Tan
谭 · traditionally 譚 — Tán
The 56th most common surname in China
About 4.99 million people, 0.38% of the population, ranked 57th, most numerous in Hunan (Yuan Yida and Qiu Jiaru, survey of China's 400 largest surnames, Fuxi Institution, 2013); 56th most common surname in mainland China in the Ministry of Public Security's 2019 national name report.
Where the name comes from
From the small state of Tan (譚國), held by a branch of the Si (姒) clan and sited in what is now western Zhangqiu, just east of Jinan in Shandong. Duke Huan of Qi annexed it in 683 BC; the scattered ruling house took the name of the lost state as their surname. A second, smaller line comes from families who had written their surname 談 and changed the character to 譚.
The same name, spelled differently
A Chinese surname is a character, not a spelling. The Latin letters on a passport come from whichever dialect the name was written down from — so these are all 谭.
- TanMandarin — mainland China, Taiwan
- TamCantonese — Hong Kong, Macau
- ThamHakka, Hokkien and Teochew — Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia
- TomTaishanese Cantonese — North American Chinese communities
- Hom / HamTaishanese Cantonese — North American Chinese communities
- ĐàmSino-Vietnamese — Vietnam
- DamKorean (담)
The character
谭 is used almost only as a name — it carries no everyday meaning of its own.
- Strokes
- 14
- Radical
- 讠
- Traditional
- 譚
- As a word
- tán