梁錦麟 Cameron Lawrence Lang (Liang) - Re: Surname

Their birth surname was 梁. In Cantonese it was transliterated into LEUNG, and was shown that way on the 1900 Jurors list. But in Mandarin is sounds like "LIANG".

It seems that when they started using Western first names, their surname changed from LEUNG and they were known as Cameron Lang, but Robert Liang.

So when did each start using their "Western" name ?

Yes, Annelise is right about the Chinese transliterations. However, to be consistent, it should be "Laing" and not "Liang" after his name.

From my searches of the HK Jury List, Cameron Lang used only his Chinese name Leung Kam Lun. The fact that his obituary in the HK Daily Press mentions only his Chinese name probably indicates that he chose to be known publicly as Chinese.

In the HK Jury List, Robert also used his Chinese name, which was Leung Kam Ming initially, and then later it was listed as Kamming Laing. I do not know when he began to use his Western name.

Peter Hall told me he used to be in touch with Douglas Laing when he was alive. Douglas never told him the whole story about his family history but maybe he told him why there was Laing and Lang..

I don't know why the brothers used different Western spellings of their surnames, but interestingly, both versions are of Scottish origin.

In the China Directories of 1872 and 1876 (the years in which the 2 brothers were born), there is a Wiliam Lang who worked for Butterfield and Swire in Shanghai. No one with the surname Laing is listed.

There are 5 cards in the Carl Smith Collection for "Cameron Lang". Do you have copies ?

Aside from his tombstone, when else was his Western name used ?

Keith on Gwulo noted that Dr. Douglas Laing changed his name on a specific date in 1920 - when he was 18 years old. Was he off to University in Britain and needed a Western name ?

My father Cyril's generation everyone had a Chinese name,and the English surname is always Laing.So it seems odd to me Lang.Do you have any idea where Robert Laing came from or was he born in HK,not much information of the Laing side

Were Robert and Geoffrey brothers or not ? g c, do you know ? All I know is that they had the same Chinese surname.

How is Laing prounced in English ? What about with a Scottish accent ?

Actually i never heard of Cameron and Geoffrey, Laing and Lang almost the same to me,i don't think they have Scottish accent,because they were born in HK. My father's chinese name Leung Kwok Lam,and Freddy was
Leung Kwok Hung

Uncle Douglas didn't like to mention his family in public,he was quite angry with Peter for doing this.

One more thing,my father and uncle Douglas did not use their orginal chinese name ,instead they translate their engish name to chinese and it was printed on their name card ,as you can see on doctor list is Leung Tak Kay in chinese.

Thanks gc, i would be please if i can get in touch with any of them. i don't have any thing from my father.
Agnes

I remembered my grand mother Alice Laing, always referred to her father as Robert Laing, and same with Uncle Freddie (Fredrick Laing) who used to live with us.
All I know is that Robert Laing used his Chinese name in his latter life when he turned Buddhist..
Freddie Laing used his Chinese name only within his circle of Chinese opera singers.
Regarding Butterfield and Swire, both Alice Laing and Bertha Laing used to worked for them as telephone operators after the War. My grandmother actually worked there till her seventies.

Hi Derek,

Are you the author of the post at http://amitavghosh.com/blog/?p=2401 ?

I just collected a set of cards from the Carl Smith collection at the Public Records Office and one one of the cards is says that there is Cameron and his wife Edith listed when Robert Charles Lang was baptized. We would need to confirm with the original documents.

If you would like to get the pdf of the cards, send me a message with your email and I'll send it to you.

Would you have any pictures you could post to help us identify who the Langs were and what they looked like?

You can email them to me and I can do the posting.

Thanks,
Annelise

p.s. the card reads:

Batpism St. Johns Cathedral, 22 March 1921, b. 22 Nov 1891 John Charles son of Leung Kum Lun Lang and wife Edith, 9 Ashley Road, Kowloon, clerk.

On the Jordon side, I thought you would be interested to know where your relatives lived. In 1901 - Dr. Gregory Jordan, nephew of Sir. Paul Chater, lived in "Forest Lodge" 33 Caine Rd.

http://gwulo.com/node/5805

Dr. Gregory Paul Jordan

Yes,I've read that, Annelise.

The Jordan family were originally from Armenia who emigrated to India.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=armenia&ll=37.996163,45.175781&a...

Hi Annelise, thanks for your note, Mary Laing nee Jordan comes from a long descendancy of Armenian heritage firstly via Calcutta but ultimately Julfa in Persia. There is definitely NO Jewish heritage in that line. Regarding the Laings I'm afraid I haven't researched them as I tend to focus only on the Armenian genealogy. I'm sure you've already done so, but Peter Hall is about the only person who has done the family history in any great detail and depth (that I know of anyway). Agnes has already been in touch with me about the Jordan line, but I couldn't help with the Laing line. best wishes Liz.