Chen (surname)

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For other uses, see Chen (disambiguation).
Chen
SurnameChen.svg
Chen surname in regular script
Pronunciation Chén (Pinyin)
Tan (Pe̍h-ōe-jī)
Language(s) Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean
Origin
Language(s) Old Chinese
Derivation Chen (state)
Other names
Variant(s) Chan (Mandarin)
Tan (Hokkien)
Chan (Cantonese)
Chin (Taishanese, Hakka)
Zen (Wu)
Jin (Korean)
Trần (Vietnamese)
Derivative(s) Trần, Jin (Korean name), Saetang (Thai name)
This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.

Chén or Chan (simplified Chinese: 陈; traditional Chinese: 陳; pinyin: Chén; Wade–Giles: Ch'en) is one of the most common East Asian family names. It ranks as the 5th most common surname in China, as of 2007[1] and the most common surname in Singapore (2000)[2] and Taiwan (2010).[3] Chen is also the most common family name in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hong Kong (spelt Chan in Hong Kong and Macau). It is the most common surname in Xiamen, the ancestral hometown of many overseas Hoklo.[4] Chen (חֵן) is also a Hebrew word meaning "loveliness" and "grace", which is the 30th-most-common surname in Israel.[5]

It is usually romanised as Chan in Cantonese (most widely used by those from Hong Kong), and sometimes as Chun. In Min (including dialects of Chaozhou (Teochow), Hainan, Fujian, and Taiwan), the name is pronounced Tan. In Hakka and Toisan, the name is spelled and pronounced as Chin. Some other Romanisations include Zen (from Wu), Ding and Chern. Chen can be variously spelt Chan, Chin or Tan in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries.

The Korean surname 진 (Jin) would be the Korean equivalent of the surname Chen.

In Vietnam, this surname is written in Quốc Ngữ as Trần.

Contents

History [edit]

Question book-new.svg
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The Chen Clan Academy in Guangzhou, China

The initial surname Chen was from Gui (媯, Gūi), which was an ancient East Asia surname of descendants of Emperor Shun, who was one of the Three August Ones and Five Emperors. When King Wu of Zhou established the Zhou Dynasty, he gave the Land of Chen to Shun's descendants to establish their own state. To show his respect for Emperor Shun, the new state, which was also named Chen, was one of the Three Guest States of Zhou (Chinese: 三恪; pinyin: Sān Kè), which meant this nation was not a subordinate, but a guest of Zhou. However, the Chen state was occupied by Chu after the 10th century BC. Since then, the people of this state began to use Chen as their surname.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420-589), Chen Baxian established the Chen Dynasty (557-589), the fourth and the last of the Southern dynasties in East Asia, which was eventually destroyed by the Sui Dynasty.

Other pronunciations [edit]

Notable people [edit]

Fictional characters with surname Chen [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2007-04-24/161812855907.shtml
  2. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20080223075738/http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/chinesesurnames.html
  3. ^ http://technology.chtsai.org/namefreq/
  4. ^ "厦门第一大姓陈氏：先辈300万贯钱买厦门岛". China Review News (in Chinese). 2010-10-01. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
  5. ^ Yediot Achronot. 23 Feb 2004. Op. cit. in "[www.britam.org/jerusalem/jerusalem271to300.html Jerusalem 271 to 300]".

External links [edit]

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