干 🔊

Origin note

Gan is read gn as a surname, and the page must not confuse it with simplified forms of qian or gan used for other characters. The source-backed surname layers are multiple. One line treats Gan as an office-name surname, from low-ranking document clerks called ganli. Another line is place-based: Gansui was a Wu-region settlement around today's Suzhou, and people connected with the place could take Gan as a surname. A related state-name layer connects Gan with Han, also written with the Han/Gan form, a state or place on the north bank of the Yangtze. Wikipedia adds a Zi-surname ritual layer from Shang royal relatives connected with wanwu or ganwu, plus a Spring-and-Autumn Song line from the minister Gan Chou. Later ethnic-adoption evidence comes from the Northern Wei period, when the Xianbei Hegan compound surname was Sinicized to Gan. The page keeps office, place, state, personal-name, and changed-surname layers separate.

Historical figures

Sources checked

• 23mofang surname library: Gan - ganli office, Gansui place, Han/Gan state, Gan Bao and Gan Wenchuan records, contemporary distribution, and Hegan Xianbei changed-surname layer
• Wikipedia: Gan surname - Baijiaxing rank 173, simplified-character warning, Zi-surname ganwu layer, Song minister Gan Chou, Gansui place, and Hegan Xianbei change to Gan
• Baijiayoupu: Gan surname encyclopedia - Gan/Han surname form, Baijiaxing rank, Gan state near Yangzhou, Bi Gan avoidance tradition, Song Gan Chou, and reading cautions
• Han Dian: Gan character entry - basic meaning and surname listing