Surname Overview
Three Main Origins
The Lin surname has three main origins: Zi, Ji, and Cao surnames.
Lin Surname
Population reference (not a current census): 11,609,565Lin / Lin
Origins
Descendants of Bi Gan
The ancestor of the Zi-surname Lin lineage was Bi Gan, a virtuous figure of the late Shang dynasty. His son Quan was born at Mount Changlin, and King Wu of Zhou bestowed the surname Lin on him, naming him Jian, because he was born in a forest.
Migration and Distribution
From the Han dynasties through the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lin families migrated toward Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other regions. By the end of the Western Jin, they had entered Guangdong, Guangxi, and Fujian; after the Tang migrations southward, southern Fujian became an important settlement area, and Lin families appeared in Taiwan in the late Ming and early Qing.
Contemporary Ancestral Distribution
Among contemporary Lin-surname users, ancestral regions are mainly Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, accounting for 28.0%, 25.6%, and 14.0%, respectively.
Genealogy and Generation Names
Jining Generation Names
The generation names of the Jining Lin lineage in Shandong are: Ying, Xian, Cun, Fan, Fa, Zheng, and Xiang.
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