Tan Family History

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 譚 meaning ‘magnificent’ in ancient Chinese: from Tan (譚) the name of an ancient state (located in present-day Shandong province). After the stated was annexed by the state of Qi in 684 BC people kept the name of the state as their surname. Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 覃 meaning ‘long’ or ‘extend’ in ancient Chinese: It is said that in some cases the surname evolved from a simplification of the surname 譚 (see 1 above). People with the surname 譚 changed it to 覃 in order to escape from persecution by their enemies.

The surname also has another Mandarin pronunciation from a different origin see Qin. Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 談 meaning ‘talk’ in Chinese: (i) from the name of the state of Tan (談 also written 郯 located in present-day Shandong province). It was annexed by the state of Yue (or the state of Chu according to other historic records) in about 414 BC. After that people adopted 談 the name of the state as their surname.

(iii) borne by descendants of Ji Tan (籍談) an official during the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC) who changed his original surname Ji to Tan. Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 檀 meaning ‘blue sandalwood’ in Chinese a kind of tree indigenous to China: (i) from Tan (檀) the name of an ancient state (located in Henan province) granted to Tan Boda (檀伯達) an official in the Western Zhou dynasty (1046–771 BC). (ii) from Tan (檀) the name of a fief (located in Shandong province) in the state of Qi during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC).

Chinese: alternative Mandarin form of the surnames 但 and 旦 see Dan. Chinese: Teochew Hokkien or Taiwanese form of the surname 陳 see Chen It is also found in other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄧 see Deng. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 唐 see Tang Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄭 based on its Hokchew (Fuzhou) pronunciation a Min dialect spoken in the provincial capital of Fujian province see Zheng.

Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 曾 see Zeng Vietnamese (Tân): from the Chinese surname 辛 see Xin Vietnamese (Tần): from the Chinese surname 秦 see Qin Cambodian: written តន់ from a Khmer word meaning ‘(to be) dear’. Cambodian: written តាន់ probably of Chinese origin (compare above). The surname តាន់ also corresponds to the Khmer word meaning ‘(to be) solid’. Korean: there are three Chinese characters for this surname; two of them are used by clans that now have only one surviving family each according to a recent census.