Tān
surname · Latin script
Tān 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. Recorded meaning: From Ottoman Turkish طاڭ (taŋ), from Common Turkic *taŋ.
- 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)
- Sources
- 498 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 61 (inferred from the name graph)
≈1,400,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Singapore, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
One other spelling is counted as the same name:
Locally spelled Tan in US United States, PH Philippines, MY Malaysia and 3 more and Tân in VN Vietnam.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
- Ottoman Turkishطاڭtaŋ(measured from records)
- Common Turkic*taŋ(measured from records)
From Ottoman Turkish طاڭ (taŋ), from Common Turkic *taŋ.
Sources 9
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Digital Pāḷi Dictionary
- TDK Kişi Adları Sözlüğü (official Turkish given-name dictionary)
- Wiktionary
- Chinese Surnames Encyclopedia (Section 2)
Attested across 29 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Tān 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.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈1,400,000 est. | ≈1 in 1K | — | Tan | 126 |
| MY Malaysia | #8 | ≈460,000 est. | ≈1 in 71 | 3.1K | Tan | 205 |
| PH Philippines | #40 | ≈140,000 est. | ≈1 in 773 | — | Tan | 202 |
| SG Singapore | #1 | ≈100,000 est. | ≈1 in 61 | — | Tan | 272 |
| VN Vietnam | — | ≈87,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | listed | Tân | 4 |
| US United States | — | 32,120 | 1 in 10K | 39K | Tan | 498 |
| HK Hong Kong | #171 | ≈7,300 est. | ≈1 in 997 | — | Tan | 99 |
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).
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Dan Minglunb. 1782not in their usual nameQing dynasty person CBDB = 61647
- Dan Maoxinb. 1886CNnot in their usual nameChinese politician
- Judy Danb. 1931CNnot in their usual nameChina-born American actress
- Fred Tanb. 1949TWTaiwanese film director
- Dan Tingyunot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 220901
- Dan Yunjuenot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 220902
- Dan Yourunot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 220903
- Dan Qiyuannot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 220907
- Dan Diaoyuannot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 220908
- Dan Cunxuenot in their usual nameMing dynasty person CBDB = 128388
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).
Evidence(measured from records)
No register attests this spelling yet
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Tān mean, and where does it come from?
- From Ottoman Turkish طاڭ (taŋ), from Common Turkic *taŋ. Recorded by The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland and Digital Pāḷi Dictionary and 7 other sources.
- In which country does Tān have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 1.4 million people named Tān in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled tan.
- How common is the name Tān?
- In the United States, the national register counted 32,120 people named Tān in 2010, about 1 in 10 thousand residents.
- How common is Tān compared with other names?
- In Singapore, Tān is the most common surname of 78,292 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Tān?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/t%C4%81nThe 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, “Tān” — the most common surname in Singapore. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.