phan

Phan is a Vietnamese surname and, less commonly, a given name. It is widely used in Vietnam and among overseas Vietnamese communities. In Vietnam, it ranks among the more common surnames.

The name is encountered in a number of place names, most notably Phan Thiết (city in Bình Thuận Province) and Phan Rang–Tháp Chàm (city in Ninh Thuận Province).

Notable people with the surname Phan include Phan Bội Châu (1867–1940), a leading Vietnamese nationalist and independence movement figure; Phan Châu Trinh (1872–1926), reformist; Phan Thanh Giản (c. 1795–1867), mandarin and diplomat; Phan Đình Phùng (1847–1896), Confucian scholar and official; and Phan Văn Khải (1934–2018), former prime minister of Vietnam.

In modern usage, Phan is a common surname in the Vietnamese diaspora, appearing in communities in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe.

As a given name, Phan is far less common but can appear in some full names where Phan functions as a family name in Western naming orders. In Vietnamese contexts, Phan is predominantly a surname rather than a given name.