The Zan Family#

Surname: Zan, pronounced as zǎn

Distribution of the Zan Family#

Lankao County, Henan Province; Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province; Linzi, Shandong Province

Origins of the Zan Family#

There are three theories regarding the origin of the Zan surname:

1. The Zan surname originated from the Jiu surname. In ancient times, the character “Jiu” had multiple meanings, but later it specifically referred to misfortune. To ward off this negative connotation, a horizontal line was added to the character “Jiu,” resulting in the Zan surname. The Jiu surname has a long history; during the Shang Dynasty, there was a high-ranking official named Jiu Dan, and his family prospered. Later, they changed their surname to Zan.
2. The surname was derived from the name of a tribal group. During the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a tribe in Sichuan called Zan. When Central Chinese culture spread to Sichuan, the Zan surname was adopted by the local people. Those who left the Zan tribe also adopted this surname as their own.
3. Some families changed their surnames to Zan. For example, during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there were the Chilu and Zanlu families, which changed to Zan after moving to the Central Plains.

Migration and Distribution Currently, there is no reliable information about the exact migration patterns of the Zan family. The surname first appears in the “Xing Yuan” (a collection of Chinese surnames), indicating its historical presence in the Sichuan region. Another theory suggests that it originated from the Chilu family of the Northern Wei Dynasty. According to the annotations in the “Bai Jia Xing” (a book of common Chinese surnames), the Zan surname is traced back to Jiu Dan, a minister during the Shang Dynasty. The character “Jiu” was pronounced differently in ancient times, and a horizontal line was added to form the Zan surname.

In its early days, the Zan family mainly lived in regions such as Henan and Shanxi, with Taiyuan County (now part of Shanxi) being their place of origin. Due to wars in the Central Plains, they gradually migrated to Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, and the Jiangnan region. During the Ming Dynasty, Zan family members who were immigrants from Hongdong County were relocated to areas such as Anhui, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, and established prominent families in Pengcheng (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu). Today, the Zan surname does not rank among the top 300 most common surnames in China.

Notable People with the Zan Surname Zan Yin was a renowned obstetrician and gynecologist from Chengdu, Sichuan. Born around 797 AD, she died in 859 AD. She was highly skilled in medical principles, especially in obstetrics, and had a deep understanding of pharmacology. During the Tang Dynasty, she compiled a three-volume work called “Chan Bao” (Production Treasure), which gathered empirical treatments for various conditions related to childbirth and postpartum care, based on both traditional knowledge and her own clinical experiences. The original work contained 52 chapters and 371 prescriptions. Later additions have expanded the book to three volumes with 41 chapters and 374 prescriptions. This text is one of the earliest specialized works on obstetrics in China. Zan Yin also made significant contributions to the fields of health preservation and dietary therapy, with her medical prescriptions being easy to obtain, inexpensive, and effective. Her works, “Dao Yang Fang” (Taoist Health Preservation Methods) and “Shi Yi Xin Jian” (Dietary Therapy Guide), each comprising three volumes, are still in existence today.