Zan Family History

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 昝: (i) a surname originating in ancient southwestern China. (ii) adopted as a surname by the Zan Lu (昝盧) or Chi Lu (叱盧) families from the Xianbei ethnic group in northern China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD). (iii) said to be adopted in place of the surname Jiu (咎 meaning ‘disaster’ in Chinese) possibly because the meaning of the original surname Jiu was thought to be inauspicious.

Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 曾 see Zeng.

Italian (Veneto): from the personal name Zan an old dialect equivalent of John (compare the Slovenian name below). See also Zanni.

Slovenian (Žan): from a Slovenized form of the Friulian personal name Zan an old equivalent of John (compare Italian name above).

Slovak (Záň also Zán) and Czech (Záň): possibly of Italian origin (see above).