Chan Family History
Chan Surname Meaning
Chinese: Cantonese form of the surname 陳 see Chen. It is also found in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia. Compare Tjan and 9 below. Chinese: variant of Zhan. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 張 see Zhang. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 曾 see Zeng possibly based on its Hokkien Teochew or Taiwanese pronunciations.
Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 秦 see Qin. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鄭 see Zheng. Chinese: alternative Cantonese form of the Chinese surname 甄 see Zhen. Chinese: Teochew or Hokkien form of the surname 田 see Tian.
Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 程 see Cheng. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 粘 see Nian. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 莊 see Zhuang.
Vietnamese (Chân): from the Chinese surname 甄 see Zhen. Cambodian: written ចាន់ of Chinese origin (see 1 and 2 above). Compare Chhan.
Amerindian (Mexico Guatemala and Belize): Mayan name from chan ‘snake’ (compare Can) or a homonymous word (morpheme) meaning ‘small’. Galician and Portuguese: topographic name from a field named Chan (Galician) or Chã (Portuguese) from Latin planus plana ‘level flat’.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022