Why do some Americans have the last name Lee and some Asians also have the last name Lee, is there supposed to be a connection, I do not know of any other name shared like that?

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Why do some Americans have the last name Lee and some Asians also have the last name Lee, is there supposed to be a connection, I do not know of any other name shared like that?

Question #56985. Asked by pjotr.

Related Trivia Topics: Name Game

lanfranco
Answer has 8 votes

Currently Best Answer

lanfranco
20 year member
4170 replies avatar

Answer has 8 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.

No, there is no connection. Among Americans of English descent, the surname "Lee" (or Leigh) is derived from the Middle English "Lea," which meant "clearing" or "meadow." According to this site, in Chinese the name means "plum tree."

http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/l/bl_name-LEE.htm

Apr 30 2005, 5:14 PM

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Answer 1

Flynn_17
Answer has 2 votes

Flynn_17
23 year member
604 replies

Answer has 2 votes.

PJ, there is also the name Mason. Mason is used commonly in the UK, America, and other English speaking countries, but it is also used frequently in India, with both the Sikh and Hindu religions.

May 01 2005, 4:26 AM

Answer 2

eschatologist
Answer has 7 votes

eschatologist

Answer has 7 votes.

Bruce Lee and Robert E. Lee are actually distant relatives.

May 01 2005, 3:51 PM

Answer 3

We're all distant relatives. I once read an interesting "New Yorker" article on Mormon genealogical research that stated that each of us is, at the very least, a 50th cousin to everyone else on the face of the planet. Various DNA testing projects that are getting off the ground may offer quite a few of us some surprises concerning our ancestry.

Answer 4

Here are a few more names with no connections:

Baines- English/Sikh
Park- English/Korean
Milan- Indian/Slavic

There are only so many combinations of sounds, and the simplest ones like Lee are always more likely to crop up in different places, think of the number of identical words with different meanings in other languages.

Why do some Americans have the last name Lee and some Asians also have the last name Lee, is there supposed to be a connection, I do not know of any other name shared like that?

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