Chinese surname

嚴严

The Chinese surname 嚴 (Mandarin yán, Cantonese jim4) is spelled Yan, Ngiam in Malaysia, depending on the dialect romanization.

Mandarin (pinyin)	yán
Cantonese (Jyutping)	jim4
Simplified	严
Definition (Unihan)	strict, rigorous, rigid; stern

Spelling tree of 嚴

嚴 is spelled 2 ways in our records. Each label is the romanization a spelling follows, not the bearer’s dialect.

Spelling	Romanization
Yan	Mandarin
Ngiam	Hakka · Teochew

All surname characters and spellings

Spellings of 嚴 in Malaysia

YanSpelling common in Mandarin (pinyin), Cantonese romanizationAlso stands for 顏, 甄
NgiamSpelling common in Teochew, Hakka romanizationAlso stands for 閻

Character readings and definition: Unicode Unihan Database (Unicode License). A spelling describes how the name is written, not anyone’s dialect or background.