The surname Chew is a Hokkien, Cantonese, English or Korean name. Some would argue that it is an Hokkien version of Zhou, and that the Cantonese version is Chow. If you look at the list of notable Chinese people with Chew as a surname, they are mostly Malaysian or Singaporean, where Hokkien is the main Chinese dialect. The British colonialists were responsible for the transliteration from the Chinese. Chew is also a Scottish and Somerset, England, surname.
Notabe people with the surname include:
Benjamin Chew (1722 – 1810), American juristSamuel Chew (justice) (1699 – 1744)Samuel Chew (captain) (c. 1750 - 1778), captain in the American Continental NavyNg Poon Chew (1866 - 1931), Chinese-American writer and publisherGeoffrey Chew (born 1924), American theoretical physicistPaddy Chew (1960 - 1999), Singaporean AIDS victimBetty Chew (born 1964), Malaysian Chinese politicianChew Chor Meng (born 1968), Singaporean television actorChew Pok Cheong (born 1970), Malaysian cricketerChew Choon Eng (born 1976), Malaysian badminton playerChew Sin Huey (born 1981), Malaysian pop singerPatricia Chew, CNN Hong Kong news anchorRay Chew, American jazz musicianRobert F. Chew, American actorRoger Preston Chew, Confederate officer in the American Civil War and West Virginia businessmanWee-Lek Chew (born 1932), botanist