I would like to ask: Are there any immigrants who moved to Anhui in the early Ming Dynasty? Is there any relationship between immigration and changing their surnames? For example, has anyone changed t

I would like to ask: Are there any immigrants who moved to Anhui in the early Ming Dynasty? Is there any relationship between immigration and changing their surnames? For example, has anyone changed their surname from Chen to Fu?

Back to the original poster, changing surnames has happened throughout history and is very common.

Generally, there are several circumstances for changing a surname: to avoid disaster; to marry into the family; to give birth to a surname; to Chineseize a foreign race, etc.

As for the Chen family who was persecuted by Zhu Yuanzhang, they must be the descendants of Chen Youliang who was persecuted. Most of Chen Youliang's descendants changed their surnames, such as Liu, Guo, Zhou, etc. But in fact, Chen Youliang was not named Chen either. My surname is Xie, and I am a bride-in-law. Moreover, Chen Youliang's descendants have not heard of anyone changing their surname to Fu. As for other people named Chen who are not related to Chen Youliang, there is no need to change their surnames because of Chen Youliang.

Fengyang Prefecture in Anhui is the hometown of Zhu Yuanzhang. If the Chen surname was persecuted by him and fled away from home, why would he choose Anhui? This is very doubtful.

In addition, historically, much of the history of surnames has not been recorded. For example, people who changed their surnames due to marriage, succession, etc. may only learn about it from their family trees. It can't be found in the official history.

So I think it is best for the poster to check how your family records it. Then we can discuss it again. I prefer to study hundreds of surnames. Welcome to communicate.