Due to the different spelling conventions and dialects as well as the different spelling preferences in the various countries these Chinese find themselves in, many people of the same Chinese surname can appear differently when written in English, for example the Lin surname (林) may also appear as Lam (Cantonese) or Lim (Hokkien). Some Chinese surnames that appear to be the same written in English may also be different in Chinese due to different characters having the same or similar pronunciations, dialectal differences, or non-standard romanisations (see section on variation in romanization below).