Chen (surname)
Encyclopedia : C : CH : CHE : Chen (surname)
Chén (Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: ) is one of the most common Chinese family names. It ranks at the 5th most popular surname in Mainland China. Chen is also the most common family name in Taiwan; 11% of the Taiwanese population (2.6 million, 2005 estimate) are Chens[Top 10 family names in Taiwan]. It is occasionally romanized Chern in Singapore Mandarin Chinese (where "r" indicates the second tone in the Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization system). It is usually romanized as Chan in Cantonese, and sometimes as Chun, Chin or Zen in other dialects. Some other Romanizations (from other Chinese dialects) include Tan and Ding. In Fukien, the name is pronounced Tan.
In Vietnam, this surname is written in Quoc Ngu as Trần, and is the second most popular Vietnamese surname, accounting for 11% of the population [Họ và tên người Việt Nam] của Lê Trung Hoa, Nhà xuất bản Khoa học - Xã hội, 2005, after the surname Nguyễn (38,4%).
Chen is also a Hebrew family name used by Israelis. It is pronounced khen, and means grace or favour.
History
Initial surname Chen was from Gui (Chinese:媯, pinyin: Gūi), which was an ancient Chinese surname of descendants of Emperor Shun, who was one of the Three August Ones and the Five Emperors. When King Wu of Zhou established Zhou Dynasty, he gave the Land of Chen to the descendants to established their own state. To show his respect for Emperor Shun, the new state, which was also named by Chen, was one of the Three Guest States of Zhou (Chinese:三恪, pinyin: Sān Kè), which meant this nation was not the subordinate, but the guest of Zhou. However, this state was occupied by Chu after 10th Century BC. Since then, the people of this state began to use Chen as their surname.Other variations
- Chan, used in Cantonese
- Chin, used in Hakka and Japanese
- Chun or Jin, used in Korean
- Tan (Tân), used in Min Nan (including Taiwanese)
- Tang
- Trần, used in Vietnamese
- Zen, used in the Shanghainese
Prominent people
- Olivia Chen, sister of Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen, Tricia Chen
- Tricia Chen, singer, actress, sister of Hong Kong pop star Edison Chen
- Edison Chen Kwoon-Hei, Hong Kong actor and singer, voted as Best Looking Asian
- Rulers of the Chen Dynasty
- Rulers of the Tran Dynasty
- Chen Shui-bian, first non-KMT President of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Tran Duc Luong, President of Vietnam
- Anna Chan Chennault, first female reporter for the Central News Agency
- Jackie Chan, actor
- Chen Duxiu, Communist Party of China founder
- Chen Jingrun, (1933-1996), mathematician
- Kelly Chen Wai-Lam, Hong Kong actress and singer
- Joan Chen Chong, Chinese-American actress and film director
- Sisy Chen, Taiwanese politician
- Steve Chen, supercomputer designer
- Chen Tsyr-shiou, Chairman of Taiwan Province
- Chen Yi, Communist Party of China military commander
- Chen Yi, Chief executive of Taiwan Province
- Chen Yuanyuan, concubine of Wu Sangui
- Stephen Laochariyakul Chen, Teco Diagnostics
- Shiing-Shen Chern, mathematician
- Ming W. Chin, Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court
- Tiffany Chin, figure skater
- Vincent Chin, victim of racial crime
- Chun Doo Hwang
- Tran Hung Dao, Vietnamese national hero
- Arthur Chin, fighter ace
- Chen Hong, Chinese badminton player
- Chen Yu, Chinese badminton player
- Bruce Hwang Chen, Taiwanese-American director
- Robert Chen, violinist, Concertmaster of Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Chin Siu Dek, aka Jimmy H. Woo, brought one of the Chinese martial arts, Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung, or Kung Fu San Soo from Taishan to America, as [noted here]
- Chen Kenichi, an Iron Chef in the syndicated TV program Iron Chef
- Agnes Chan, a Hong Kong singer, also famous in Japan
Fictional characters with surname Chen
- Charlie Chan, a fictional detective
- Chen is a fictional character in the British science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf
References
External Links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.