Origins and statistics

As a surname, Chien is the Wade–Giles romanisation of a number of surnames spelled Jian in Hanyu Pinyin, as well as a variant spelling of surnames spelled Qian in Pinyin (Ch'ien in Wade Giles):^[1][2]

• Jiǎn (簡; 简), adopted as a surname by some descendants of Xu Juju, who was later named Xu Jianpo (續簡伯).
• Jiǎn (檢; 检), which originated as an occupational surname from jiǎnchá guān (檢察官), a Han dynasty post which could be translated as "Inspector General". Additionally some bearers of this surname changed their surname to the Jiǎn described above, which is homophonous in Mandarin Chinese, though not in other varieties of Chinese.
• Qián (錢; 钱), literally meaning "money", also originated as an occupational surname, said to have been adopted by a holder of the post of treasurer (錢府上士; qiánfǔ shàngshì) during the Zhou Dynasty.
• Qiān (千)

Data compiled by Patrick Hanks on the basis of the 2011 United Kingdom census and the Census of Ireland 2011 found 49 people with the surname Chien on the island of Great Britain and none on the island of Ireland. The 1881 United Kingdom census found one person with the surname Chien.^[1] The 2010 United States Census found 3,756 people with the surname Chien, making it the 8,732nd-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase from 3,239 (9,257th-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, more than nine-tenths of the bearers of the surname identified as Asian, and roughly three per cent as non-Hispanic white.^[3]

People