Chinese surname · rank 250
卞
卞 is read as biàn.
biàn
Simplified and traditional 卞
to be impatient, in a hurry; excitable
Earth
Time: Xia-Shang Bian Sui layer, Spring-Autumn Lu and Chu figure layers, Han Bian water place layer, Zhou Bianshi office layer, Three-Kingdoms Langya clan layer, and later Manchu adoption layer; Xia-dynasty tradition, c. 2070-1600 BCE
Place: Bianyi and Bian state site near today’s Sishui, Shandong; Bian water or Suo River near Xingyang, Henan; Langya Kaiyang near today’s Linyi, Shandong; Jiyin Yuanju near today’s Heze, Shandong; Chengdu, Yancheng, and Taizhou later branches
Origin note
卞 is a multi-source surname. One ancestor-name tradition honors Bian Sui, a worthy man of the Xia-Shang transition mentioned in Zhuangzi. Another layer is tied to Lu state: Bian Zhuangzi served as a great officer at Bianyi, around today’s Sishui in Shandong, and later descendants used the place or ancestor name. A Chu-related layer honors Bian He, famous in the jade tradition. Place-name layers also matter: sources mention an old Bian state site at Sishui and Bian water, identified with today's Suo River near Xingyang in Henan. An official-title layer comes from Bianshi in Zhou ritual offices, with bian and 卞 treated as related or interchangeable in some accounts. Later adoption layers include Manchu Bianjia families changing to Bian. The page keeps these traditions parallel because the sources do not reduce Bian to one single origin.
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.