Chinese surname · rank 255
伊
伊 is read as yī.
yī
Simplified and traditional 伊
third person pronoun; he, she, this, that
Earth
Time: Ancient Yi state and Yiqi clan layer, Yi Yin descendant layer, Spring-and-Autumn Yi Rong state layer, Song distribution layer, and Ming Jiangsu-Shandong-Hebei movement layer; Ancient surname tradition, before 221 BCE; exact calendar year not pinned by the attached sources
Place: Yiqi mountain in today's Hebei Shunping/Wanxian area; Yi state and Yi-to-Qi tradition; Yi and Luo rivers southwest of Luoyang, Henan; Yi River or Yichuan context; later Shanxi, Jiangsu, Shandong, and Hebei branches
Origin note
is a layered surname. One early line is Jiang-surname and state or clan based: sources describe an ancient Yi state connected with Yan Emperor descendants and Tang Yao's maternal family, later also called Yiqi after moving from Yi to Qi; Yiqi or Yiqi mountain is placed in today's Hebei. A second line honors Yi Yin, the statesman who helped Tang overthrow Xia; descendants connected with Yi Yin are recorded as using Yi as a surname. A third line is place-name based: a Jiang-surname group founded the Yi Rong state between the Yi and Luo rivers near today's southwest Luoyang, and after the state was destroyed, people used Yi as a surname. Later summaries also mention Yi River residence, Yi River/ground-name branches, and the Western Zhou Yiqi office-title layer. These are kept as separate traditions instead of one merged origin.
Historical figures
Historical figures to enrich
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