Chinese surname · rank 355
湛
湛 is read as zhàn.
zhàn
Simplified and traditional 湛
deep; profound; clear; tranquil, placid
Earth
Time: Xia-dynasty tradition, c. 2070-1600 BCE
Place: Zhan state, Zhan water near Jiyuan / Baofeng, Henan, and Xia Zhanguan tradition.
Origin note
Zhan is recorded here as a surname with both place-name and lineage-tradition layers. One layer comes from an ancient Zhan state and from Zhan water: surname references place Zhan city near the old Heyang/Zhi county area, around modern Jiyuan, and also mention a Zhan River in the Henan Baofeng area. A second layer is the Si-surname Zhanguan tradition: after the Xia-related Zhanguan state was destroyed, descendants are said to have taken parts of the characters and to form , or to have settled near Zhan water and used that name. Since the word-building story is a surname tradition rather than a documentable continuous family record, this page presents it cautiously beside the state-name and water-name evidence. The ordinary meanings of , such as deep or clear, are kept separate from the surname origin.
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