It also serves as an abbreviation of Ānxī (安息), meaning "Arsacid" in Chinese and can be romanized as On.

An Xuan, another Parthian, followed An Shigao to Luoyang and assisted in his translations of Buddhist texts.

In the Tang dynasty period 9th century, An was also sometimes used as the name for the region of Sogdia; previously, Sogdians had exclusively used the surname of Kang (康).

During the Tang dynasty in the 8th century, the An (安) family name was used among the Xueyantuo (薛延陀) people.

[citation needed] During the Qing dynasty, Ardan (阿爾丹) the Daur people (達斡爾族) were given the surname An (安) with the Ar dialect.