Yan (surname)

严 / 嚴
Romanization	Yan, Yen, Yim

阎 / 閻
Romanization	Yan

=闫 / 閆
Romanization	Yan

颜 / 顏
Romanization	Hokkien: Gan Cantonese: Ngan Vietnamese: Nhan Korean: An

晏

甄
Romanization	Mandarin: Zhen Cantonese: Yan, Yen

ရန်ရ
Romanization	Yan

延

Yan is a Chinese surname, it is the pinyin romanization for several Chinese characters such as "严 (嚴)", "晏 (晏)", "偃 (偃)", "颜 (顏)", "言 (言)", "燕 (燕)", "阎 (閻)", "闫 (閆)", "鄢 (鄢)" in simplified (traditional) form. Note that these characters are spelled as Yen in the Wade–Giles romanization system which was the prevalent one before the early 80s. From such, individuals and institutions who have had to romanize their Chinese names prior to that time, such as when having their books translated or publishing manuscripts outside of China, used "Yen" instead of "Yan". Such examples include Yenching University and the Harvard-Yenching Institute. The Yan surname in Taiwan is mostly spelled as Yen since only until recently has the government approved the use of pinyin romanization of names. The Cantonese romanization of these surnames is "Yim". As such, most people from Hong Kong and Chinese diaspora that emigrated prior to 1949 from Guangdong use the name Yim. On many occasions, "甄 (甄)" in Cantonese is also romanized as Yan.

The "严 (嚴)" (Yán) surname has various origins:

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