Where do China people's surnames come from?

China people had surnames before the Three Emperors and Five Emperors (about 5,000 years ago). According to legend, the earliest origin of surnames is related to the totem worship of primitive people. Clan tribes not only worship totem as a god, but also regard it as the unified clan name. In primitive tribes, totem, clan name and ancestor name are often the same. Over time, the name of totem has evolved into the symbol of all members of the same clan-surname. There are many legends about the evolution of totem into surname. According to textual research, the monarch of Yelang Kingdom is the king of bamboo, and the subjects take bamboo as their totem, and their surname is bamboo. According to historical records, there were foxes and snakes in Jin, dogs in Han, wolves and deer flags in Three Kingdoms and leopards in Three Kingdoms. Through these strange names and surnames with the same names as animals and plants, such as Luo, tiger, ant, cow, sheep, bird, dragon, bamboo, dragon, tea and chrysanthemum, we can vaguely see the indelible historical imprint of totem worship on the origin of surnames.

The formation of surnames is not only closely related to totems, but also closely related to women. At that time, it was a matriarchal society, only knowing that there was a mother and no father. Therefore, "surname" is composed of "female" and "born", which means that the earliest surname is the mother's surname. Archaeological data show that there are less than 30 surnames in the bronze inscriptions of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but most of them come from women, such as Jiang, Yao, Si, Ji, Wa, maid, pregnant, concubine, kindness and win. Not only ancient surnames are related to the word "female", but even the word "surname" itself comes from the female side, which is probably the characteristic product of matriarchal clan system. Women are in a dominant position in production and life, and group marriage is practiced. Brothers and sisters can marry. Under this system, children only know their mothers, not their fathers. Therefore, there are many stories circulating in the myth that "a saint without a father was born in heaven". Many ancient surnames came from the female side, which shows that our ancestors experienced the traces of matriarchal clan commune.

In Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, people had surnames and surnames. In the development of ancient clans, the title of "teacher" was derived. Legend has it that when the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, there was already a "famous soil". The generation of surnames was the largest and most frequent in the Zhou Dynasty. In the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, in order to control the conquered vast areas, the vassals were enfeoffed on a large scale. And the descendants of these vassal States all take the country name as their surname. In addition, similarly, the vassal states enfeoffed the domestic doctors of Qing Dynasty, and the descendants of the doctors took the enfeoffed country as their surname. Since then, various forms of surnames have emerged, and the number of surnames far exceeds the number of surnames. However, only aristocrats have surnames, while the poor have no surnames, and surnames have become a unique symbol of aristocrats. As for aristocratic women, no matter how they are called, they should follow their surnames, which reflects the authority and rigor of the ancient feudal patriarchal clan system in China. By the Warring States period, earth-shaking changes had taken place in society, and the old aristocrats declined and some of them became slaves. This shows that there is no need for aristocratic families to exist.

The surname comes from the name of the village where you live or the tribe to which you belong. "Shi" comes from the monarch's fief, knighthood, official position, or the title added according to merit after death. So nobles have surnames, and famous people have surnames; Civilians have surnames, and famous people have no surnames. Men and women with the same surname can get married, but men and women with the same surname cannot get married. Because China people have long discovered this genetic law: consanguineous marriage is bad for future generations. The origin of surnames, according to historical records, is recorded in Guoyu in the pre-Qin period that "the Yellow Emperor became Ji Shui and Yan Di Cheng, so the Yellow Emperor became Ji and Jiang". Zhou Yu recorded that "I, Ji Min, fell from the sky". This shows that surnames are appellations that represent races with the same blood. One of the provisions of the marriage system in the Zhou Dynasty was that people with the same surname were not allowed to marry. "Men and women have the same surname, but they are born the same" (Zuo Zhuan was published for twenty-two years), and "The same surname is not married, and evil is not born" (Jin Opera in Mandarin). The ancients knew for a long time that marriage between close relatives would produce bad offspring. In order to distinguish the similarities and differences between male and female surnames and decide whether to get married, it is very necessary to indicate surnames in female appellations. It can be seen that the role of surnames in ancient times is mainly "heterogeneous" and "heterogeneous marriage".

The system of different surnames was used until the end of the Warring States Period. By the Qin Dynasty, the old aristocracy collapsed, the feudal patriarchal clan system in the Western Zhou Dynasty basically ended, and the old clan and surname system was also eliminated. In the Western Han Dynasty, there was little difference between surnames. When Sima Qian wrote Historical Records, he simply confused surnames. "Since Taishigong, surnames have been mixed. This record was called' Zhao' in Qin Shihuang and' Liu' in Emperor Gaozu, and the same is true." (Gu Lu) Since then, China's surname has been combined with his surname, either his surname or his surname is his surname. People use their surnames, which is simple and convenient, and there is no distinction between high and low. So civilians also have surnames from no surnames to surnames.

In the first year of Emperor Taizong (627), Gao Shilian, a senior official of the official department, recorded the folk "surnames" and wrote a book "Genealogy", which was promulgated in various places as the basis for recommending talents to serve as officials or engage in marriage at that time. Hundreds of Surnames, which was popular in the old society of China, was written in the Northern Song Dynasty (960), including 408 single surnames, 30 compound surnames and 438 single surnames. Later, it was said that there were 4,000 to 6,000, but only about 1000 was actually used.