Nelson Mandela died (5/12/2013)

[Ross Clark]

His Xhosa first name was Rolihlahla.
He was often addressed as Madiba (his clan name) as a sign of respect.

"On my first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an
English name, and said that thenceforth that was the name we would
answer to in school....[She] told me that my new name was Nelson..."

This reminded me of the story of Yat Hang Mew. When I was growing up in
Vancouver, we knew him as Angus Leung, proprietor of Varsity Produce,
the local greengrocer. He came to Canada from south China in the 1920s,
aged 15. Laws respecting Chinese immigration were getting more
restrictive, so he had to pretend to be the son of a family friend who
was already resident, and assumed his surname (Leung). He was sent to an
English language class. "I wanted to learn English...so I took the first
seat in the first row, right up front....[The teacher said] 'I'm going
to put a list of English names on the board, and I want each of you to
pick one, then you'll have a name English people can remember.'...I
thought 'I'm in the first seat in the first row, so I'll take the first
name. Which was "Angus"."

[Aidan Kehoe]

[...] This reminded me of the story of Yat Hang Mew. When I was growing up
in Vancouver, we knew him as Angus Leung, proprietor of Varsity Produce, the
local greengrocer. He came to Canada from south China in the 1920s, aged 15.
Laws respecting Chinese immigration were getting more restrictive, so he had
to pretend to be the son of a family friend who was already resident, and
assumed his surname (Leung). He was sent to an English language class. "I
wanted to learn English...so I took the first seat in the first row, right
up front....[The teacher said] 'I'm going to put a list of English names on
the board, and I want each of you to pick one, then you'll have a name
English people can remember.'...I thought 'I'm in the first seat in the
first row, so I'll take the first name. Which was "Angus"."

There is no shortage of Angus Leungs in Google results today, many of them Hong
Kongers, unshockingly. And mostly fairly accomplished. I can’t seem to find yours.

[Ross Clark]

Post by Aidan Kehoe

[...] This reminded me of the story of Yat Hang Mew. When I was growing up
in Vancouver, we knew him as Angus Leung, proprietor of Varsity Produce, the
local greengrocer. He came to Canada from south China in the 1920s, aged 15.
Laws respecting Chinese immigration were getting more restrictive, so he had
to pretend to be the son of a family friend who was already resident, and
assumed his surname (Leung). He was sent to an English language class. "I
wanted to learn English...so I took the first seat in the first row, right
up front....[The teacher said] 'I'm going to put a list of English names on
the board, and I want each of you to pick one, then you'll have a name
English people can remember.'...I thought 'I'm in the first seat in the
first row, so I'll take the first name. Which was "Angus"."

There is no shortage of Angus Leungs in Google results today, many of them Hong
Kongers, unshockingly. And mostly fairly accomplished. I can’t seem to find yours.

I wouldn't have expected him to show up. Apart from my dim recollection
of him and his shop from childhood, everything I know comes from a piece
about him written by Silver Donald Cameron, who grew up in the same
neighbourhood. Angus sold the business in 1968, dabbled in real estate
for a few years, but as of 1975 was well and truly retired, enjoying his
family and still attending the same church I used to go to. Never more
than a local celebrity, and perhaps didn't even survive into the
Internet Age.