The Fan Family#

Surname: Fan, pronounced as “fán”

Regions where the Fan surname is prevalent**#

• Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province
• Nanyang City, Henan Province

Origin of the Fan surname**#

The Fan surname ranks 102nd among the most common surnames in China, with a significant population, accounting for approximately 0.17% of the entire Han Chinese population.

Origins of the Fan surname:

There are four main origins of the Fan surname:

1. From the Ji surname: This branch originated during the Western Zhou Dynasty and is descended from King Wen of Zhou. The ancestor of the Fan lineage was Fan Zhongshanfu, historically known as the Ji Fan family. According to the “Tongzhi·Shizu Lue·Yi Yi Wei Shi,” King Wen’s son, Yu Zhong, had a grandson named Zhongshanfu. Together with other ministers such as Zhao Bohu, Shen Bo, Nan Zhong, and Yin Jifu, they assisted King Xuan of Zhou in his military campaigns, expanding the Zhou dynasty’s territory, which led to a period of prosperity known as the “Xuanwang Zhongxing.” Due to Zhongshanfu’s outstanding contributions, King Xuan granted him the title of Marquis of Fan (located east of present-day Jiyuan City, Henan Province). His descendants adopted the surname Fan.
2. From the Zi surname: This branch originated in the Shang Dynasty and is descended from King Tang of Shang. According to the “Zuo Zhuan,” after the middle period of the Shang Dynasty, seven major clans emerged: Tao, Shi, Fan, Fan, Ji, Ji, and Zhongkui, among which the Fan clan has continued to this day.
3. According to research by Li Xueqin, inscriptions from the tomb of a Fan ruler in Pingqiao, Xinyang, suggest that the Fan surname may also originate from the Mi clan.
4. As a minority surname in the southwest: During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the barbarian tribes of Ba and Nan had five surnames: Ba, Fan, Xin, Xiang, and Zheng, all of which originated from Wuluo Zhongli Mountain (northwest of present-day Changyang, Hubei Province).

Distribution of the Fan surname

The current population with the Fan surname exceeds 1.7 million, making it the 107th most common surname in China, accounting for about 0.14% of the national population. The population of the Fan surname has been on the rise over the past 1,000 years, since the Song Dynasty. The largest concentration of Fan descendants is in Henan Province, accounting for approximately 18% of the national total. The surname is also widely distributed in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Anhui, with these three provinces together accounting for 49% of the total Fan population. Other significant populations are found in Jiangsu, Hubei, Hebei, Jiangxi, and Gansu, which together account for another 26%.

Notable individuals with the Fan surname:

• Fan Qi: A painter from the Ming Dynasty (1616–1694), one of the “Eight Great Masters of Jinling.” His work “Liu Xi Yu Le Tu” is held in the National Palace Museum in Beijing.
• Fan Jizu: A scholar from Yuncheng County who passed the imperial examinations in the 6th year of the Zhengde era (1511) of the Ming Dynasty. He authored works such as “Shuang Yan Zoushu,” “Shi You Chuan,” “Shan Hai Ji Cheng,” and “Jin Dan Ji.”

The distribution of the Fan surname is uneven, with higher concentrations in certain regions. For example, in areas such as Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Hubei, the frequency of the Fan surname exceeds 0.27% of the local population, while in others it is lower, ranging from 0.18% to 0.27%.