Greetings Mr. Tan, Ms. Lim, and Mr. Lee
If your SIWW experience includes meeting many new people (and struggling to remember numerous names) consider this: 20% of Singaporeans of Chinese descent share just three surnames. So, commit these three common surnames to memory and you’ll have a 1 in 5 chance of recalling the correct name!
Among the ethnic Chinese population in Singapore , nearly 10% share the surname “Tan” (237,800). “Lim” is the second most common with 166,000 or 6.6% followed by “Lee”, with 112,000 or 4.5%. (These numbers are from the year 2000.)
You can read the full list of the top 20 most common surnames here, including the original Chinese and Mandarin from which they’re derived.
Posted by: Gayle Leonard
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[...] Thanks to Yvonne Lim* for the photo - visit her blog for tons of other interesting photos from around Singapore, especially of restaurants and fantastic food!) *Number 2 surname in Singapore! [...]
Gerry O'Toole
In our office there is a guy called James Tan (Seng Chai), who keeps us all in check and takes us out East for nice food and other stuff (after work of course)…
Gerry O'Toole
In our office there is a guy called James Tan (Seng Chai), who keeps us all in check and takes us out East for nice food and other stuff (after work of course)…
Gerry O'Toole
In our office there is a guy called James Tan (Seng Chai), who keeps us all in check and takes us out East for nice food and other stuff (after work of course)…
Gerry O'Toole
In our office there is a guy called James Tan (Seng Chai), who keeps us all in check and takes us out East for nice food and other stuff (after work of course)…