Shěn


Shěn is the Mandarin Hanyu pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname.
Shen is the 14th surname in the Song-era Hundred Family Surnames also colloquially known as the "common Chinese person" in text & sentences. Ranking 沈 as 14th during the Song dynasty was given by prominence of the family and not the numerical count of members of the family at that time.

Romanisation

沈 is romanised as Sum, Sem, Sam, Sham, or Shum in Cantonese; Sim in Hokkien & Teochew; Shim in Hakka and in Korean; and Thẩm/'Trầm' in Vietnamese. The family name can also be written as "Shin" or "Sin" as well.
Less commonly, the same character can also be pronounced Zhen, which indicates a different origin from Shen.

Distribution

Shen was the 52nd-most-common surname in the People's Republic of China (China) in 2020 according to the Ministry of Public Security and ranked 40th in the 100 most common surnames in the Republic of China (Taiwan) in 2018 by the Ministry of the Interior. In the Republic of Korea 沈/심 ranked 32nd amongst the top 100 South Korean surnames in 2015. According to China's 2013 Fuxi Cultural Research, there are approximately 5.5 million 沈's accounting for 0.41% of the Han Chinese population and placed 49th out of the 400 Chinese surnames in mainland China. The highest concentration of 沈 is in the Eastern Chinese coastal provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang which represents about 36% of all 沈's in China. A remaining 37% of all 沈's in China inhabit these 7 neighbouring provinces & cities of Shanghai, Anhui, Henan, Guangdong, Hubei, Guizhou and Shandong. As of the top 30 cities in China, top ranking last names rank 沈 as 6th most common in Hangzhou during 2011 and 8th most common in Shanghai during 2018.
In 2015, South Korea’s population of 沈 is less than 1% of the country’s population or 272,049 people. In 2009, Singapore’s population of 沈 accounted for 0.9% of the city’s population or 23,800 people. In 2006, Hangzhou's population of 沈 was 3.09% of the city's population or 202,358 people.
Although Chinese make up the largest part of America's Asian and Pacific Islander population, none of the romanizations of "沈" appeared among the 1000 most common surnames during the AD 2000 US census although "shen" ranked #3690, "shum" ranked #13,730, "shim" ranked #7576, "tham" ranked #21,829. In the 1990 US census however, "shen" ranked #10,565, "shum" ranked #22,632, "shim" ranked #9771, "tham" ranked #28,237.

Family Clans

There are a multitude choronym of 沈 family clans throughout East Asia such as the Cheongsong 沈/심 Korean clan and the Danzhutou 沈 Hakka clan in the Southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. Usually a Genealogy book consists of a Generation name and a generation number that coincides with that particular generation name. Altogether, a generation poem of up to 40 generation names could exist.
The generation poem for Danzhutou as depicted below.
The generation poem for Cheongsong as depicted below.
Ancestor veneration in China is very common amongst family clans to maintain Chinese kin. Most often a Ancestral shrine represents the Progenitor of the family clan where many Overseas Chinese return to their Ancestral home (Chinese). Additional ancestors are placed in a Spirit tablet alongside the Progenitor which is common practice in Confucianism.

Origins

As is common with Chinese surnames, the modern Shen family arose from various unrelated sources.
One origin traces it to the Shen kingdom in Runan County, Henan. These people were descended from Shao Hao, whose grandson was Zhuanxu's teacher and fathered Yun Ge and Tai Dai. Tai Dai was granted Shanxi for his achievements in controlling the flooding of the Yellow River and his descendants divided into four "kingdoms": the Shen, the Yi, the Ru, and the Huang. Electing not to participate in the northern kingdoms' campaign against Chu in 506 BC, Shen was invaded and destroyed by Cai. The rulers and vassals of the former state then bore the clan name Shen to distinguish themselves.
Another group descended from the rulers and vassals of the revived state of Shen after King Cheng granted it to the Zhou prince Ran Ji for suppressing the rebellion following the death of his brother King Wu.
A third group derived from the Mi family of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period. Chu had conquered the area of Shen and, in 506 BC, its governor was Shenyin Shua Chu field marshal from a cadet branch of the royal house. He was killed in the Battle of Boju that year, opposing a Wu invasion led by Wu Zixu and Sun Tzu. In his memory, some of his descendants and vassals adopted the clan name Shen for his fief, while others became the Ye after the fief granted to Shenyin Shu's son Shen Zhuliang, better known as the Duke of Ye.

Branches

The You clan is said to be a branch of the Shen clan, having simply removed the side-water radical 氵 from their surname sometime in the 10th century due to conflict with a different Shen ruling family in Fujian Province. Owing to this, the You and Shen continued to be unable to intermarry, just as if they were still a single clan.
The side-water radical plus results in the Chinese character surname.

Historical figures

Modern people with the surname

China

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia & Singapore