hé 何

### Origins of the surname "He" 1. It originated from the surname "Ji". It evolved from the surname "Han" due to phonetic changes. According to *Yuanhe Xingzuan* (A Compilation of Surnames in the Yuanhe Era), King Cheng of the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed his younger brother Shu Yu in Han. His grandson, King An of Han, originally lived in the city of Han (some say it was in Hejin County, Shanxi Province). The state of Han was later destroyed by the state of Qin. The descendants of King An of Han scattered between the Yangtze and Huai rivers. In the dialects of these regions, the pronunciation of "Han" changed to "He", and thus the surname "He" emerged. 2. According to *The History of the Five Dynasties*, there were people with the surname "He" in the Tuyuhun ethnic group. Also, according to *The Book of Tang*, "He" was one of the "Nine Surnames of Zhaowu". During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, there was the Kang State in Shaowu City north of the Qilian Mountains (now Linze County, Gansu Province). After being defeated by the Xiongnu, the Kang people migrated to Central Asia and established nine small states, namely An, Cao, He, Kang, Shi, Mi, Shi, Huoxun, and Wudi. During the Yonghui reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the people with the "Nine Surnames of Zhaowu" successively submitted to the central court, including those with the surname "He". 3. In the Han Dynasty, there was a person named He Miao, who originally had the surname "Zhu" but assumed the surname "He". This is recorded in *The Book of Han: Annals of Five Elements*. His descendants all became prominent families. 4. According to *The Gazetteer of Lanzhou Prefecture*, in the Yuan Dynasty, there was a Tibetan pacification commissioner named Suonan. His son, Suoming, was appointed as the deputy commander of Hezhou Guard in the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty bestowed the surname "He" on him.