Posted by Goh, Hooi Luan (61.6.54.227) on May 08, 2004 at 05:09:29:
In Reply to: Re: Help w/ surname posted by REXIE AIRES on May 07, 2004 at 12:59:49:
Hi I am malaysian and speaks 3 chinese dialects, so maybe able to help you.
If you know exactly where your grandpa has come from, and assuming the surname JEW is a phonetic from that dialect, then it would be easier.
ZHOU (mandarin) in Cantonese would be "Chow", like the chinese ex premier ZHOU EN LAI
or another ZHOU as in a famous director ZHOU WEN HUAI.
If your grandpa is Cantonese (ie dialect spoken in Hong Kong), then JEW would probably be ZHAO, like the badminton player's name ZHAO JIAN HUA.
If JEW is a phonetic from mandarin, then it will probably be ZHU, ie the Ming dynasty's emperors' surname.