Why the change?
In the 1960s, Robert and two of his brothers changed the spelling of their last name, Yang, to Yahng. The family name is
“楊” in Chinese, but, in order to write it in English, there are several transliteration systems that can be used. With their father’s support, Robert and his brothers chose to use a different spelling from their parents because “Yahng” is phonetically more accurate and closer to how the surname should be pronounced.