Chien (簡 / 錢)
2 Taiwanese surnames carry the spelling Chien.
簡 Chien
- Zhuyin
- ㄐㄧㄢˇ
- Pinyin
- jiǎn
- Wade-Giles
- Chien
- Further spellings of 簡
- Jian
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Kán
- Hakka (Sixian)
- gien³¹
- Rank in Taiwan
- 33rd most common surname, roughly 0.68% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
A bamboo slip used for writing; 'letter'; as an adjective it means 'simple, brief'.
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Hu Juju (狐鞫居), a Jin official whose posthumous title was Xu Jianbo (續簡伯); his descendants took 簡 as their surname. A further line descends from Jian Yong (簡雍) of Shu Han, whose original surname was 耿. Hall name (堂號): 范陽堂.
Saying it 我姓簡 — wǒ xìng jiǎn (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄐㄧㄢˇ), "my family name is 簡"
錢 Ch'ien
- Zhuyin
- ㄑㄧㄢˊ
- Pinyin
- qián
- Wade-Giles
- Ch'ien
- Further spellings of 錢
- Chien, Chian, Cian, Qian
- Taiwanese Hokkien (Tâi-lô)
- Tsînn Tsînn is the colloquial (白讀) reading, while tsiân is the character's literary (文讀) reading.
- Hakka (Sixian)
- qien¹¹
- Rank in Taiwan
- 98th most common surname, roughly 0.06% of the population (2023 Ministry of the Interior figures)
What the character means
'Money, coins'; it is also a unit of weight (one-tenth of a tael).
Where the surname comes from
Tradition traces it to Jian Fu (籛孚), a descendant of Peng Zu who served under the Zhou as an official in charge of money (錢府上士); his descendants took 錢 from the title. The rulers of the Wuyue kingdom bore the name. Hall name (堂號): 彭城堂.
Saying it 我姓錢 — wǒ xìng qián (ㄨㄛˇ ㄒㄧㄥˋ ㄑㄧㄢˊ), "my family name is 錢"
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).