> they are definitely Delta Chinese that immigrated prior to the proliferation of Pinyin and even Wade Giles - hence the spelling More importantly, they probab

> they are definitely Delta Chinese that immigrated prior to the proliferation of Pinyin and even Wade Giles - hence the spelling More importantly, they probably emigrated before Mandarin was established as the common language of China. Wade-Giles "Kin" reflects the sound change from -m to -n characteristic of Mandarin, while Pinyin "Jin" additionally shows the palatalization of velars in northern Mandarin dialects (the same process that derived English "chalk" from the same Latin root as "calcification") But for non-Mandarin speakers like Toisanese/Hakka/Teochew/Hoklo (even Koreans—it's the same surname) the most natural way to romanize the surname 金 would be "Kim". My guess is that they likely were from the area around Toisan, like the majority of early Chinese immigrants to the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siyi#Emigration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siyi#Emigration