Wen (surname 文) explained

Wen (文)
Pronunciation:	Wén/Wēn/Wèn (Pinyin), Man^6 (Jyutping)
Language:	Chinese
Language origin:	Chinese
Meaning:	"scholarship”, “culture”
Variant:	Wen (Mandarin) Man, Mann (Cantonese) Boon (Hokkien) Vun (Hakka) Mun (Gan) Moon (Korean) Văn (Vietnamese) Bun (Japanese) Boenardi, Oenardi, Woen (Indonesian)

Wen is the pinyin romanisation of the Chinese surname 文 (Wén).

文 (Wén), meaning "literary" or "culture", is usually romanised as Man in Cantonese (most widely used by those from Hong Kong), and sometimes as Mann. In Min (including the Hokkien, Teochew, and Taiwanese dialects), the name is pronounced Boon. In the Hakka, the name can be romanized as Vun or Voon. The Gan dialect transcription for the name is Mun. Other romanizations include Văn in Vietnamese, Moon or Mun (Hangul: 문) in Korean and Bun (Hiragana: ぶん) in Japanese.

Origins

• from Wen (文), the posthumous title of King Wen of Zhou, father of King Wu of Zhou who established the Western Zhou dynasty^[1]
• adopted in place of another surname, Jing (敬) due to a naming taboo, as the latter was part of the name of two royal personages, Jin Gao Zu (called Shi Jingtang, 石敬瑭) and Song Yi Zu (called Zhao Jing, 趙敬). The latter was the grandfather of Zhao Kuangying (known as Emperor Taizu of Song), who established the Song dynasty.
• from Wen (文), the given name of Tian Wen, also called Lord Mengchang, a prince of Qi, known as one of ‘the four princes’ during the Warring States period
• from the personal name Wen Zi (文子), a general who lived in Wei during the Spring and Autumn period.
• from the personal name Wen Shu (文叔), the founder of the Xu (许) located in present-day Henan province) during the Western Zhou dynasty.

Notable people named Wen

Historical figures

• Wen Zhong (fl. c. 496 BC), advisor in the state of Yue
• Wen Ping, military general of the Cao Wei state in the Three Kingdoms period
• Wen Chou (died 200), military general under Han dynasty warlord Yuan Shao
• Wen Qin (died 257), military general of the Cao Wei state in the Three Kingdoms period
• Wen Zhenheng (1585–1645 AD), Ming dynasty painter, scholar
• Wen Yanbo (Song dynasty) (1006–1097), politician and calligraphist of Northern Song dynasty
• Wen Tianxiang (1236–1283), chancellor of the Southern Song dynasty
• Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), Ming dynasty calligrapher
• Wen Yang (disambiguation), several people

Other people

• Boon Hui Lu, Singaporean singer-songwriter and actress
• Wen Junhui (stage name: Jun), Chinese member of the South Korean boyband Seventeen
• Jennifer Wen, 21st-century professor of engineering and fire research

Fiction

• Wen Zhong (Shang dynasty), fiction character from the ancient novel Fengshen Yanyi

See also

• Five Great Clans of the New Territories

Notes and References

1. The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland