Migration and Distribution (Missing) The Helian surname is not listed among the top 100 surnames in the Chinese Hundred Family Surnames on the Chinese mainland or in Taiwan. The Helian surname originated from the Xiongnu ethnic group in history. Since Xiongnu chanyus (leaders) married Han women from the Han royal family, their descendants adopted the Liu surname. In ancient Han times, there was a Xiongnu tribe in the north, and its leader was Liu Qubei, the Right Virtuous King. One of his descendants proclaimed himself the King of Xia and changed the surname from Liu to Helian, meaning "eminently connected with the sky". At that time, the Xiongnu people often changed their surnames, which was different from the customs of the Central Plains people. This was also because their social form was relatively underdeveloped, and the inheritance relationship of power and property was unstable, so the use of surnames was also unstable. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Liu Hu changed his surname to Tiefo. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Helian Bobo, the great - grandson of Liu Hu, declared himself the Heavenly King of the Great Xia and established the Xia Kingdom, and then changed his surname to the compound surname "Helian". Historically, there was also this compound surname Helian among the Tuyuhun ethnic group.