Chinese Inquiry Learning —— The Origin of Surnames

Surname, as a continuation of blood, first appeared in China. Since the first surname, Feng, appeared in China in 3000 BC, the surnames of China people have been changing with the development of society. According to the latest research statistics of experts, China people use as many as 22,000 surnames, many of which have a history of thousands of years. The unity and continuity of China culture can be reflected in the inheritance of surnames.

According to research, China people had surnames five thousand years ago. At that time, it was a matriarchal society, and people only knew there was a mother, but they didn't know there was a father. Therefore, the word "surname" is composed of "female" and "life", and the surname in the earliest image description is related to the mother.

In Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, people had surnames and surnames. 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 difference between surnames: In the pre-Qin period, surnames and surnames had different meanings. The surname represents blood, and the same surname cannot be married. Surname is a branch of surname, which is a symbol of privilege and status. It is used to distinguish between noble and low, and those with surnames are the most expensive. Therefore, in the pre-Qin period, men used their surnames, not surnames.

The integration of surnames: Qin dynasty abolished the original patriarchal system of enfeoffment and implemented the county system. Surnames have lost the meaning of representing nobility and inferiority, and gradually become a symbol of patrilineal blood inheritance. Most of China's surnames were inherited from the Zhou Dynasty.

Hundreds of Surnames was written in the Northern Song Dynasty in 960 AD, including 408 single surnames, 30 compound surnames and 438 single surnames. Later, it was said that the total number of people reached 5000, but only about 1000 people were actually used.

All countries in the world have the saying of "three surnames", and Britain is: Smythe, Jones and Williams; The United States is: Smith, Johnson, Carson; France is: Martin, Bernard, DuPont; Germany is: Schultz, Muller, Schmidt; Russia is: Ivanov, Vasiliev, Detnov; China has four most popular surnames, Zhang, Wang, Li and Zhao. They have a long history and are widely distributed, and they are all given by the emperor.

According to the latest statistics, there are 100 million people surnamed Zhang alone, which is probably the largest surname in the world. 65438-0977 Historians published a paper on surnames in Oriental Magazine, pointing out that the top ten surnames of China people are: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu, Liu, Huang and Zhou. These ten surnames account for 40% of China's population, about 400 million people. The next ten surnames are: Xu, Zhu, Lin, Sun, Ma, Gao, Hu, Zheng, Guo and Xiao. It accounts for more than 10% of the population of China. The top ten surnames are Xie, He, Xu, Song, Shen, Luo, Han, Deng, Liang and Ye. It accounts for 10% of the population of China. The next 15 surnames are: Fang, Cui, Cheng, Pan, Cao, Feng, Wang, Cai, Yuan, Lu, Tang, Qian, Du, Peng and Lu. Add up to 10% of the total population. In other words, among China's one billion people, 700 million people have these 45 surnames. The surnames of more than 300 million people are relatively rare, such as Mao, Jiang, Bai, Wen, Guan, Liao, Miao and Chi.

The surname sources of later generations are as follows:

1, with last name as last name. From the late clan society to the Xia and Shang dynasties, the labels of some branch clans also became the surnames of later generations, such as Ji, Jiang, Yi, Feng, Ji, Zi, Ren, Yi, Yuan and Yao.

2. Take the country name as the surname. Both Xia and Shang Dynasties once sealed the land, and in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty it was even more sealed. Vassal states, large and small, are all over Kyushu, and these names have become the descendants of their country. Such as Cheng, Fang, Du, Ge, Lei, Song, Zheng, Wu and Qin. Zhou Wenwang gave his youngest son to De, and his descendants were named De. A branch of Bai Di established a drum kingdom in Wuji County, Hebei Province, and its descendants took drum as their surname. Some surnames were brought by foreigners after Qin and Han Dynasties. For example, the secret surname comes from the western regions, and An surname comes from rest.

3. Take the city name as the surname. For example, when he was in office, Scott got angry and bought a fief in Su Sheng, so his descendants were surnamed Su.

4. Take township and pavilion as surnames. For example, the grandson of Fei Zi, the ancestor of Qin State who won the surname, was sealed in a foreign country and obtained the surname of Yi; In the sixth generation, the grandson was named the Emperor Hou of Zhou Xi, who knew about the state.

5. Take the place of residence as the surname. For example, doctors in Qi Huangong live in East China, South China, West China and North China respectively, and these four countries become surnames.

6. Take the words or names of ancestors as surnames. For example, the illegitimate child, his descendants are surnamed Lin. Another example is the grandson of Dr. Tong Diao of the State of Qi, who was handed down by Diao.

7. Take ranking as the surname. For example, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there were teachers and uncles.

8. Take the official position as the surname. For example, in the official lawsuit of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Sima and Sikong later became surnames. For another example, there was a surname Su in the Han Dynasty, and all descendants were surnamed Su.

9. Take technology as the surname. There was a Wu family in Shang Dynasty, who was the founder of divination, and later generations thought it was Wu. Another example is Bu, Tao, Zhen and Tu, whose surnames are based on skills.

10, the surname brought by the integration of ancient ethnic minorities into the Han nationality. Such as Murong, Yuwen, Huyan, etc.

1 1. Take posthumous title as the surname. For example, hou zhuang was originally Kang's younger brother Kang Shu.

12, avoid changing one's surname because of giving. For example, Emperor Longwu of the Southern Dynasties gave the country the surname "Zhu", and the people in Fujian and Taiwan called it "the country surname". Another example is Emperor China, whose constant was changed to constant.