Chan (詹)
A Taiwanese surname.
詹 Chan
- Zhuyin
- ㄓㄢ
- Pinyin
- zhān
- Wade-Giles
- Chan
- Further spellings of 詹
- Jan, Jhan, Zhan
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Tsiam
- Hakka (Sixian)
- zam²⁴
- Rank in Taiwan
- 37th most common surname, roughly 0.58% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
In classical texts, 'talkative'; as a verb it means 'to arrive' or 'to look at' (like 瞻).
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to a younger son of King Xuan of Zhou, enfeoffed at Zhan (詹) and known as Zhan Wenhou (詹文侯); his descendants took the name of the fief. Hall name (堂號): 河間堂.
Saying it 我姓詹 — wǒ xìng zhān (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄓㄢ), "my family name is 詹"
Sources: rank and share, 內政部 全國姓名統計分析 (Ministry of the Interior, National Name Statistics), data as of 2023-06-30. Taiwanese Hokkien readings, 教育部臺灣台語常用詞辭典 (MOE Dictionary of Frequently-Used Taiwanese Taigi), 百家姓 appendix. Hakka, 教育部臺灣客語辭典 (MOE Dictionary of Taiwan Hakka), 百家姓表, Sixian (四縣腔).