It is romanised as Jen in Wade–Giles, and Yam or Yum in Cantonese.

It is listed 58th in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames.

[1] As of 2008, it is the 59th most common surname in China, shared by 4.2 million people.

[2] In 2019 it was the 49th most common surname in Mainland China.

[3] The character 任 is typically pronounced (pinyin: rèn; Jyutping: jam6), but as a surname is pronounced "rén," as well as in Ren County in Hebei.