Yuan An died in 92 and a few months later the Dou clan fell in coup d'état staged by Emperor He. Yuan was posthumously honoured by the Emperor and his eldest son Yuan Shang () was given a post at the capital. Yuan An's two younger sons, Yuan Jing () and Yuan Chang (袁敞), reached the positions of Grand Administrator and Minister of Works respectively. For three generations after this, Yuan An's descendants became the leaders of the powerful Yuan clan of Ru'nan, holding the highest positions in the Han bureaucracy and holding enormous influence among the gentry. During the collapse of the Han empire after 189, his great-great-grandsons Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu formed their own warlord fiefdoms in north China.