Chen (surname)

Chen (AUDPronunciation of "Chen".ogachen2) () is a common Chinese-language surname and one of the most common surnames in Asia. It is the most common surname in Taiwan (2010) and Singapore (2000). Chen is also the most common family name in Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Macau, and Hong Kong. It is the most common surname in Xiamen, the ancestral hometown of many overseas Hoklo. Chen was listed 10th in the Hundred Family Surnames poem, in the verse 馮陳褚衛 (Feng Chen Chu Wei). In Cantonese, it is usually romanized as Chan (as in Jackie Chan), most widely used by those from Hong Kong, and also found in Macau and Singapore. It is also sometimes spelled Chun. The spelling Tan usually comes from Southern Min dialects (e.g. Hokkien), while some Teochew dialect speakers use the spelling Tang. In Hakka and Taishanese, the name is spelled Chin. Spellings based on Wu include Zen and Tchen. There are many spellings based on its Hainanese pronunciations, including Dan, Seng, and Sin. In Vietnam, this surname is written as Trần (in Quốc Ngữ) and is 2nd most common. In Thailand, this surname is the most common surname of Thai Chinese and is often pronounced according to Teochew dialect as Tang. In Cambodia, this surname is transliterated as Taing. In Japanese, the surname is transliterated Chin (ちん). In Korean it is transliterated Jin or Chin (진). In Indonesia, many Chinese Indonesians who originally had this surname adopted the Indonesian surname Hartanto. Chen is 5th most common in mainland China, but 4th most common in the world due to Chen's larger overseas population. With all its various spellings and pronunciations, there are around 80-100 million people surnamed 陳 / 陈 worldwide. The surname Cheng (程) is sometimes romanized as Chen (e.g. John S. Chen). Another less common Chinese surname 諶 / 谌 (Shen) can also be romanized as Chen. The Chinese character 陳 / 陈 means 'to describe' (陈述) or 'ancient'. It is a combination of the radical 阝and the character 東 / 东 which means 'East'. Chen descends from the legendary sage king Emperor Shun from around 2200 BC via the surname Gui ().

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Related concepts (6)

Chinese folk religion

Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion, comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled with the contents of institutionalised religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese syncretic religions”. This includes the veneration of shen (spirits) and ancestors, exorcism of demonic forces, and a belief in the rational order of nature, balance in the universe and reality that can be influenced by human beings and their rulers, as well as spirits and deities.

Fuzhou dialect

The Fuzhou dialect (, FR: huʔ˨˩ tsiu˥˧ ua˨˦˨), also Foochow, Hokchew, Hok-chiu, or Fuzhounese, is the prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the Mindong region of Eastern Fujian Province. As it is mutually unintelligible to neighbouring varieties (e.g. Hokkien) in the province, under a technical linguistic definition Fuzhou is a language and not a dialect (conferring the variety a 'dialect' status is more socio-politically motivated than linguistic).

Hoklo people

The Hoklo people () are a Southern Han Chinese subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to Southeastern Fujian, China and known by various endonyms or other related terms such as Banlam (Minnan) people () or Hokkien people (). The Hoklo people are found in significant numbers in Mainland China (Fujian), Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Brunei, Myanmar, the United States, Hong Kong, and Macau.