Tan's surname ranks sixty-five in China today. During the Zhou Dynasty, there was Tan Guo (now west of Zhangqiu County, Shandong Province), which was said to be the fief of the descendants of Boyi (Boyi was the ancestor of yuanshi county). Later, this place was the land of Qi, but the descendants of Tan residents or nobles took the country name as their surname, which was called Tan's. Zhuan Xu, a descendant of the Yellow Emperor, won the surname, so Tan's ancestors can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor.

1. The population of Tan, a contemporary Han nationality, has reached 3.7 million, making it the 65th most popular surname in China, accounting for about 0.3% of the national population. In the 600 years since the Ming Dynasty, the population of Tan has increased from 260,000 to nearly 3.7 million, an increase of more than 14, and the population growth rate of Tan is higher than that of the whole country. During the period of 1000 since the Song Dynasty, the population growth rate of Tan showed an upward trend.

2. The distribution of Tan surname in China is mainly concentrated in Hunan, Guangdong and Sichuan provinces, accounting for 49% of the total population of Tan surname in China, followed by Chongqing, Guangxi, Hubei, Shandong, Liaoning and Anhui, and Tan surname is concentrated in six provinces and cities with 29%. Hunan is the largest province with Tan surname, accounting for about 22% of the total population of Tan surname in China.

3. Historical immigrants

During the pre-Qin period, Tan lived in Shandong and Henan. After Qin, Han, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Tan's surname has spread to various places. In the Tang Dynasty, Tan was a famous surname in Hunan, whose subject moved from north to south. During the Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, after several major migrations and ethnic integration, the southern Tan surname was constantly enriched and developed, forming a typical southern surname. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the migration from Shandong to the northeast and the acceleration of the sinicization of Manchu Eight Banners in the Qing Dynasty formed the Tan surname group in Jiaodong and Liaodong Peninsula. Finally, it created the situation of Tan surname distribution in contemporary China.