Chinese surname · rank 270
燕
燕 is read as yān.
yān
Simplified and traditional 燕
swallow (bird); comfort, enjoy
Earth
Time: Western Zhou Northern Yan state layer, Southern Yan lineage layer of about 2600 years in 23mofang, Qin conquest state-name surname layer, Song Shandong-centered distribution layer, Ming Jiangxi-centered distribution layer, and later ethnic-adoption layers; Xia-dynasty tradition, c. 2070-1600 BCE
Place: Northern Yan in the Ji and Youzhou region around today's Beijing; Southern Yan around Zuocheng and today's north Yanjin, Henan; Shandong, Gansu, Henan, Sichuan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Shanxi, Hebei, and later Korean, Hui, Xianbei, and Baekje contexts
Origin note
Yan is read yn as a surname. The strongest source-backed line is a state-name surname from Northern Yan: in early Zhou tradition, Shaogong Shi, a Ji-surname kinsman and minister of the Zhou house, was enfeoffed at Yan, with the old capital in the Ji or Youzhou region around today's Beijing area; descendants of the Yan state later used the state name as a surname. A second line is the Southern Yan tradition: sources place a Yan state or fief connected with Boshu or Bo Shu, a descendant of Huangdi, around Zuocheng or the Yanjin area in Henan; descendants also used Yan as a surname after the state disappeared. Later layers include Murong Xianbei regimes named Yan, Baekje surname traditions that include Yan, and Korean, Hui, or other adoption and changed-surname branches. The page keeps Northern Yan, Southern Yan, and later ethnic-adoption layers separate.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
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