For origin of the Pan surname, take a look at the following explanation from Chung Yoon-Ngan:
Chinese surname No.43 Pan
Pan means : a Chinese surname.
e.g. Pan is written as 3 dots + Fan (a turn).
Surname Pan is about 3000 years old.
This is the history of surname Pan.
Before you begin to read the history of this surname please take a
glance of the story of the establishment of Zhou Dynasty (1134BC to 250BC).
King Wu3 delegated authority to one of his brother named Ji Gao to
administer a large district called Bi4 (present day Luo4 Yang2 Xian4
in Henan province).
Later Ji Gao had a third son named Ji4 Sun who was a very capable
administrator. However Ji4 Sun discovered that he had no place in his
father's administration as he was the numbered three son. His father had
already proclaimed that the numbered one son would be his successor.
In order to avoid future potential conflict in succession Ji Gao
appointed this third son to be in charge of a city called Pan. So Ji
Sun was known as Lord Pan and his family as Pan Jia (Pan family).
As time passed the descendants of Ji4 Sun multiplied. They set up
families of their own too. It was rather confusing to call all these
families Pan Jia. So they decided to adopt PAN as their surnames and
left off the word Jia (family).
Surname Pan was originated in an area called Ying2 Yang2 Prefecture
during the Han4 Dynasty (206BC to 220AD).
Ying2 means : the name of a place in Henan province.
Yang2 means : the sun; bright; clear; masculine; positive; pertaining
to this world.
The present day location of Ying2 Yang2 Prefecture is in
Ying2 Ze2 Xian4 in Henan province, China.
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan .
chun...@mozart.collective.com.au