# Jin (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/jin/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A Chinese surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 10,432 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,421 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 29,596 people |
| Change since 2000 | +101% (5,186 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /d͡ʒɪn/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Chin, Kin |

## Etymology

The atonal Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 晉 /晋 (Jìn), adopted as the name of a river in Shanxi in antiquity. As a Zhou state, from the renaming of the marchland Tang (唐) by its second marquis Ji Xie when he relocated to the Jin River c. 1000 BC. As a surname, principally from the Zhou state and its region in China. As an empire and dynastic name, from Sima Yan's status as prince of Jin under the preceding Wei Empire. As a river in Fujian, named for the empire, which settled its banks with colonizers from China's Central Plains. As a dialect, from 晉語／晋语 (Jìnyǔ), from the region of the former Zhou state.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Jin in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 1.8% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 0.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 96% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.2% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Jin in Xia dynasty, the People's Republic of China, the United States and Taiwan.

## People named Jin

- Jin of Xia, 13th Chinese king of Xia Dynasty
- Ha Jin, author and poet
- Deborah S. Jin, American physicist (1968–2016)
- Jin Chao-chun, actor

## Similar surnames

Jain, Jim, John, Jean, Jaime, Juan, Jahn, Jeon, June, Jun, Jayne, Juneau.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.