The Origin, Migration and Present Distribution of Surnames

The word surname in Chinese is not the same as surname. Last name comes first and last name comes last. The original meaning of "surname" is a child born to a woman. In ancient times, human beings were still in matriarchal society, and only Anemarrhena asphodeloides did not know his father. Children's surnames change with their mother's surnames, and we can also see the surnames of Ji, Yi, Jiang and Ying at that time. As the descendants of the same ancestor multiply, the family tends to be divided into several scattered branches. In addition to keeping their surnames, the descendants of each branch also gave themselves a title as a symbol, that is, "teacher". In other words, surname is the same title for all descendants of a family, while surname is a branch derived from surname.

Surnames are passed down from generation to generation, which is generally stable, while surnames change with the changes of feudal cities and official positions, so there will be several surnames in one's descendants or different surnames between father and son. In addition, different surnames may be named in the same way, so different surnames will be the same.

Before the Zhou Dynasty, in addition to surnames, nobles often took the country and official position as surnames. And most people don't have a last name. At that time, only the monarch of the vassal state and his family had surnames, and surnames did not exist before the fief.

Nobles get their surnames in the following ways:

Take the country name as the surname.

Take a city as its surname.

Take the official name as the surname

Take the professional name as the surname.

Take the name of the place of residence as the surname.

Take the blood relationship with Zhou Wang or Hou Zhijun as the surname.

Take your word as your surname.

Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, men follow their surnames, and women follow their surnames. Surnames are used to distinguish between high and low. Noble people have surnames, while poor people have no surnames. Surnames are used to distinguish marriage. Can't have the same surname, can't have a different surname, can have a different surname. Later, China kept this tradition, and marriage between people with the same surname was considered taboo. It was not until modern times that this tradition was gradually broken, but many locals still disapproved of intermarriage with the same surname.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the surname system also underwent fundamental changes. At this time, the surname began to change. After the Warring States period, civilians also had surnames, and the people became the general name of the people. This reflects the decline of aristocratic status and the rise of civilian status.

After Qin and Han Dynasties, surnames and surnames became one, so they were called "surnames".

The origin of surnames

Surnames originate from the names of tribes or tribal leaders. Its main function is to distinguish the descendants of different clans in the tribe and facilitate intermarriage between different clans. Therefore, the appearance of surnames marks the change from group marriage system to consanguineous marriage system, which is an important milestone in the progress of human civilization.