Help Translating Hokkien Name to Mandarin

[jossy]

Hello all,

I would really, truly appreciate any help translating the my grandfather's Hokkien surname, Pua, into Mandarin. I've tried the very helpful Wikipedia article (it helped me identify my grandmother's family name) but it seems Pua isn't listed, I did see Phua though.

If possible is there a translation for his full name, Pua Bing Swan. I'm not sure if that is the best romanization but that is how it is written on family records.

I have absolutely no access to or indication of what the characters that comprised his name were.
Any little bit of help would be very, very much appreciated. : )

Love and peace.

[aokh1979]

Hi jossy:

I guess you want the name written in Chinese, not Mandarin. Both Mandarin and Hokkien are Chinese languages using Chinese characters.

Pua should be Phua, 潘 is the only thing I can think of, which is also a common surname.
Bing, should be 明 as in bright.
Swan, sounds to me like 宣 or 選......


Regards,
aokh1979

[jossy]

Firstly, thank you for such a quick response!

Secondly, I think my brain wasn't functioning very well at 3am.
I completely understand that Hokkien and Mandarin are both Chinese languages. Without knowing the characters I had only the romanzied version of the former but no way of knowing the pronunciation in the latter.

Thank you again though, I'll look into these.