An (Chinese name)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Chinese name An. For other uses, see AN.
The surname An (Chinese: 安; pinyin: Ān) originated as an abbreviation of Anxi (Ch:安息), meaning Parthia in ancient Chinese; Anxi is a transcription of "Arsaces", the founder of the Arsacid Dynasty of Iranian Parthia. Most Parthian visitors who took a Chinese name received the An prefix to indicate their origin.
[edit] People with the name An
- An Shih Kao, the first Buddhist missionary to China
- An Hsuan, who followed An Shih Kao to Luoyang several decades later
- An Lushan, a provincial military governor during the Tang dynasty
