✔ 最佳答案
Tan指的是什麼姓氏呢?有些人說是「陳」,但有人說Teng才是「陳」。
又如「郭」有人說是Kwik,也有人說是Kwee;「黃」應該是Ng吧?但為什麼有人說是Oei 呢?究竟哪一個才是對的?
For ancient Chinese in South East Asia, they lived in multiple dialects from 福建(閩南語)、潮州、廣東人、客家人、海南... so the Chinese words are pronounced very differently. During the 殖民地 era the officials won't care about your dialects so the names are translated differently.
"Tan" for a majority is 陳. "Teng" sometimes happen. Same to Ng vs Oei (Ng is more common); Kwee vs Kwik (Kwee is more common).
This silly thing also happens in Hong Kong, say, the 周 can be Chow or Chau.
If you want to get a full study, start from this linguistic site which as lots of comparative tables on Chinese surnames:
姓氏
大陸
台灣
香港/ 澳門
新加坡/ 越南
趙
Zhao
Chao
Chiu
Chio
錢
Qian
Chien
Chin
Chin
孫
Sun
Sun
Suen
Sun
李
Li
Li
Lee
Lei
周
Zhou
Chou
Chau
Chow /chao
吳
Wu
Wu
Ng
Ng
鄭
Zheng
Cheng
Cheng
Cheang
王
Wang
Wang
Wang
Vong
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/jw!xZdGNVqTAwS4_b2B.2a4Ww--/article?mid=52&prev=53&next=49
參考: I was a Hongkee lived in Singapore in mid 90's : )