« previous post | next post » From Mark Dow: The ACLU's national legal director is Cecillia Wang. She argued the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara , in front of the Supreme Court this month. This case heavily depends on the 1898 case Wong Kim Ark.   I asked Cecillia — a birthright citizen herself — whether the names Wang and Wong are transliterations of the same word. She replied by email: "I tried to figure out whether Mr. Wong has the same last name.  My understanding is that we don't.  Cantonese-speaking immigrants in the 19 th century had their names transliterated through a different system, and perhaps not through any system but an ad hoc interaction with a customs official.  "Wong" was most commonly used for two surnames, one now transliterated as Wang (meaning "king") and the other as Huang (meaning "yellow").  I think Wong Kim Ark was a Huang." I'm sharing this, with Cecillia's permission, in case Language Log readers might have something to add.…