Wei / Wei
The most important branch of the Wei surname descends from Bi Wan of the Ji surname: Bi Wan received Wei as his fief, and his descendants took the fief name as their surname. After the Warring States Wei was destroyed, its royal family also took the state name as their surname; this is regarded as the orthodox Wei lineage.
Other recorded origins of the Wei surname include descendants of Wei Ran of the Mi surname, people who changed from other surnames, surname changes among the Di people, and sinicized surname changes among the Mongolian Uriyangqad people.
The Ji-surname origins of the Wei surname are recorded in works including Yuanhe Xingzuan, the Records of the Grand Historian: House of Wei, and Tongzhi: Clan Records.
The text discusses Wei Ran, Wei Jie, Wei Liaoweng, and Wei Xiao. Wei Ran was a chancellor of Qin during the Warring States period; Wei Jie was originally named Wang Yuanshou; and records state that Wei Liaoweng and Wei Xiao returned to or adopted the Wei surname from the Gao and Li surnames respectively.
The claim that descendants of Wei Ran serve as the founding ancestors of the Wei surname has not yet been found in the many Wei genealogies from different regions.
Start with ancestral counties, villages, personal names and dates. Record genealogy titles, volumes, editions and catalog identifiers. A shared surname does not prove a shared lineage; compare branch records.
These catalogs or datasets attest written names, not every origin or lineage claim on this page.
This page includes automatically organized material. Check the references and original family documents.
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