 During the Qin and Han Dynasty, the most common origin of the surname An was as a contraction of Anxi, meaning "Arsacid", and was thus given to people of Arsacid-territory origin, such as An Shigao, a nobleman from the Arsacid Empire.An Xuan, another Parthian, followed An Shigao to Luoyang and assisted in his translations of Buddhist texts.During the 3rd Century, An Faqin (安法欽), a Parthian Buddhist from the Parthian Empire, came to Xijin (西晉).