huàn 宦

Migration and Distribution The surname "Huan" is not listed among the top 100 surnames in the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. The surname "Huan" originated from the concept of being an official. Initially, it referred to holding an official position. Therefore, some people who aspired to be officials took "Huan" as their surname. According to the "Five Books on Surnames" in the Qing Dynasty, the surname "Huan" "should be derived from the meaning of being an official, not from eunuchs." However, in the old days, some people thought it was from eunuchs. Eunuchs are those who were castrated and served the royal family and concubines in the deep palace. Because they were close to the royal family, they sometimes held great power. So, some people also took this eunuch - related origin as their surname. Development and Evolution: Later, "Huan" came to refer to those castrated people who served the royal family and concubines in the deep palace. Although there were several influential eunuchs in history (such as Gao Lishi in the Tang Dynasty) who could hold great power because of their close proximity to the royal family, and some people took the surname based on these eunuchs, since eunuchs were generally discriminated against, many descendants of the "Huan" surname changed to other surnames, and the number of people with the surname "Huan" became fewer and fewer. Nowadays, some families with the surname "Huan" can only be found in Zunyi County, Guizhou Province, and Danyang County, Jiangsu Province. The prominent families of the "Huan" surname are located in Dongyang (now Jinhua, Zhejiang Province) and Zhongshan (Ding County, Hebei Province).