As a surname 单 is read with falling tone, distinct from the common-noun dān. Native speakers will sometimes ask "Shàn or Dān?" when they hear it as a family name. A famous bearer is the Tang general 单雄信, a sworn brother of 秦琼 in the Sui-Tang legend cycle.
Components
ideograph
单Shàn
Chinese surname Shan
Same glyph as the everyday 单 — only the reading shifts for surname use, a common pattern in Chinese family names (compare 解 for the surname vs. jiě "to untie", or 区 for the surname vs. qū "area"). The visible silhouette is the same cursive contraction of traditional 單 described under the dān entry.
Filed under radical 八 (bā) by convention. 八 is not a separate component in 单, so no strokes are highlighted.
