Surnames, as a continuation of blood, first appeared in China. Since China's first surname-Feng surname in 3000 BC, Chinese surnames have been changing with the development of society. According to the latest research statistics of experts, there are as many as 22,000 surnames used by China people, many of which have a history of thousands of years. The unity and continuity of Chinese 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 that there was a mother, but they didn't know that there was a father. Therefore, the word "surname" is composed of "female" and "born", and the earliest surname in the image description is related to the mother.
In Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, people had surnames and surnames. "Surname" comes from the name of the village where you live or the tribe to which you belong. "Shi" comes from the land sealed by the monarch, the title given to him, the official position he held, or the title added after his death according to his merits. Therefore, nobles have surnames, famous names and surnames; Civilians have surnames, names and no surnames. Men and women with the same surname can marry, but men and women with the same surname cannot marry. Because China people discovered this genetic rule long ago: consanguineous marriage is bad for future generations.
The difference between surname and surname: in the pre-Qin period, surname and surname had different meanings. Surname stands for consanguinity, and the same surname can't marry. Surname is a branch of surnames, which is a symbol of privilege and status, and is used to distinguish between the noble and the humble, and those with surnames are the most expensive. Therefore, in the pre-Qin period, men called their surnames instead of surnames.
The integration of surname and surname: Qin dynasty abolished the original patriarchal system of enfeoffment and implemented the county system. The surname lost its significance of representing nobility and inferiority, and gradually became a symbol of patrilineal blood inheritance. Most of China's surnames are inherited from those of the Zhou Dynasty.
Hundreds of Surnames was written in the Northern Song Dynasty in 960 AD, in which there were 408 single surnames, 30 compound surnames and 438 single surnames. Later, it is said that the total number has reached 5,000, but only 1000 is actually used.
All countries in the world have the saying of "three surnames", and Britain is: Smythe, Jones, Williams; America is: Smith, Johnson, Carson; France is: Martin, Bernard, DuPont; Germany is: Schultz, Mueller, Shmidt; Russia is: Ivanov, Vasiliev, Deternov; China has four most popular surnames, Zhang, Wang, Li and Zhao, which 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 named Zhang alone, which is probably the largest surname in the world. 1977 Historian Li Dongming published a paper on "surnames" in Oriental Magazine, which pointed out that the top ten surnames of Chinese are: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu, Liu, Huang and Zhou. These ten surnames account for 40% of the Chinese 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 0/0% of the Chinese population/kloc. The top ten surnames are Xie, He, Xu, Song, Shen, Luo, Han, Deng, Liang and Ye. Accounting for 10% of the Chinese population. 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 of later generations comes from the following sources:
1, with surname. From the late clan society to the Xia and Shang dynasties, some of the labels of branch clans also became the surnames of later generations, such as Ji, Jiang, Yi, Feng, Ji, Zi, Ren, Yi, Won and Yao.
2. Take the country name as the surname. The Xia and Shang dynasties both granted land to Hou, and in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was even more feudal. The vassal states, large and small, were all over Kyushu, and these names became the descendants of their countries. Such as Cheng, Fang, Du, Ge, Lei, Song, Zheng, Wu and Qin. Zhou Wenwang sealed his youngest son to Di Yu, and his descendants were named De. A branch of Baidi nationality established a drum country in Wuji County, Hebei Province, and its descendants have the surname drum. Some surnames were brought by foreigners after the Qin and Han Dynasties. For example, the surname Mi came from the western region and the surname An came from rest.
3. Take the city name as the surname. For example, when Zhou Wuwang was appointed, Sikou was angry and gave birth to a fief in Su, so his descendants were surnamed Su.
4. Take the township and pavilion as the surname. For example, the grandson of Fei Zi, the ancestor of the State of Qin who won the surname, was sealed in Yixiang, and obtained the surname of Yi; To the sixth generation, the grandson was named as a city marquis by King Zhou Xi, and he ate and solved the state.
5. Take the place of residence as the surname. For example, the doctors of the Duke of Qi lived in Dongguo, Nanguo, Xiguo and Beiguo respectively, and these four Guo became surnames.
6. Take the words or names of ancestors as surnames. For example, Zhou Pingwang's illegitimate son, Lin Kai, and his descendants' surname is Lin. Another example is the grandson of Tong Diao, a doctor in 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 Meng Sun Shi, Uncle Sun Shi and Ji Sun.
8. Take the official position as the surname. For example, the official lawsuit of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Sima and Sikong all became surnames later. Another example is that in the Han Dynasty, there was a surname Su, and the descendants were surnamed Su.
9. Take skill as the surname. There was a Wu family in Shang dynasty, who was the founder of divination with divination, and later generations thought it was Wu family. Another example is Bu, Tao, Zhen and Tu, whose surnames are all based on skills.
10, the surnames brought by the integration of ancient ethnic minorities into the Han nationality. Such as Murong, Yuwen, Huyan, etc.
1 1, with posthumous title as the surname. For example, after Zhuang was originally Chu Zhuangwang, Kang was originally Zhou Wuwang's brother Kang Shu.
12. I changed my surname because I gave it and avoided it. For example, Emperor Longwu of the Southern Dynasties gave Zheng Chenggong the national surname "Zhu", and the people in Fujian and Taiwan called Zheng Chenggong "the national surname". Another example is Liu Heng, the Chinese emperor, and Heng was changed to Chang.