Yan (surname)


Yan is a surname in several languages and the pinyin romanization for several Chinese surnames, including "严 ", "晏 ", "偃 ", "颜 ", "言 ", "燕 ", "阎 ", "闫 ", "鄢 " in simplified form.
These characters are romanised as Yen in the Wade–Giles romanization system which was commonly used before the early 80s. As such, individuals and institutions who had to romanize their Chinese names prior to that time, such as when having their books translated or publishing manuscripts outside of China, used "Yen" instead of "Yan". Such examples include Yenching University and the Harvard-Yenching Institute. The Yan surname in Taiwan is mostly spelled as Yen since only until recently has the government approved the use of pinyin romanization of names. The Cantonese romanization of these surnames is "Yim". As such, most people from Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora that emigrated prior to 1949 from Guangdong use the name Yim.
On many occasions, the surname "甄 " is also romanized as Yan in Cantonese. This name in Mandarin is romanized as Zhēn, see Zhen.

Latin alphabet

阎 (閻)

闫 (閆)

Yan, pinyin Yán, originated as a variant of the surname 閻.

Notable people

顏國 鍇 Guy Ngan OBE, New Zealand Artist and Sculptor.

晏

The surname 晏 is relatively uncommon; in 2008 it was the 202nd most common surname in China, shared by around 470,000 citizens. It has three main historical origins:
Near 600 BC, the minister Yan Ruo of the state of Qi took Yan as his last name after he was assigned to govern the town of Yan.
According to the Records of the Grand Historian, the name of the fifth son of Zhuanxu was Yang'an who chose to use the surname 晏 for his descendants.
According to the Classic of Mountains and Seas, Yan Long, a minister of Emperor Yao is the earliest ancestor of the Yan surname on record.

Notable People

Yan is a Chinese surname. It has various origins:
Yan is a Chinese surname. It has various origins: