In Hong Kong, the surname is romanised as Kwan in Cantonese. In Taiwan, the Wade–Giles spelling Kuan is used. In Macao, the surname is as Kuan due to the Portuguese influence. In addition the surname Cuan is also used in Mexico.
In many overseas Chinese communities, both spellings, Kuan[1] and Kwan, as well as Quan, are common.
It is also a Vietnamese surname that uses the same character, romanised as Quan.
It is also a Japanese surname, Seki (Japanese: 関), that uses the same character.
The Vietnamese surname, Quan and the Japanese surname, Seki, was derived from the same Chinese character as the Chinese surname (The Japanese Kanji 関 is a Shinjitai of the Chinese character 關).
Origin and timeline
A number of groups in different geographic areas are believed to have shared the surname in history.
Guan(关 or 關) - meaning is City Gate, or Close the City Gate - originally name for an official, then became a surname.
During the 23rd century BCE, Dongfu (董父) was a descendant of the ruler Shuan (叔安) in Chifeng within the old Rehe Province of the Khitan state. Dongfu married a daughter of Emperor Yao's tribe, using the surname Dong (董), which later became the surname Kwan (關).
In 643 BCE, during the Zhou dynasty, near Mount Xiao within the nation of Jin, the Ji (姬) family used the surname of Dongguan (東關) with region name Dongguan (東關). In China it is common for clans possessing the same surname to live in a village together, with their surname designating the name of the village. Later, the Dongguan (東關) family branched into two surnames: Dǒng (東), and Guan (關). Dongguan Wu (東關五) was an officer of Jin.
In 604 BCE, during the Zhou dynasty, an officer named Yin Xi (尹喜) is reported to have taken the name Guan Yin (關尹) as his name in public office, designating 關 as his surname. Subsequent generations continued to use 關 as their surname.
The surname 關 has also been widely adopted by various non-Chinese ethnic groups from both southern and northern China, such as the Zhuang, De'ang, Mongolian and Manchurian peoples.
Around 1080 CE, the surname 關 arrives in the province of Guangdong at Xinhui, five generations later at Kaiping (Hoiping) in Guangdong province.[1]
Near the end of the 19th century (1880s), population pressure on the limited arable land in Kaiping county, mainly along the Tan river, induces the rural poor 關 to emigrate overseas, largely (~70%) to North America and rest to Southeast Asia.[1]
^ abcWoon, Yuen-fong (1984). Social organization in South China, 1911-1949: the case of the Kuan lineage in K'ai-p'ing county. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. ISBN0-89264-051-0.
This page lists people with the surnameGuān (关 / 關). If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.
