The Han surname (韩 / 韓)

How do you pronounce the surname 韩?

As a surname, 韩 is pronounced Hán in Mandarin (written Han without tone marks).

How is Han written in Chinese?

Simplified Chinese: 韩. Traditional Chinese (Taiwan, Hong Kong, most overseas genealogies): 韓.

How common is the Han surname?

According to Yuan Yida and Qiu Jiaru's study of the 400 most common Chinese surnames (2013), about 8.2 million people in mainland China are named Han — 0.61% of the population, ranking 29th.

In the Ministry of Public Security's 2020 national name report (household registration), Han ranks 27th.

Where in China is the Han surname most common?

According to the same 2013 study, the province with the most people named Han is Henan.

Is Han in the Hundred Family Surnames?

Yes — 韩 is number 15 in the Hundred Family Surnames (Baijiaxing), a Song-dynasty primer. Its order reflects the rhyme of the text, not population.

What are the other English spellings of Han?

The same Chinese surname is spelled differently by region and era — check all of them when searching immigration or overseas records:

• Hanyu Pinyin (Mainland China): Han
• Wade–Giles (Taiwan, older usage): Han
• Cantonese (Hong Kong, overseas): Hon; Jyutping hon4
• Korean: 한
• Vietnamese: Hàn

How do I build a Han family tree?

Start with your own branch: record the ancestors you are sure of, then parents, siblings and descendants, generation by generation, with dates, spouses, migrations and burial places. Then invite relatives to fill in their own branches.

The KinTraces genealogy workbench lets a family build a Han genealogy together online — relatives claim their own entries, adoptions and dual heirship are recorded on both sides, every change is logged, and the tree can be printed as a traditional Chinese genealogy (vertical register, Su or Ou style, pagoda chart) or a Western Register / Pedigree, or exported as GEDCOM.

What are Han generation names (zibei)?

Many Chinese lineages share a generation poem: each generation takes one character from it in their given names, so cousins of the same generation share a character. Different Han branches use different poems — there can be dozens for one surname — so a poem from another branch cannot simply be borrowed.

The most reliable source is your branch's own genealogy; otherwise, collect names from elders, gravestones and ancestral halls, look for the shared character in each generation, and compare with genealogies from the same ancestral place.