How do people get their surnames?

The original source of the ancient Chinese family name is the primitive religious worship, totem worship and ancestor worship based on the "Way of Heaven". Primitive totem worship is the root of the ancient Chinese family name. A large number of ancient documents and the totem beliefs that have survived in the modern ethnic minorities support this view.

The descendants of the same ancestor are called clans. The surname first originated as the name of a tribe or the name of a tribal leader. It served mainly to facilitate the identification of the descendants of different clans in the tribe and to facilitate intermarriage between different clans. Therefore, the creation of the family name marks the transition from the group marriage system to the marriage system based on blood relationship, and is an important milestone in the progress of human civilization.

After the creation of the family name, it was passed down from generation to generation, and generally did not change, and was relatively stable, while the clan changed with the change of fiefs and official positions, so there will be a person's descendants have several clans or father and son of two generations of different clans. Surname and personal name together constitute a person's name. "The family name is to unify the origin of one's ancestors; the clan is to distinguish the origin of one's descendants." Surname is a racial code, and clan is a branch of surname. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, surnames have been merged into one.

Expanded information:

Naming:

1. Surname as clan

Matrilineal clan society to the mother as the last name, so then many of the last name is a female character side. For example, Ji, Jiang, Si, Yao, etc.?

2, the name of the country as a family name

such as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period of the vassal states: Qi, Lu, Jin, Song, Zheng, Wu, Yue, Qin, Chu, Wei, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Chen, Cai, Cao, Hu, Xu and so on, have become a common surname.

3, the name of the clan

Eup, that is, cognate, is the emperor and the vassal state ruler assigned to the same surname or different surnames of the Qing dafu fiefdom. Some of their descendants or people living in these cognates will follow them as their family name. For example, in the Spring and Autumn period, Xunshou of the State of Jin adopted an armory in Zhi (present-day Yongji City, Shanxi Province), which became the Zhi Clan. According to the statistics, there are nearly 200 surnames with the name of Eup as their family name. Such as Yin, Wei, Han, etc.?

4 to the township pavilion of the name of the clan

This kind of situation is not much, today's common surnames are Pei, Lu, Yan, Hao, Ouyang, etc.?

5. Surname by place of residence

Legend has it that Yu Shun was born in Yao Market in the ancient times, so he took Yao as his surname. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the officials of Qi lived in Dongguo, Nanguo, Xiguo and Beiguo, so they took Dongguo and Nanguo as their surnames. When the great officials of the state of Zheng lived in Ximen, they took Ximen as their surname. Duke Sui of Luzhuang lived at the east gate of Lu and was called Dongmen Sui. In this kind of family name, there are more compound surnames, usually with the words Qiu, Men, Xiang, Lv, Li, Ye, Guan, etc., indicating different environments of the place of residence.

6, to the ancestors of the word for the clan

From this article there are many surnames, according to statistics, there are five or six hundred, of which nearly 200 compound surnames. For example, King Ping of Zhou's concubine son of the word Lin Kai, his descendants to the Lin surname. Song Dai Gong's son, Gongzi Charging stone, the word Huangfu, his grandson to the grandfather's word for the clan, the Han Dynasty changed Huangfu for Huangfu. Others are Gao, Diao, Gong and Shi.

7, the brotherhood of the family

A family, according to the order of the brotherhood of the surname, such as the oldest said that Bur or Meng, the oldest two said that the second, the oldest three said that the uncle, the oldest four said that the quarter and so on. Subsequent generations along for the clan, said in the order of the clan. But there are exceptions. Lu Zhuang Duke's brother Zhuang father, ranked second, this is the Zhong's, Zhongsun's, because he has the crime of regicide, the descendants will be changed to Meng, or surname Meng Sun.

8, the official position for the clan

Anciently, there are five officials, namely: Stuart, Sima, Sikong, Si Shi, Sikou, their descendants are these official positions for the surname. Nobles and their descendants were surnamed after their official names. Jin's Lin father for the infantry organization of three lines in the line of the military commander, called in the line of Huanzi, his son Xun Yan called in the line of Yan, to the line of the clan;

Song's ruling secretary Le Xi (Zihan) called Sicheng Zihan, his grandson Le Qi (Zi Liang) called Sicheng, is to Sicheng for the family name. Some surnames with official positions can also be distinguished by the meaning of the word alone, such as Ji, Jian, Ku, Cang, Jun, Kitchen, etc.?

9. Surnames based on occupation

For example, witch, divination, pottery, smith, butcher, etc.

10, the Sinicization of minorities

Ancient minorities and the great integration of the Han, borrowed the Chinese character monogram for the clan. Such as Tuoba changed to yuan, scold Lu changed to Zhu, Guaner Jia changed to Guan and so on. Some surnames are translations of national languages. For example, many of the descendants of the Xiongnu leader Shan Yu have the surname Shan Yu.

11, to the posthumous name for the family

such as Hu, Dai, Zao and so on.

12, change the surname

such as the Tang Dynasty to give the ministers who have made great achievements to the Li surname, the Ming Dynasty to the Zhu surname. Han Emperor Liu Heng, where Heng's surname was changed to Chang's to avoid taboo; Han Emperor Mingdi taboo "Zhuang" word, where Zhuang's surname are changed to Yan.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Surnames