Tan

surname · Latin script

Meaning, in English: A light, brown-like colour

Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published

/tæn/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated

Tan is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In Singapore it is the most common surname.

rarermore common
  • SGSingapore≈1 in 61(inferred from the name graph)
  • MYMalaysia≈1 in 71
  • PHPhilippines≈1 in 773

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

China (inferred from the name graph)

≈1,400,000 people, est.

Sources
498 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 61 (inferred from the name graph)

Singapore, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

Locally spelled Tân in VN Vietnam.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

a Chinese Indonesian surname from Hokkien.

Sources 1

  • kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Attested across 7 languages in the etymology graph.

How Tan is read(measured from records)

Tan is one spelling over 3 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 3 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

  • English48%

    A light, brown-like colour.

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  • Malay17%

    a Chinese Indonesian surname from Hokkien.

    as a wordrecorded as Indonesiankaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  • Turkish8.0%

    dawn, twilight

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

    1. Güneş doğmadan önceki alaca karanlık, şafak vakti. 2. Sabah akşam esen serin rüzgâr.

    as a wordTDK Kişi Adları Sözlüğü (official Turkish given-name dictionary)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Tan counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Tan is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
CN China—≈1,400,000 est.≈1 in 1K—Tan126
MY Malaysia#8≈460,000 est.≈1 in 713.1KTan205
PH Philippines#40≈140,000 est.≈1 in 773—Tan202
SG Singapore#1≈100,000 est.≈1 in 61—Tan272
VN Vietnam—≈87,000 est.≈1 in 1.1KlistedTân4
US United States—32,1201 in 10K39KTan498
HK Hong Kong#171≈7,300 est.≈1 in 997—Tan99

Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; data.gov.my — Name Popularity Dashboard (JPN, by decade and ethnicity). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Tan is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • Malay surname15 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines

    Languages: Malay, Indonesian

    Also written Tấn, Tan', Tân, Ta࿆n࿆, Tãn

  • Vietnamese given name84 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, Malaysia, Singapore

    Also written Tấn, Tân, Đàm, Tần, Đảm

  • Chinese surname9 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Malaysia, China, United States, Singapore

    Also written Tân, T'An, Tån, Tấn, Tàn

  • Spanish surname47 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Malaysia, Singapore

    Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

    Also written Tañ, Tân, Tän, Tấn, Tán

  • Turkish surname18 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, Malaysia, Philippines

    Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen

    Also written Tän, Tấn, Täñ, Tặn, Tán

  • a separate surname53 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, China, Singapore, Malaysia

    Also written Tân, Tấn, Tần, Tán, Tåñ

  • French surname21 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia

    Also written Tân, Tấn, Qod, Tãn, Ťäņ

  • a separate name17 spellings in the group

    Also written Taṅ, Tản, Tán, Tān, Tần

90 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses(measured from records)

Tan is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • In Akan, V, [red. tentah] to leave a void or distance between; nnna 2 no ntam* tan or tentan, there is a distance between the two trees; = pin, pompan. — tan-mil, aloof, tana, t6na, s, tra, v

    as a wordDictionary of the Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (Chwee, Twi)

  • In sit-pro, bar, beam

    as a wordStarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

190019502000Pridi Banomyong, b. 1900Margaret Chan, b. 1947Chen Shui-bian, b. 1950Amy Tan, b. 1952Jackie Chan, b. 1954Joan Chen, b. 1961Steve Chen, b. 1978Vanessa-Mae, b. 1978Edison Chen, b. 1980Priscilla Chan, b. 1985
  • Pridi Banomyongb. 1900THnot in their usual nameThai prime minister (1900-1983)
  • Margaret Chanb. 1947CNnot in their usual nameChinese-Canadian physician (born 1947)
  • Chen Shui-bianb. 1950TWnot in their usual name10th and 11th President of Republic of China(Taiwan) (2000–2008)
  • Amy Tanb. 1952USAmerican novelist
  • Jackie Chanb. 1954CNnot in their usual nameHong Kong actor and martial artist (born 1954)
  • Joan Chenb. 1961CNnot in their usual nameChinese-American actress and director
  • Steve Chenb. 1978TWnot in their usual nameChinese-American businessman
  • Vanessa-Maeb. 1978SGnot in their usual nameBritish violinist
  • Edison Chenb. 1980CAnot in their usual nameHong Kong singer, actor, and fashion designer
  • Priscilla Chanb. 1985USnot in their usual nameAmerican pediatrician and philanthropist

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

How to address them(machine-generated)

FormalDear Colleague,
InformalHello,

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 73 sources across 37 countries.

Official registers attesting Tan
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020202039K#856
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010201032K#1,090
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000200022K#1,530

Reference works 8

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name Tan come from?
a Chinese Indonesian surname from Hokkien. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
What does the name Tan mean?
In English, A light, brown-like colour.
In which country does Tan have the most bearers?
Mondonomo estimates about 1.4 million people named Tan in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled tan.
How do you pronounce Tan?
A machine transcription gives /tæn/ (IPA) for English.
How common is the name Tan?
In the United States, the national register counted 32,120 people named Tan in 2010, about 1 in 10 thousand residents.
How common is Tan compared with other names?
In Singapore, Tan is the most common surname of 78,292 surnames recorded there.

What do you want to know about Tan?

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/tan

The payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Tan” — the most common surname in Singapore. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Tan parses inside a full name →