GGood Chinese Name

Chinese surname · rank 260

班

班 is read as bān.

Pinyin

bān

Script forms

Simplified and traditional 班

Basic meaning

class, group, grade; squad; job

Five element

Earth

Origin

Time: Spring-and-Autumn Chu, Song, and Lu ancestor-name layers, Western Han Fufeng Anling clan layer, Tang Wei prefecture figure layer, Yuan Mongol figure layer, and later changed-surname layers; Song textual or Bai Jia Xing layer, 960-1279 CE

Place: Chu Shen region around today's Nanyang, Henan; Song-state context; Lu-state and Xiaozhu craft tradition; Fufeng Anling around today's Shaanxi; Wei prefecture Ji around today's Weihui, Henan; later Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, and other Yellow River distribution contexts

Origin note

is a multi-source surname built around ancestor names containing Ban. One line comes from Chu: Dou Ban, also called Shengong Dou Ban, was a Spring-and-Autumn Chu officer connected with the Ruoao and Ziwen clan context, and descendants used Ban as a surname. A second line comes from Song: Er Ban, a Spring-and-Autumn Song officer, is recorded as another ancestor-name source. A third line comes from Lu: Gongshu Ban, better known as Lu Ban, was the famous craftsman of the Lu cultural sphere, and some later descendants or followers are said to have used Ban. Later layers include Hui, Mongol, Zhuang, Manchu, and other changed-surname branches. These lines are kept parallel because the sources do not make all Ban families descend from one person.

Historical figures

Historical figures to enrich

This surname page is ready for a fame-ranked figure list. Later passes can add generals, poets, rulers, artists, scholars and modern public figures with source links.

Sources checked