Surname Overview
Pronunciation and Distribution
The surname 淦 is pronounced gàn and is a relatively rare surname found mainly in Jiangxi.
Gan Surname
Population reference (not a current census): 153Gan / Gan
Origins
Imperial Surname Tradition
One tradition states that in 1131, when military governor Jin Binlai came to the emperor's aid, Emperor Gaozong of Song added the three-dot water radical to 金 because the surname could be confused with the Jin state, granting the surname 淦. In this account, the Jin and Gan lines share the same ancestry.
Reference: 淦！原来这是个姓！作为江西的罕见姓氏，知道的人并不多！|赵构|刘彻|永修县|鄱阳_网易订阅
Surname Derived from a River
Another origin account derives the surname from the Gan River. Xingshi Kaolüe states that the Gan clan of Jizhou took its surname from the waterway, while the continued Gan genealogy likewise associates the surname with settlement beside the Gan River.
Historical Records
Record in Chibei Outan
Wang Shizhen's early-Qing Chibei Outan records that many people in Jiangxi bore the surname Gan and preserves a tradition that they descended from Jin Midi and that Emperor Gaozong of Song added the water radical to Jin Fu's surname.
Migration and Distribution
Migration from Poyang to Yongxiu
After reverting to Jin, Jin Binlai lived in seclusion in Poyang. In the twenty-sixth year of Shaoxing, Gan Chengnan and his cousin Shaonan traveled to Jianchang's Yongfeng Township as officials; their grandson Guoying later moved there, restored the surname Gan, and the line continued locally for more than eight centuries.
Reference: 淦！原来这是个姓！作为江西的罕见姓氏，知道的人并不多！|赵构|刘彻|永修县|鄱阳_网易订阅
Settlements in Yongxiu
The Yilin Gan clan is distributed across more than thirty natural villages in Jiuhé, Makou, Sanjiao, Lixin, and other townships of Yongxiu County. Caoluping is regarded as the place from which the local Gan clan grew and flourished.
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