Chinn is a surname, originating both in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and among
overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese.
Terminology
() or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
communities.
Origins and statistics
As an English surname, it originated as a nickname for people with prominent
chin
The chin is the forward pointed part of the anterior mandible (List_of_human_anatomical_regions#Regions, mental region) below the lower lip. A fully developed human skull has a chin of between 0.7 cm and 1.1 cm.
Evolution
The presence of a we ...
s, from
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
or . It is also a spelling, based on the pronunciation in some
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
including
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
, of the surname pronounced
Chen in Mandarin. The similarly spelled
surname Chin also shares both of these origins.
According to statistics cited by
Patrick Hanks
Patrick Hanks (born 24 March 1940) is an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He has edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names.
Background
Hanks was educated at Ardingly College, ...
, 1,316 people on the island of
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and four on the island of
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
bore the surname Chinn in 2011. In 1881 there were 1,032 people with the surname in Great Britain, primarily at
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
and
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
.
The
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
found 6,211 people with the surname Chinn, making it the 5,601st-most-common name in the country. This represented an increase in absolute numbers, but a decrease in relative frequency, from 6,146 (5,220th-most-common) in the
2000 Census. In both censuses, about half of the bearers of the surname identified as
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, one-quarter as
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, and one-fifth as
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
.
People
* Adrienne Chinn (1960), Canadian author
*
Alva Chinn (), American model
*
Andrew Chinn
Andrew Chinn (1915–1996) was a Chinese-American artist and art educator, active in the Pacific Northwest from the early 1930s through the 1990s. He is known for his distinctive style of watercolor painting and printmaking, and is associated wi ...
(1915–1996), American artist and art educator of Chinese descent
*
Anthony Chinn
Anthony Chinn (1930 – 22 October 2000) was a Guyanese actor based in England who appeared in over 50 films and television series throughout a career which spanned more than four decades.
Career and death
Chinn was born in Georgetown, Guyana. ...
(1930–2000), Guyanese-born British actor
*
Benjamen Chinn (1921–2009), American photographer
*
Betty Kwan Chinn
Betty Kwan Chinn (關惠群) is a philanthropist who lives in Eureka, California. She has helped the homeless—including the mentally ill, disabled veterans, runaways, and drug abusers—since the 1980s. She won the 2008 Minerva Award. She used ...
(), American philanthropist who works with homeless people
*
Bob Chinn (film director)
Bob Chinn (born May 10, 1943) is a Chinese-American pornographic film director and actor. He is a member the AVN Hall of Fame and the XRCO Hall of Fame
The XRCO Hall of Fame lists well-known adult entertainment works and workers. The list is ma ...
(born 1943), American pornographic film director
*
Bob Chinn (restaurateur) (born 1923), American restaurateur, owner of Bob Chinn's Crab House
*
Bobby Chinn
Robert Chinn is a New Zealand-born American international chef, television presenter, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is a culinary celebrity across Asia and the Middle East, thanks to his role as host of Discovery TLC's ''World Cafe'', ...
(born 1954), New Zealand chef and television presenter
*
Carl Chinn (born 1956), English historian
*
Conor Chinn (born 1987), American soccer forward
*
George M. Chinn (1902–1987), United States Marine Corps colonel and weapons expert
*
Howard A. Chinn
Howard Allen Chinn was an American broadcasting engineer who pioneered techniques of analog audio recording as well as radio and television broadcasting practices. Chinn served as chief audio engineer at Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) beginn ...
(1906–?), American audio engineer
*
Ian Chinn (1917–1956), Australian rules footballer
*
Jeanne Chinn, American actress
*
Jeremy Chinn
Jeremy Chinn (born February 26, 1998) is an American football free safety for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Southern Illinois.
Early years
Chinn attended Fishers High School in Fisher ...
(born 1998), American football player
*
Joseph W. Chinn
Joseph W. Chinn (February 13, 1866 – August 16, 1936) was a Virginia lawyer and judge.
Early and family life
He was born at the Brockenbrough House in Tappahannock, Virginia to Confederate veteran and lawyer Joseph William Chinn and his ...
(1866–1936), American lawyer and judge from Virginia
*
Julia Chinn
*
Kathy L. Chinn (), American politician from Missouri
*
Ken Chinn
Kendall Steven Chinn (October 19, 1962 – July 16, 2020), known under the stage name Mr. Chi Pig, was a Canadian punk rock vocalist and artist born in Edmonton and long residing in Vancouver. He fronted the hardcore punk band SNFU from 1981 unt ...
(1962–2020), Canadian punk rock musician
*
Lori Tan Chinn
Lori Tan Chinn is an American actress and comedian. She was a recurring character in the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'' and currently stars as Awkwafina, Awkwafina's Grandma on Comedy Central's ''Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens'' (2020 ...
(), American actress
*
Marlin Chinn
Marlin E. Chinn (born April 16, 1970) is an American college basketball coach.
Early life and education
Born in Washington, D.C., Chinn graduated from Hampton University with a degree in accounting in 1992.
Coaching career
Chinn began his coachi ...
(born 1970), American basketball coach
*
Menzie Chinn (born 1961), American economist
*
May Edward Chinn (1896–1980), African-American woman physician
*
Mike Chinn
Mike Chinn is a horror, fantasy, science fiction and comics writer from Birmingham, England.
Chinn has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story.
He created the Anglerre fantasy series and Robot Kid ...
(born 1954), English horror, fantasy, and comics writer
*
Nicky Chinn (born 1945), English songwriter and record producer
* Oscar Chinn (), British transport company operator in Congo, involved in the Permanent Court of International Justice's
Oscar Chinn Case The Oscar Chinn Case (Britain v. Belgium). 934 P.C.I.J. (Ser. A/B) No. 63
was a case of the Permanent Court of International Justice.
The Belgian government granted significant subsidies to a Belgian company, UNATRA, that offered transportation ser ...
*
Phyllis Chinn (born 1941), American mathematician
*
Simon Chinn
Simon Chinn is a British film producer, founder of Red Box Films and co-founder of Lightbox. He produced a number of feature documentaries, including ''Man on Wire'' and ''Searching for Sugar Man'', both winners of the Academy Award for Best Docu ...
(), British film producer
*
Thomas Withers Chinn (1791–1852), American politician from Louisiana
* Sir
Trevor Chinn
Sir Trevor Edwin Chinn (born 24 July 1935) is a British businessman, philanthropist, and political activist.
Business career
Chinn was educated at Clifton College and King's College, Cambridge and started his career at Lex Garages (later Lex ...
(born 1935), British businessman and philanthropist
*
Trevor Chinn (glaciologist)
Trevor James Hill Chinn (9 August 1937 – 20 December 2018) was a New Zealand glaciologist, who conducted extensive surveys of the glaciers of New Zealand's Southern Alps.
Early life
Growing up near the town of Te Taho (about eight kilometers ...
(–2018), New Zealand scientist
Fictional characters
*
Maya Chinn
The following are minor fictional characters on the NBC/DirecTV soap opera ''Passions'' whose connections to the four major families are either weak or non-existent.
Norma Bates
''For the character from the Psycho franchise, see Norma Bates (Psyc ...
, minor character in the American soap opera ''Passions''
See also
*
Chin (surname)
References
{{surname
English-language surnames