Pronunciation Ban (Mandarin) Language(s) Old Chinese Variant(s) Pan | Language(s) Chinese Meaning Stripes (of a tiger) | |
Ban is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname written 班 in Chinese character. It is romanized Pan in Wade–Giles. Ban is listed 235th in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames. It is not among the 300 most common surnames in China.
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Origin
The surname Ban originated from Mi 芈, the royal surname of the State of Chu of ancient China. Dou Gouwutu (鬬穀於菟; fl. 7th century BC), a grandson of the Chu ruler Ruo'ao, was said to have been abandoned as an infant and nursed by a tigress. His given name Gouwutu, meant nursed (穀 gòu, milk) by a tiger (於菟 wūtú, tiger) in the Chu language. Dou Gouwutu grew up to become a general and the Prime Minister of Chu. His descendants adopted Ban (meaning "stripes", an allusion to tiger's stripes) as their surname.