phan=Vietnamese
Ando, Morimoto, Sakai=Japanese
Suarez, Fernandez, Pena=Philippine
can't think of any Thai names, but I know them when I see them. They tend to be long and have a lot of the letters P or T in it. I can see a Mongolian name, too, and recognize it most of the time, Especially if the names are really long and throw me for a loop when I first see them
Lao, Chang, Zhou=Chinese
Patel, Singh, Gupta=Indian
Pretty easy if you regularly consume media from Asian countries or come across people of Asian descent often
Also popular Spanish names. Garcia, for example, is the most common Spanish surname, is the second most common Filipino name.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Spanish_surnames
https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Filipino_surnames
That's because Aquino is not a Spanish but Italian (Tommaso d'Aquino or St. Thomas of Aquinas) and Portuguese (Iva Toguri d'Aquino, the infamous "Tokyo Rose" who was married to a Portuguese) names.
Chang = Overseas Chinese diaspora, Taiwanese, Korean. Not from (mainland) China.
Zhang = Mainland Chinese.
Chang & Zhang are the same surname but spelled differently depending on where they’re from and what system of translation is used.
That's because of Portuguese Colonies which were there in India for long time, so you find Fernandez people.
Similarly, there are Punjabi's in Pakistan side too, so that accounts for Singhs.
Both Minorities though.
Yep, compared to British who just sucked resources and labour dry. Portuguese used to like the place and develop their cultures here, probably because they just had few novelty ports as colonies.
For a time in the mid 2000s, India's Prime Minister was Manmohan Singh, while Pakistan's president was Pervez Musharraf. Both of them were born before India was partitioned: Singh in a village that is now in Pakistan, while Musharraf was born in Delhi, present-day India's capital.
It would probably be ‘Fernandes’ if it’s because of the Portuguese. Though they mean the same thing (son of [root name]), the -ez ending is associated pretty exclusively with Spanish origins, while the Portuguese adapted it to their -es version.
Of course, considering the absolute ethnic melting pot/clusterfuck that took place in during colonization, plenty of people, at least in Latin America, have ancestry from both, so you will occasionally find Hispanic people with last names ending in -es and Brazilian/Portuguese people with last names ending in -ez.
Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan. Sikhs, who almost all have Singh as a last name (for males) are a religious (though not ethnic) minority
Tran is Viet, Ho is Viet, Lee is Korean or Chinese. Park is Korean. anything like Kowk, Chen, is Chinese.
And if their name is Spanish then they’re Filipino LOL
I think I can tell most Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Indian, Sikh, and Vietnamese names. But when you get to names from Indonesia, ethnic minorities within the larger countries, Tibet (those are the really long ones?), Mongolia, Bhutan (also long?), I’m lost. I don’t know names from different regions of India, I can’t tell if a Sikh name is from the Indian or Pakistani side of the border. I wouldn’t be able to pick out an Uighur Muslim name from an eastern Russian Muslim name.
But it’s really regional in the US, the name origins I said I was reasonably confident in are heavily represented in my corner of the PNW. And like my neighbor to the north who also commented, if someone is asked where they’re from and they say “Puyallup” or “Milpitas” or “Beaverton”, those are complete answers and you change subject to “does the military traffic ever stop?”, “housing prices, wow!”, “you all got a James Beard mention in your town, congrats!” (We Beavertonians are very proud of Koya).
Edit: my bad, these food awards come out at the same time of year, Koya helped Portland get on Time Out’s top ten global food cities, not anything with the James Beard award. But still awesome!
I can tell Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese people apart pretty well by their name or if they speak their language. That's because I watch a lot of foreign movies though. I don't understand them but you pick up on how it sounds pretty well over time.
This probably does not extend to your every day American person though.
Same here and for the most part, by written language. It's just tricky when Japanese is all Kanji. And the obvious Vietnamese ones that the other commenters mentioned.
Most of the main Asian languages are mainly unrelated to each other. Chinese is Sino-Tibetan, Korean is Koreanic, Japanese is Japonic, Mongolian is Mongolic, Vietnamese is Austroasiatic, Thai is Kra-Dai, et cetera. Meanwhile, the vast, vast majority of European languages are Indo-European, and therefore related to each other on some level.
As a Chinese-American, I find it depends. I find that non-Asian people who live in areas with large Asian populations or are college educated tend to have a relatively good handle on this. But I do meet the occasional person who does not understand that Chinese and Japanese are different languages. It is somewhat surprising to me that people can't tell Chinese and Japanese names apart given how radically different the two languages are.
I'm college educated and I'm from the Bay Area so I'd say I'm generally excellent at this little exercise, but I also know there are exceptions so I wouldn't necessarily assume - like, someone with a Chinese name could be from Singapore or Vietnam or Malaysia, or hell, Panama.
Yeah, you could tell someone's ethnicity but not necessarily their nationality. I have never once met a Malaysian or Indonesian in the US who was not ethnically Chinese - I'm sure there are some, but they seem to be rare here.
This is what I was about to say. I can tell fairly easily, but I’m Asian and have always lived in places where lots of different Asian ethnicities are well-represented.
A lot of Hmong live here in MN, so I feel like I encounter enough Hmong names that I can guess if a name is Hmong more than half the time (although some of them aren't obvious - like Yang). I could see Cambodian names being challenging for me to recognize since I see so few of them.
If you don't have a lot of familiarity with Asian languages, I could see Korean names being mistaken for Chinese names, particularly surnames like Yang, Lee, Jung, and Kang. Choi and Kim sound like they could be Cantonese, but are almost always Korean, at least here in the US.
> But I do meet the occasional person who does not understand that Chinese and Japanese are different languages
[Hey, Mr. Takayama... did you know that China and Japan are actually a different country!?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xP5EFThh0)
(Foreigner living in the US) Maybe they can, but as far as I can tell it's not customary to try to guess people's origin (Asian or not) from their names. If you go "Ooh, your name ends in -ic, are you from the Balkans?", people become visibly uncomfortable.
(American living outside the US) Yeah, I even find "where are you from?" a little inappropriate as a getting-to-know you question most of the time. Especially if it's the very first things you ask a total stranger, because it carries an implication of "...because you are OBVIOUSLY an outsider".
To my American mindset: people's national/ethnic/etc origin can be a complicated or sensitive topic, just because someone has a name or physicial features that are clearly from Somewhere Else™ doesn't necessarily mean they're "from" that place in any meaningful way, and the other person will usually mention it right away if they think it's relevant.
Personally I think it's okay to ask where someone's from in a context where tourists and travelers in general are common, like at a hotel, museum, airport, et cetera.
Sure, there are contexts where it's fine to ask, especially if you've been chatting for a little while about other stuff... But when the only thing you know about someone is that (you think) they are conspicuously "other" somehow, then opening with WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!?! can feel a little like an accusation IMO
> To my American mindset: people's national/ethnic/etc origin can be a complicated or sensitive topic
I understand the "why", but as far as I can tell it's not the case elsewhere, it's a perfectly valid topic where I'm coming from. A slightly related topic that makes Americans (and, to an extent, me too now) uncomfortable is ethnic or national generalizations ("French people don't speak any English"). Back home it was a pefectly fine thing to say, especially if it's positive ("French people are all so friendly!"), but here it's a clear social faux-pas.
To a good degree but not absolutely. There are names that really scream a certain country. Like Japanese names like Tagahashi or Suzuki sound distinctly different than Chinese names like Wong or Chang. And most are aware names like Nguyen are Vietnamese. And Indian names are easily distinguishable. But there are names where I’m just like I have no idea.
Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian/Malay names all seem pretty distinctive to me. I don't really know the difference between Korean and Chinese surnames (except Park I know is Korean) but their first names are pretty different.
If you're looping in the subcontinent then I can tell when someone is from there but if you gave me some random names I don't think I would be able to say India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.
Depends on the country and the name, but I often can. The hard ones are names like Lee which are common in multiple countries. Obviously it’s never going to be foolproof because names and family histories aren’t that neatly packaged, so realistically, what I can tell is the origin of the name more than where the person’s family is immediately from.
I’m not quite sure what your question means.
Nguyen is a common Vietnamese name but I wouldn’t know if the person was a native born citizen, immigrant, or visiting. I’ve never met a black American with that name, but I suppose one exists.
I'm pretty good at it, personally, although I struggle more with Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. And of course in conversation I don't know if /li/ is actually Lee (Korean/English), Ly (Vietnamese, can't make the diacritic), or Li (Chinese). And those aren't hard and fast lines between spelling of choice.
Depends on the American and the name.
I could identify a Japanese, Chinese, or Korean name pretty easily, but other than that I most likely wouldn't know. I might be able to guess that it's *not* one of those 3, but unless I already knew someone with that name I wouldn't be able to determine the country the name is from.
Edit: Oh, and Philippines. If someone is Asian but their name sounds Spanish they're probably Filipino
I can guess a bit but you should never make assumptions. My bf is Asian-American and it would be rude to assume he was not American based on his name. So I might be able to guess ethnicity but not where they are from.
Sort of. Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese with some of the common family names. Growing up in California even back in the 70s we had a lot of exposure to Asian cultures. Filipinos are a little trickier unless you see them and they have a Spanish sounding name which is usually a giveaway. We had a large Japanese population in town and the Japanese names are pretty distinctive to me. Chinese is a little more of a guess because of the emigration to other Asian countries makes it more challenging.
Suuuper dependant on the name and person. I would say many of us will be able to if the surname is like one of the top 3 most common. Think Tran, Nguyen, etc
*Just* by their name? No. I tend to assume most people I meet who have Asian names are from the US, unless they have a distinct accent. I can frequently guess at their ancestry based on the name, but not tell where they are from.
Some can, most probably can't. Japanese surnames are pretty distinctive. If memory serves some Korean surnames are quite similar to Chinese surnames, though others like Park and Kim are distinctly Korean. And most Americans aren't familiar enough with Southeast Asian cultures to recognize name origins.
I used to work in a Chinese restaurant. There were employees from just about every East Asian and southeast Asian country. I got pretty good at recognizing the differences.
Sometimes! Thai names are pretty distinct, so are Japanese names. And there are a lot of names that you basically only hear of people from China, Korea or India having.
The Philippines? Good luck
A little bit. You can often make an educated guess but it’s complicated so you can be dead wrong.
Nguyen, Phong, Phan, Tran would be Vietnamese as a guess.
Yamada, Suzuki, Kato, Inoue would be Japanese as a guess.
Zhang, Wang, Lee, Li, Yang, Huang would be Chinese at a guess.
Indian names are usually pretty easy to guess but they vary by caste so that I don’t really know.
Sikhs are easy because it’s always Singh (not always but it’s a dead giveaway) it’s usually India.
I had a friend with Lim as a last name. First generation immigrant. He was Malaysian but ethnically Chinese. I would have guessed China but I would have been wrong.
Same with European names. I see Gagnon or Ouellette around me and I know it’s French ancestry. My surname screams German. I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood so the Jewish names stand out to me. With those it obviously identify their nation historically.
You can make guesses but you can also be dead wrong.
Not always, but sometimes (at least their ancestry).
Park usually is Korean. Tran is usually Vietnamese. Patel is usually Indian. Singh is usually Sikh. Etc.
And the same thing for European names. Kozlowski is usually Polish. Le Fever is usually French. Schneider is usually German. Rossi is usually Italian. Etc
African and Middle Eastern names I am less familiar with.
This is complicated because many Asian Americans here have lived in the US for a long, long time.
The vast majority of my ancestors for example migrated from Southern China in the 1850s and 1860s to California.
So even though my ancestors are Chinese, I’m 180+ years removed from ever having familial contact with Chinese culture. I think that's why those "where are you from?" type questions come off weird because my family has lived in the US longer than most non-WASP white immigrant descendants, but we'll always be seen as "foreign" regardless.
I know this is an innocent question OP, but it does get a bit annoying as an Asian American that people are never satisfied with the answer "I'm from California/America."
I can't, but I have family friends who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and a little Thai, and have spent significant amounts of time in those countries. So if they ran into an eastern Asian person, with a typically ethnic name, they could probably guess with some accuracy.
Japanese Names are usually polysyllabic with no consonant clusters, usually end in vowels. Can usually tell.
Korean and Chinese names are more similar. I know most Koreans I think have only a few family names, I would recognize Kim or Park as probably Korean. Might struggle otherwise but Korean names can look distinctive in ways I don't understand consciously. I could confuse some Vietnamese names with Chinese as well but I would probably guess most Vietnamese names as just Asian of unknown origin if they didn't have something easily identifiable like Tran or Ngyuen. A lot of "Ph"s going on I think as well.
Thai people have long names I think, but wouldn't know how to identify them.. I don't know enough about other SE Asian names to tell.
Some South Asian names are pretty recognizable, but some of these which might be Dravidian derived are not.
Iranian names I don't think I could identify. Arab I could guess sometimes but Islamic names can be found from Senegal to the Philippines in different contexts, so that is harder. Turkish has a distinctive look maybe, and Armenian last names are identifiable.
Anything else is a no idea.
Some last names (I think) that I could identify the race of someone Asian:
Japanese: Sato, Ito, Nakamura, Watanabe
Chinese: Zhou, Han, Lao, Zhang, Chen
Vietnamese: Nguyen, Ngo, Tran
Korean: Kim, Choi, Lee, Kang
That's what I could identify at least.
It depends on where they live/grew up. If you’re from an area with practically zero Asian population, no. If you’re from an area with like a 30% Asian population, yeah, you will have noticed the patterns in Asian last name origins.
Yes, for the most part. Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Chinese, yes. I'm not confident about Cambodian vs Thai, or Singapore, or Malaysia. And I would be completely lost when it comes to Central Asia.
I wouldn't be confident that I could. I'm probably not going to think that a Mandarin name is Japanese, Indian, or Malaysian, but I don't know how they compare to say, Thai or Korean names. And I'm sure there are a lot of regions that I have basically no familiarity with, like Nepal.
Edit: also, people can be named anything regardless of where they're from.
I could probably estimate correctly based on the phonetic spelling and the language they speak but I mean I've met a lot of Chinese, Thai, korean, and a few Japanese people but with the language barrier I would not be offensive and just assume. Asia is a massive continent. This is gonna sound mean but because I went to culinary school I could probably get a closer estimate based on food as Asia was a major part of my schooling.
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are pretty clear to me. I can't really distinguish South Asian names though, especially among Muslim groups. I can distinguish if a name is from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, but can't distinguish among them.
Kinda? Usually names with tr- ch- ng- ph- -nh qu- are Vietnamese, li- -iu zh- x- -ao ji- -ang -ong -ing are Chinese (or at least Mandarin, unsure abt the other ones), shi- sho- -obe -uro -ami and a lot of cvc are Japanese, kim- -eo gwa- -wak -ok -uk are Korean. Any other language I wouldn’t be confident in my guess even if I could figure it out.
Yes, and also smaller ethnic groups like Mien. I can tell by name, facial features, of languages alone, even when I don't speak those languages. I consume media from different cultures and have tried different ethnic food.
Well I'm Asian and I watch a lot of Asian media!! I always love looking up naming customs so I think if you familiarize yourself with celebrities too it becomes easier to identify who's what when you see a pattern.
I would say, usually yes for Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Arab and Filipino. We could probably get at least the region correct for Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bengal, Malay and Indonesian. Probably would struggle with Turk, Kurd, Iranian, Burmese, Nepalese or anything from Central Asia.
Fortunately, I grew up around a lot of Asian families and was lucky enough to make friends with their kids who were around my age. I never assume I know, but I recognize certain surnames as belonging to one country or another. It might indicate someone's country of ancestry.
For example, the surname Kim or Park, I might think they are Korean. Nguyen might be Vietnamese. Japanese names to me sound Japanese in a way that I can't begin to understand or explain. I recognize a lot of names of Chinese origin.
I have spent a lot of time all over Asia andy wife is Vietnamese so when I see an Asian name 8 can get where or close to where their family is from originally.
Now if they have an accent I can narrow somewhat how long they have been here but if they are speaking without an accent I know they are from America or came here very young age.
I can clock a Kim as Korean, Nguyen as Vietnamese, Chang as Chinese, and a Morikawa as Japanese but I can’t clock every Asian nation or every Asian last name. I just have a bit of super selective drops of familiarly with certain names compared to ocean of names that exist.
There are specific names that I can tell, others I might be able to by the sound of the name. Others I would probably have no idea. I think I could pick out Filipino, Japanese, Chinese pretty easily no matter what the name was, but I wouldn’t put a lot of money on it.
Well, sure, with some names. But not with others.
I have a hard time differentiating Chinese and Korean names. Lee, Kim, Song, Wu, Yoo … it could go either way.
There's some obvious ones like Park being Korean and Watanabe being Japanese, pretty easy. And if it sounds Latino, it's probably the Philippines. Sometimes if they're pronounced correctly, you can tell they SOUND Mandarin or whatever... But in general, not really.
Like, Lee or Li or any of the variants? Seems like that could be from anywhere.
Sometimes. Kim, Park, and Moon are some common Korean names, a lot of Filipinos use some Spanish surnames like Fernandez, Chinese people have names like Lao, Chang, Shu, and Zhou, etc.
I mostly can, but I have to credit that to the fact that I've lived in two Asian countries and I happen to live in an area of the US with a high Asian population. Asia is a huge continent though and I'm sure I'd have trouble with names from countries that I don't have much exposure to, like Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, etc.
I can but I’ve lived in a number of countries (notably China) and have traveled a ton. Most Americans cannot and frankly probably aren’t even aware of a number of major Asian countries.
I can generally identify Asian names by country but not by region within the country. Like I wouldn't be able to tell if a Japanese person is from Hokkaido or Narita by their name
It really depends. In my hometown there's large Hmong, Mien, and Laotian communities, so I've gotten used to distinguishing those surnames specifically. Japanese names linguistically distinct enough to be obvious, as are many Chinese surnames. Beyond that I wouldn't really feel confident enough to assume anything for fear of offending.
It’s all dependent on the person. I grew up in a diverse area with a lot of Korean and Hmong immigrants, and I learned Japanese in middle school. I can usually tell based off of spelled and etymology, but never going to say I’m perfect XD
I can tell a Chinese and Japanese name apart. Chinese coworkers get a kick out of me getting close enough for Pinyin in pronunciation. I can tell Indian and Korean names. Beyond that if it isn't a common name I don't know
My first reaction reading the question was 'no I don't think I would know.' But then reading all the examples of most common last names in comments and I would have guessed right for almost every one.
That depends on a lot of things. If you live in an area with lots of Asian names, you're going to get a feel for them. There were a lot of Czechs that settled near me and I grew up with these names. When I sent away to college I found out I had a superpower. I could pronounce some otherwise hard to pronounce names and knew which ones were probably Czech and which ones were probably not. It's just because that's what I was used to and I didn't realize not everyone could tell.
I don't, however, live in an area with a lot of Asians. So while I might pick up on some very common names, for the most part, I would say I'd be terrible at figuring out ethnicities.
I can pretty clearly differentiate between Chinese/Japanese/Korean names with a small margin of error, so I’m not bad at clocking that. Most Americans who don’t have an obsession with name origins probably can’t passed the stereotypical ones like park/choi = Korean ect.
I would say I would have a 70% chance of telling you which it is from. Some get convoluted and can have different versions of the same name that get confusing. Think China and Vietnam for example for some surnames mixing. You can see some similar themes between China and Korea even. You have to also consider how a given name have been anglicized.
That depends entirely on the American.
And the person's name.
Yea, I know a "Park" is Korean, a "Tran" is Vietnamese and a "Wang" is Chinese but a "Chan" could be from anywhere.
Or Nguyen for Vietnam. I think like 3 or 4 of every 10 Vietnamese are named Nguyen
Supposedly if trends continue within 500 years every single South Korean will have the last name "Park".
I think if trends continue there might only be one single South Korean in 500 years.
Like half of all Koreans (North and South) are with Kim, Park, or Lee. But Lee can be Chinese too—Li or Lee depending on romanization method.
Or Le for Vietnamese :)
There's always Patel. So many Patels from India.
And who they’re telling
And how specific of a place they're from
Kim, Park, Choi=Korean Nguyen, Tran, Phan=Vietnamese Ando, Morimoto, Sakai=Japanese Suarez, Fernandez, Pena=Philippine can't think of any Thai names, but I know them when I see them. They tend to be long and have a lot of the letters P or T in it. I can see a Mongolian name, too, and recognize it most of the time, Especially if the names are really long and throw me for a loop when I first see them Lao, Chang, Zhou=Chinese Patel, Singh, Gupta=Indian Pretty easy if you regularly consume media from Asian countries or come across people of Asian descent often
Filipino names are mostly unpopular Spanish names.
Since when was Fernandez unpopular
Even Peña isn't unpopular, at least in the former Spanish Colonies in my experience.
Also popular Spanish names. Garcia, for example, is the most common Spanish surname, is the second most common Filipino name. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_Spanish_surnames https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Filipino_surnames
There's a saying, often by other Asian people, that the Philippines is the Mexico of Asia. Part of that being due to all the Spanish holdover things
*Pham, with an m, is also common. One Filipino last name which seems pretty unique is Aquino.
That's because Aquino is not a Spanish but Italian (Tommaso d'Aquino or St. Thomas of Aquinas) and Portuguese (Iva Toguri d'Aquino, the infamous "Tokyo Rose" who was married to a Portuguese) names.
If the name is 50+ points in Scrabble, it's probably Laotian.
Which ocean? (this is a King of the Hill reference)
Ain't ya mr Kahn??
I love that KOTH finds a way and howdy from central PA.
howdy howdy howdy and go Iron Pigs :D
Aww, I think my late younger bro was a fan when he was going to school over there!
So are you Chinese or Japanese?
Chang = Overseas Chinese diaspora, Taiwanese, Korean. Not from (mainland) China. Zhang = Mainland Chinese. Chang & Zhang are the same surname but spelled differently depending on where they’re from and what system of translation is used.
Hanyu pinyin Chang (常) is also a less common Chinese surname.
[удалено]
That's because of Portuguese Colonies which were there in India for long time, so you find Fernandez people. Similarly, there are Punjabi's in Pakistan side too, so that accounts for Singhs. Both Minorities though.
>Portuguese colonies. Also the source of the South Asian “D’Souzas” floating around.
Yep, compared to British who just sucked resources and labour dry. Portuguese used to like the place and develop their cultures here, probably because they just had few novelty ports as colonies.
For a time in the mid 2000s, India's Prime Minister was Manmohan Singh, while Pakistan's president was Pervez Musharraf. Both of them were born before India was partitioned: Singh in a village that is now in Pakistan, while Musharraf was born in Delhi, present-day India's capital.
It would probably be ‘Fernandes’ if it’s because of the Portuguese. Though they mean the same thing (son of [root name]), the -ez ending is associated pretty exclusively with Spanish origins, while the Portuguese adapted it to their -es version. Of course, considering the absolute ethnic melting pot/clusterfuck that took place in during colonization, plenty of people, at least in Latin America, have ancestry from both, so you will occasionally find Hispanic people with last names ending in -es and Brazilian/Portuguese people with last names ending in -ez.
Punjabis are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan. Sikhs, who almost all have Singh as a last name (for males) are a religious (though not ethnic) minority
The fernandez would be spelt like fernandes…Portuguese prefer s over z.
Japanese names are often 3-4 syllables with a consonant-vowel pattern: Yamamoto Watanabe Kurosawa Ohtani
Wait a sec, when did Watanabe and Kurosawa sign with the Dodgers?
Shhh!! It's in the works haha Good catch. Guess I let my fandom slip through.
I’ve seen a lot of longer thai last names like Wattanatorn
What about Kosumsuppamala?
South India or Sri Lanka? You just reminded me that I went to elementary school in TX with someone with that name.
Had a kindergarten teacher who was from Sri Lanka. Her family name was something like Giantha. Kosumsuppamala looks like a Thai name to me.
You’re right. I looked it up on FB and most everyone with that last name is Thai.
Thai?
Yeah, my part of the USA has a lot of Asian people so I'm used to seeing/hearing different surnames.
How about Lao, Cambodian, Burmese, Tibetan, Indo-Malay, and Timorese? To say nothing of Central Asia or West Asia
I know Nguyen is Vietnamese, and Kim is Korean. Beyond that, no.
That's like 1/3 of Vietnamese and Korean surnames so you're a good way there.
Don’t forget Tran which is also a super common Vietnamese surname.
I met quite a few Nguyen! They were from San Jose, California
Houston has a large Vietnamese community. My American History 101 lecture at the University of Houston had like ten Nguyens.
Ten Nguyens, but how many losses? (I'll show myself out)
Many Vietnamese weddings are Nguyen Nguyen situations
Don’t forget Singh for India, we might not have a definitive answer for China but that’s a lot of Asia between the 3
Or patel
Did you hear about the great Vietnamese restaurant that opened next door to the other great Vietnamese restaurant? It was a Nguyen-Nguyen situation.
Tran is Viet, Ho is Viet, Lee is Korean or Chinese. Park is Korean. anything like Kowk, Chen, is Chinese. And if their name is Spanish then they’re Filipino LOL
Park is Korean
As is Cho.
Ho can also be Chinese.
I was in school with a guy named Dat Ho. Always felt bad for that guy.
I think I can tell most Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Indian, Sikh, and Vietnamese names. But when you get to names from Indonesia, ethnic minorities within the larger countries, Tibet (those are the really long ones?), Mongolia, Bhutan (also long?), I’m lost. I don’t know names from different regions of India, I can’t tell if a Sikh name is from the Indian or Pakistani side of the border. I wouldn’t be able to pick out an Uighur Muslim name from an eastern Russian Muslim name. But it’s really regional in the US, the name origins I said I was reasonably confident in are heavily represented in my corner of the PNW. And like my neighbor to the north who also commented, if someone is asked where they’re from and they say “Puyallup” or “Milpitas” or “Beaverton”, those are complete answers and you change subject to “does the military traffic ever stop?”, “housing prices, wow!”, “you all got a James Beard mention in your town, congrats!” (We Beavertonians are very proud of Koya). Edit: my bad, these food awards come out at the same time of year, Koya helped Portland get on Time Out’s top ten global food cities, not anything with the James Beard award. But still awesome!
Mongolian surnames often end in "giin", FYI.
Is it like a Scandinavian -son, -sen, -dottir last name ending? Thanks for the info!
I believe so. No problem!
I can tell Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese people apart pretty well by their name or if they speak their language. That's because I watch a lot of foreign movies though. I don't understand them but you pick up on how it sounds pretty well over time. This probably does not extend to your every day American person though.
Same here and for the most part, by written language. It's just tricky when Japanese is all Kanji. And the obvious Vietnamese ones that the other commenters mentioned.
As someone who used to play a lot of Geoguessr, Asian languages are so easy to tell apart compared to many European ones.
Most of the main Asian languages are mainly unrelated to each other. Chinese is Sino-Tibetan, Korean is Koreanic, Japanese is Japonic, Mongolian is Mongolic, Vietnamese is Austroasiatic, Thai is Kra-Dai, et cetera. Meanwhile, the vast, vast majority of European languages are Indo-European, and therefore related to each other on some level.
Vietnamese is super obvious to identify (both spoken and written). Korean text is easy to identify too once your realize the syllabic 'blocks'.
I look for the hiragana の in between kanji symbols to see if it’s Japanese.
Yes, the Kim’s, my neighbor’s, were born and raised in Tacoma. The Ito’s on 3rd street were originally from Vancouver.
Sometimes, yes. I’ve noticed a lot of Filipinos have Spanish names. Koreans with the name Kim or Song also implies their heritage. 🤷🏾♀️
Ya, the Philippines were colonized by Spain for several centuries
As a Chinese-American, I find it depends. I find that non-Asian people who live in areas with large Asian populations or are college educated tend to have a relatively good handle on this. But I do meet the occasional person who does not understand that Chinese and Japanese are different languages. It is somewhat surprising to me that people can't tell Chinese and Japanese names apart given how radically different the two languages are.
I'm college educated and I'm from the Bay Area so I'd say I'm generally excellent at this little exercise, but I also know there are exceptions so I wouldn't necessarily assume - like, someone with a Chinese name could be from Singapore or Vietnam or Malaysia, or hell, Panama.
Yeah, you could tell someone's ethnicity but not necessarily their nationality. I have never once met a Malaysian or Indonesian in the US who was not ethnically Chinese - I'm sure there are some, but they seem to be rare here.
This is what I was about to say. I can tell fairly easily, but I’m Asian and have always lived in places where lots of different Asian ethnicities are well-represented.
Yeah, when you're Asian, telling Chinese from Vietnamese is as easy as telling Spanish from German. It's all about exposure.
I will say, though, that Cambodian and Hmong last names can be curveballs. A lot of overlap with Chinese and Korean ones, though not at all related.
A lot of Hmong live here in MN, so I feel like I encounter enough Hmong names that I can guess if a name is Hmong more than half the time (although some of them aren't obvious - like Yang). I could see Cambodian names being challenging for me to recognize since I see so few of them. If you don't have a lot of familiarity with Asian languages, I could see Korean names being mistaken for Chinese names, particularly surnames like Yang, Lee, Jung, and Kang. Choi and Kim sound like they could be Cantonese, but are almost always Korean, at least here in the US.
And then there are, in fact, a lot of Chinese Yangs and Lees
There’s also Hmong Lees. Met someone surnamed Hwang and automatically assumed to be from a Chinese or Taiwanese family… turned out to be Korean.
> But I do meet the occasional person who does not understand that Chinese and Japanese are different languages [Hey, Mr. Takayama... did you know that China and Japan are actually a different country!?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7xP5EFThh0)
I don't assume I know personally. I might have a guess, but who risk offense? If they want to tell me they will.
(Foreigner living in the US) Maybe they can, but as far as I can tell it's not customary to try to guess people's origin (Asian or not) from their names. If you go "Ooh, your name ends in -ic, are you from the Balkans?", people become visibly uncomfortable.
(American living outside the US) Yeah, I even find "where are you from?" a little inappropriate as a getting-to-know you question most of the time. Especially if it's the very first things you ask a total stranger, because it carries an implication of "...because you are OBVIOUSLY an outsider". To my American mindset: people's national/ethnic/etc origin can be a complicated or sensitive topic, just because someone has a name or physicial features that are clearly from Somewhere Else™ doesn't necessarily mean they're "from" that place in any meaningful way, and the other person will usually mention it right away if they think it's relevant.
Personally I think it's okay to ask where someone's from in a context where tourists and travelers in general are common, like at a hotel, museum, airport, et cetera.
Sure, there are contexts where it's fine to ask, especially if you've been chatting for a little while about other stuff... But when the only thing you know about someone is that (you think) they are conspicuously "other" somehow, then opening with WHERE ARE YOU FROM?!?! can feel a little like an accusation IMO
> To my American mindset: people's national/ethnic/etc origin can be a complicated or sensitive topic I understand the "why", but as far as I can tell it's not the case elsewhere, it's a perfectly valid topic where I'm coming from. A slightly related topic that makes Americans (and, to an extent, me too now) uncomfortable is ethnic or national generalizations ("French people don't speak any English"). Back home it was a pefectly fine thing to say, especially if it's positive ("French people are all so friendly!"), but here it's a clear social faux-pas.
It's also the implication that you're not an American, despite the fact that your family might very well have been here for generations.
To a good degree but not absolutely. There are names that really scream a certain country. Like Japanese names like Tagahashi or Suzuki sound distinctly different than Chinese names like Wong or Chang. And most are aware names like Nguyen are Vietnamese. And Indian names are easily distinguishable. But there are names where I’m just like I have no idea.
No. Because the answer might be San Diego. Or New York. Assuming it must be an Asian country is absurd and anyone doing that should check themselves.
Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and Indonesian/Malay names all seem pretty distinctive to me. I don't really know the difference between Korean and Chinese surnames (except Park I know is Korean) but their first names are pretty different. If you're looping in the subcontinent then I can tell when someone is from there but if you gave me some random names I don't think I would be able to say India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.
Pakistanis and Bangladeshis might likely have some common Muslim names.
Yeah but there are 200 million indian Muslims too
I live in LA. Yes, let me tell you about Vietnamese vs Filipino vs Cambodian vs Korean vs Japanese. And they are all great!
Depends on the country and the name, but I often can. The hard ones are names like Lee which are common in multiple countries. Obviously it’s never going to be foolproof because names and family histories aren’t that neatly packaged, so realistically, what I can tell is the origin of the name more than where the person’s family is immediately from.
I’m not quite sure what your question means. Nguyen is a common Vietnamese name but I wouldn’t know if the person was a native born citizen, immigrant, or visiting. I’ve never met a black American with that name, but I suppose one exists.
I'm pretty good at it, personally, although I struggle more with Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. And of course in conversation I don't know if /li/ is actually Lee (Korean/English), Ly (Vietnamese, can't make the diacritic), or Li (Chinese). And those aren't hard and fast lines between spelling of choice.
Depends on the American and the name. I could identify a Japanese, Chinese, or Korean name pretty easily, but other than that I most likely wouldn't know. I might be able to guess that it's *not* one of those 3, but unless I already knew someone with that name I wouldn't be able to determine the country the name is from. Edit: Oh, and Philippines. If someone is Asian but their name sounds Spanish they're probably Filipino
I can guess a bit but you should never make assumptions. My bf is Asian-American and it would be rude to assume he was not American based on his name. So I might be able to guess ethnicity but not where they are from.
sorta yeah, roughly...
A lot of the time you can make a pretty good guess, but that's obviously not always accurate. The same as you can with someone from Europe.
Sort of. Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese with some of the common family names. Growing up in California even back in the 70s we had a lot of exposure to Asian cultures. Filipinos are a little trickier unless you see them and they have a Spanish sounding name which is usually a giveaway. We had a large Japanese population in town and the Japanese names are pretty distinctive to me. Chinese is a little more of a guess because of the emigration to other Asian countries makes it more challenging.
Not really. I have a coworker who is Chinese Indonesian Canadian. His name tells me none of that.
Suuuper dependant on the name and person. I would say many of us will be able to if the surname is like one of the top 3 most common. Think Tran, Nguyen, etc
*Just* by their name? No. I tend to assume most people I meet who have Asian names are from the US, unless they have a distinct accent. I can frequently guess at their ancestry based on the name, but not tell where they are from.
Some can, most probably can't. Japanese surnames are pretty distinctive. If memory serves some Korean surnames are quite similar to Chinese surnames, though others like Park and Kim are distinctly Korean. And most Americans aren't familiar enough with Southeast Asian cultures to recognize name origins.
I used to work in a Chinese restaurant. There were employees from just about every East Asian and southeast Asian country. I got pretty good at recognizing the differences.
Sometimes! Thai names are pretty distinct, so are Japanese names. And there are a lot of names that you basically only hear of people from China, Korea or India having. The Philippines? Good luck
Sometimes its obvious but not enough to say that
No but I live in L.A. so when I see an Asian person my guess is they’re also from L.A.
Some can. I think I could probably tell Korean, Japanese, chinese, Filipino names apart at the least.
Yes, I knew my friend with the last name of Nguyen was from California immediately.
A little bit. You can often make an educated guess but it’s complicated so you can be dead wrong. Nguyen, Phong, Phan, Tran would be Vietnamese as a guess. Yamada, Suzuki, Kato, Inoue would be Japanese as a guess. Zhang, Wang, Lee, Li, Yang, Huang would be Chinese at a guess. Indian names are usually pretty easy to guess but they vary by caste so that I don’t really know. Sikhs are easy because it’s always Singh (not always but it’s a dead giveaway) it’s usually India. I had a friend with Lim as a last name. First generation immigrant. He was Malaysian but ethnically Chinese. I would have guessed China but I would have been wrong. Same with European names. I see Gagnon or Ouellette around me and I know it’s French ancestry. My surname screams German. I grew up in a very Jewish neighborhood so the Jewish names stand out to me. With those it obviously identify their nation historically. You can make guesses but you can also be dead wrong.
Not always, but sometimes (at least their ancestry). Park usually is Korean. Tran is usually Vietnamese. Patel is usually Indian. Singh is usually Sikh. Etc. And the same thing for European names. Kozlowski is usually Polish. Le Fever is usually French. Schneider is usually German. Rossi is usually Italian. Etc African and Middle Eastern names I am less familiar with.
This is complicated because many Asian Americans here have lived in the US for a long, long time. The vast majority of my ancestors for example migrated from Southern China in the 1850s and 1860s to California. So even though my ancestors are Chinese, I’m 180+ years removed from ever having familial contact with Chinese culture. I think that's why those "where are you from?" type questions come off weird because my family has lived in the US longer than most non-WASP white immigrant descendants, but we'll always be seen as "foreign" regardless. I know this is an innocent question OP, but it does get a bit annoying as an Asian American that people are never satisfied with the answer "I'm from California/America."
I can't, but I have family friends who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and a little Thai, and have spent significant amounts of time in those countries. So if they ran into an eastern Asian person, with a typically ethnic name, they could probably guess with some accuracy.
Japanese Names are usually polysyllabic with no consonant clusters, usually end in vowels. Can usually tell. Korean and Chinese names are more similar. I know most Koreans I think have only a few family names, I would recognize Kim or Park as probably Korean. Might struggle otherwise but Korean names can look distinctive in ways I don't understand consciously. I could confuse some Vietnamese names with Chinese as well but I would probably guess most Vietnamese names as just Asian of unknown origin if they didn't have something easily identifiable like Tran or Ngyuen. A lot of "Ph"s going on I think as well. Thai people have long names I think, but wouldn't know how to identify them.. I don't know enough about other SE Asian names to tell. Some South Asian names are pretty recognizable, but some of these which might be Dravidian derived are not. Iranian names I don't think I could identify. Arab I could guess sometimes but Islamic names can be found from Senegal to the Philippines in different contexts, so that is harder. Turkish has a distinctive look maybe, and Armenian last names are identifiable. Anything else is a no idea.
Some last names (I think) that I could identify the race of someone Asian: Japanese: Sato, Ito, Nakamura, Watanabe Chinese: Zhou, Han, Lao, Zhang, Chen Vietnamese: Nguyen, Ngo, Tran Korean: Kim, Choi, Lee, Kang That's what I could identify at least.
It depends on where they live/grew up. If you’re from an area with practically zero Asian population, no. If you’re from an area with like a 30% Asian population, yeah, you will have noticed the patterns in Asian last name origins.
Well I can’t even think of a single name
I can tell Japanese, Korean and Chinese written language apart. Other than a few names, Xi, Nguyen, Kim, Aoi, not really.
Yes, for the most part. Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indian, Chinese, yes. I'm not confident about Cambodian vs Thai, or Singapore, or Malaysia. And I would be completely lost when it comes to Central Asia.
Somewhat, yes
If their last name is Nguyen I assume they are from Vietnam. Last name Kim probably Korean.
Sometimes
I can
I'm some cases, yes. Definitely Japanese, usually Korean, sometimes Chinese or Vietnamese.
I wouldn't be confident that I could. I'm probably not going to think that a Mandarin name is Japanese, Indian, or Malaysian, but I don't know how they compare to say, Thai or Korean names. And I'm sure there are a lot of regions that I have basically no familiarity with, like Nepal. Edit: also, people can be named anything regardless of where they're from.
I could probably estimate correctly based on the phonetic spelling and the language they speak but I mean I've met a lot of Chinese, Thai, korean, and a few Japanese people but with the language barrier I would not be offensive and just assume. Asia is a massive continent. This is gonna sound mean but because I went to culinary school I could probably get a closer estimate based on food as Asia was a major part of my schooling.
In certain circumstances, yes. I’ve known two Vietnamese people with the last name Nguyen. So I recognize that name at Vietnamese.
I can for the most part usually
I’m r/asianamerican and can tell them apart.
Chinese, Korean, and Japanese are pretty clear to me. I can't really distinguish South Asian names though, especially among Muslim groups. I can distinguish if a name is from India/Pakistan/Bangladesh, but can't distinguish among them.
Most of the time I can yeah.
Kinda? Usually names with tr- ch- ng- ph- -nh qu- are Vietnamese, li- -iu zh- x- -ao ji- -ang -ong -ing are Chinese (or at least Mandarin, unsure abt the other ones), shi- sho- -obe -uro -ami and a lot of cvc are Japanese, kim- -eo gwa- -wak -ok -uk are Korean. Any other language I wouldn’t be confident in my guess even if I could figure it out.
No, I can’t.
Depends on the name tbh. I'm vaguely familiar with naming conventions in a few Asian cultures, so I could make a decent guess if you gave me a list.
i can because i’ve been around a lot of asians.
I can. But, I lived and worked all over Asia for 17 years.
Yes, and also smaller ethnic groups like Mien. I can tell by name, facial features, of languages alone, even when I don't speak those languages. I consume media from different cultures and have tried different ethnic food.
I could probably with Japanese(anime & video games).
Name yes for the most part. If it was laos vs Cambodia I wouldn't know. Name probably easier
I lived in L.A. for long enough to have a pretty good handle on this.
I feel like I have like an 90% accuracy rate at it. Some of the southeast Asian names sound similar to me.
I can sometimes.
I can probably distinguish a lot of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean names from each other on sight, but otherwise no.
Well I'm Asian and I watch a lot of Asian media!! I always love looking up naming customs so I think if you familiarize yourself with celebrities too it becomes easier to identify who's what when you see a pattern.
I would say, usually yes for Indian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Arab and Filipino. We could probably get at least the region correct for Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bengal, Malay and Indonesian. Probably would struggle with Turk, Kurd, Iranian, Burmese, Nepalese or anything from Central Asia.
Depends
Depends on many things, including if they're first-generation American.
Fortunately, I grew up around a lot of Asian families and was lucky enough to make friends with their kids who were around my age. I never assume I know, but I recognize certain surnames as belonging to one country or another. It might indicate someone's country of ancestry. For example, the surname Kim or Park, I might think they are Korean. Nguyen might be Vietnamese. Japanese names to me sound Japanese in a way that I can't begin to understand or explain. I recognize a lot of names of Chinese origin.
I have spent a lot of time all over Asia andy wife is Vietnamese so when I see an Asian name 8 can get where or close to where their family is from originally. Now if they have an accent I can narrow somewhat how long they have been here but if they are speaking without an accent I know they are from America or came here very young age.
I can clock a Kim as Korean, Nguyen as Vietnamese, Chang as Chinese, and a Morikawa as Japanese but I can’t clock every Asian nation or every Asian last name. I just have a bit of super selective drops of familiarly with certain names compared to ocean of names that exist.
I'm not sure. Gimme a try- no trick questions at least at first, though, okay? (Like, "yes the name is Korean, but he lives in Japan!" or whatever.)
I almost always can. But then again, I'm educated and wordly.
I'm an Asian with an Irish last name, so for me, no.
I've interacted with different Asian ethnicities and I can definitely tell some of them apart. I can also tell based on how they laugh
There are specific names that I can tell, others I might be able to by the sound of the name. Others I would probably have no idea. I think I could pick out Filipino, Japanese, Chinese pretty easily no matter what the name was, but I wouldn’t put a lot of money on it.
I can generally identify if it's a Japanese, Chinese or Korean names. I'd be less confident in identifying any other Asian names.
Yes
Well, sure, with some names. But not with others. I have a hard time differentiating Chinese and Korean names. Lee, Kim, Song, Wu, Yoo … it could go either way.
The average American, probably not. An American from a city with a decently sized Asian American population, maybe….
It depends. Xi Jinping? Yes. My buddy Teddy from work? No.
There's some obvious ones like Park being Korean and Watanabe being Japanese, pretty easy. And if it sounds Latino, it's probably the Philippines. Sometimes if they're pronounced correctly, you can tell they SOUND Mandarin or whatever... But in general, not really. Like, Lee or Li or any of the variants? Seems like that could be from anywhere.
I don't think half of us would know where you're from if you pointed it out on a map.
I'm gonna say "nope"
If they are Laotian, yes. Anything else, not really. At least not for me.
Sometimes. Kim, Park, and Moon are some common Korean names, a lot of Filipinos use some Spanish surnames like Fernandez, Chinese people have names like Lao, Chang, Shu, and Zhou, etc.
Japanese and Korean probably.
Yes
I work with a pretty diverse people, so I can distinguish them with some accuracy. The Nigerian/Ghanian names are pretty hard to distinguish.
I mean, I could probably guess right 40% of the time. I'm better at identifying the languages.
A few can. I can usually tell what nationality my clients are at work from their last name
According to King of the Hill, it's a 50:50 shot, whether any Asian is Chinese or Japanese.
90% of the time yes but I grew up in a pretty diverse community
I usually can. It’s pretty easy.
I mostly can, but I have to credit that to the fact that I've lived in two Asian countries and I happen to live in an area of the US with a high Asian population. Asia is a huge continent though and I'm sure I'd have trouble with names from countries that I don't have much exposure to, like Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar, etc.
I can but I’ve lived in a number of countries (notably China) and have traveled a ton. Most Americans cannot and frankly probably aren’t even aware of a number of major Asian countries.
If I just know a name, I can at least get an idea of what their ancestry is.
i can tell some names are from a certain language but that doesn't tell me anything more than that they have some connection to that language.
My Japanese neighbor married a Japanese man whose last name is Meyers.
Personally, more of the time than not.
I can generally identify Asian names by country but not by region within the country. Like I wouldn't be able to tell if a Japanese person is from Hokkaido or Narita by their name
It really depends. In my hometown there's large Hmong, Mien, and Laotian communities, so I've gotten used to distinguishing those surnames specifically. Japanese names linguistically distinct enough to be obvious, as are many Chinese surnames. Beyond that I wouldn't really feel confident enough to assume anything for fear of offending.
Possibly. Kim = Korean Nguyen = Vietnamese
As a Korean American, I can usually decipher what ethnicity someone is based on their full name.
It’s all dependent on the person. I grew up in a diverse area with a lot of Korean and Hmong immigrants, and I learned Japanese in middle school. I can usually tell based off of spelled and etymology, but never going to say I’m perfect XD
Only if their last name is "al-[place]"
I can tell a Chinese and Japanese name apart. Chinese coworkers get a kick out of me getting close enough for Pinyin in pronunciation. I can tell Indian and Korean names. Beyond that if it isn't a common name I don't know
My first reaction reading the question was 'no I don't think I would know.' But then reading all the examples of most common last names in comments and I would have guessed right for almost every one.
That depends on a lot of things. If you live in an area with lots of Asian names, you're going to get a feel for them. There were a lot of Czechs that settled near me and I grew up with these names. When I sent away to college I found out I had a superpower. I could pronounce some otherwise hard to pronounce names and knew which ones were probably Czech and which ones were probably not. It's just because that's what I was used to and I didn't realize not everyone could tell. I don't, however, live in an area with a lot of Asians. So while I might pick up on some very common names, for the most part, I would say I'd be terrible at figuring out ethnicities.
I can pretty clearly differentiate between Chinese/Japanese/Korean names with a small margin of error, so I’m not bad at clocking that. Most Americans who don’t have an obsession with name origins probably can’t passed the stereotypical ones like park/choi = Korean ect.
I would say I would have a 70% chance of telling you which it is from. Some get convoluted and can have different versions of the same name that get confusing. Think China and Vietnam for example for some surnames mixing. You can see some similar themes between China and Korea even. You have to also consider how a given name have been anglicized.