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Updated January 23, 2020

Family name origins & meanings

  • Irish and Scottish : variant of Ruane.
  • Spanish (Ruán) : possibly from ruán ‘roan’ (a color of horses), a variant of Ruano 2.
  • Chinese : from the name of the state of Ruan, which existed during the later Shang dynasty (sometimes called the Yin dynasty, 1401–1122 bc). After this state was conquered by Wen Wang shortly before the Zhou dynasty displaced the Shang dynasty, the Ruan ruling class adopted the place name as their surname.

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