HAN

Korean: there are two Chinese characters for the surname Han. However, one of these characters, meaning ‘China’, is extremely rare (only two households with this surname appeared in a recent census), so only the other will be considered here. Some records indicate that there are 131 clans of the Han family, but only one—the Han family of Ch’ŏngju, can be documented. Some sources name Han Ran as the founding ancestor of the Han family. Han Ran is recognized as one of the men who assisted the first Koryŏ king, Wang Kŏn, in setting up the Koryŏ kingdom in 918. More recent scholarship, however, postulates that the Ch’ŏngju Han clan's founding ancestor was U-P’yŏng, one of three sons of the fortieth generation descendant of Kija, the founder of the ancient Chosŏn kingdom (died 194 BC). The other two sons, U-sŏng and U-Kyŏng, founded the Ki clan and the Sŏngan clans, respectively.

French: of uncertain origin. In some cases at least it is from a Breton word meaning ‘summer’ or a topographic name from a place named with Gaulish hafod ‘summer residence’.

Dutch and Czech (Hán): from a reduced form of the personal name Johann(es) (see John).

Jewish: variant of Hahn.