An Family History
An Surname Meaning
Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 安 meaning ‘peace safe’ or ‘calm’ in Chinese: (i) borne by descendants of immigrants from an ancient state called An Xi (安息) also known as the Parthian Empire (located in present-day northeastern Iran). Traditional accounts record that the legendary emperor Huang Di the ‘Yellow Emperor’ (c. 27th century
(ii) adopted as a surname by the An Chi (安遲) family from the Xianbei ethnic group in northern China during the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534
(iv) possibly from An (安) the name of an ancient fief (located in Shanxi province). Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 晏 see Yan 5. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 洪 see Hong.
Korean: written 안 in Chinese characters 安 meaning ‘peace’. This is the only Chinese character for the surname An. Some sources indicate that there are 109 An clans but only six can be documented. All had one common founding ancestor named Yi Wŏn (李 瑗) who migrated from Tang China to the Shilla Kingdom in 807
Compare Ahn Vietnamese: from the Chinese surname 安 (see 1 above). Vietnamese (Ân): from the Chinese surname 殷 (see Yin).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022