ān 安

Origin of the "An" surname: The An clan originated from ethnic minorities in the Western Regions, with roughly three branches: 1. According to "New Book of Tang - Genealogy of Prime Ministers", during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Prince An Qing of the Parthian Empire (northeast of Iran) was deeply interested in Buddhism. He came to Luoyang, the then capital, and settled there (refer to the "An Shigao" section on our website). Later, there emerged the An clan. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, another Parthian prince came to China and settled here, also belonging to the An clan. 2. It was changed from a compound surname of the Xianbei ethnic group. As recorded in "Book of Wei - Official Titles and Ranks", during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in the Northern Wei Dynasty, there was a compound surname "Anchi" in the north of Dai. After they migrated south to Luoyang with Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei and settled in the Central Plains, they adopted the Han surname "An". 3. It is one of the "Nine Surnames of Zhaowu" (refer to the "He" surname). The former site of the An Kingdom was around Bukhara, Uzbekistan today. It was once under the jurisdiction of the Tang Dynasty and submitted to the Central Plains during the Yonghui reign of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang. Later, they became the An clan. Moreover, An Lushan, a non - Han person in the Tang Dynasty, originally had the surname Kang but falsely assumed the surname An.