His father, Lee Hoi-chuen, was Chinese, and his mother Grace Ho (何愛瑜), a Catholic, was of German and Chinese ancestry.
Lee was the fourth child of five children: Agnes, Phoebe, Peter, and Robert.
Lee and his parents returned to Hong Kong when he was three months old.
Names
Lee's Cantonese birth name was Lee Jun-fan (李振藩). The name literally means "return again"; it was given to Lee by his mother, who felt he would return to the United States once he came to of age.
Because of his mother's superstitious nature, she originally named him Sai-fon (細鳳), which is a feminine name means "small phoenix".
The English name "Bruce" was thought to be given by the hospital attending physician, Dr. Mary Glover.
Lee had three other Chinese names: Li Yuanxin (李源鑫), a family/clan name; Li Yuanjian (李元鑒), as a student name while he was attending La Salle College, and his Chinese screen name Li Xiaolong (李小龍; Xiaolong means "little dragon").
Lee's given name Jun-fan was originally written in Chinese as 震藩, however, the Jun (震) Chinese character was identical to part of his grandfather's name, Lee Jun-biu (李震彪).
Hence, the Chinese character for Jun in Lee's name was changed to the homonym 振 instead, to avoid naming taboo in Chinese tradition.
