If an American had a Chinese last name, should katakana and kanji be combined when writing his/her name? Or, is the convention to keep everything in katakana?

If even Japanese-Americans have their names written entirely in katakana, I believe the same applies to Chinese Americans, unless they naturalize in Japan.

Prominent Chinese political figures will usually have their names written in their original characters, and read with on-yomi:

毛沢東 - もうたくとう
胡錦濤 - こきんとう

On the other hand, celebrities (especially those using a westernized given name) usually have their names written in a katakana-ized version of the original pronunciation - ジャッキーチェン,　ジェットリー, チョウ・ユンファ, チャン・ツィイー.

So maybe the typical thing for an American with a Chinese last name would be to use katakana for everything.

hituiuc Wrote:If an American had a Chinese last name, should katakana and kanji be combined when writing his/her name? Or, is the convention to keep everything in katakana?

In my experience, Chinese-Americans use katakana whereas Chinese use the kanji. But I've gotten different answers from native speakers on what should be done.