The Ran Family#

Surname: Ran, pronunciation: rǎn

Regions Where the Ran Surname Is Found#

Over the long period of its spread and development, the Ran surname has given rise to the following ancestral provinces (or "junwang" regions):

1. Donglu Jun (Eastern Lu County): This generally refers to areas such as present-day Jinan, Tai'an, and Gunzhou in Shandong Province.
2. Wuling Jun: Established during the Han Dynasty, its administrative center was Yiling (the ancient city is located south of Xupu in Hunan Province). Its jurisdiction included parts of present-day Changyang, Wufeng, Hefeng, Laifeng in Hubei Province, as well as areas west of the Yuanjiang River in Hunan, eastern Guizhou, and Sanjiang and Longsheng in Guangxi.
3. Wei Jun: Also established during the Han Dynasty, its administrative center was Ye County (the ancient city is southwest of Linzhang in Hebei Province). Its territory covered areas south of Wu'an in Hebei, east of Shexian, west of Guan County in Shandong, and north of Huaxian in Henan Province.

Origins of the Ran Surname#

There are five theories regarding the origin of the Ran surname:

1. Deriving from the Ji surname: According to books such as "Shixing Kaolue" and "Shixing Xunyuan", Ji Zai, the tenth son of King Wen of Zhou, was granted the fief of Ran (also written as Dan; the ancient city is in Nakou, Jingkou County, Hubei Province). During the Spring and Autumn Period, his state was conquered by the state of Zheng, and his descendants adopted the name of their former state as their surname. Another theory suggests that the character "Dan" was changed to "Ran" over time.
2. Descendants of Gaoxin: According to "Yuanhe Xingzuan", some descendants of Gaoxin (also known as Emperor Ku) bore the Ran surname.
3. Descendants of Shu Shan Ran: During the Spring and Autumn Period, a nobleman named Shu Shan Ran adopted his surname after himself.
4. From the Han Dynasty: During the Han Dynasty, many indigenous people in Kuizhou (present-day Fengjie, Chongqing) and Kaizhou (present-day Kaixian, Chongqing) in Sichuan Province had the Ran surname. These people were descendants of the ancient state of Ran, which was established by the Western Yi tribes during the Han Dynasty.
5. From other ethnic groups: During the Han Dynasty, the Ran tribe of the Western Yi lived in the Mawen Qiang Autonomous County area of Sichuan Province; they adopted their tribal name as their surname. The Tujia people in the border regions of Hubei, Sichuan, and Hunan also bear this surname.

Ancestor of the Ran Surname

The ancestor of the Ran surname is Ran Ji Zai, also known as Ji. He was a member of the Western Zhou royal family, the tenth son of King Wen of Zhou, and the youngest brother of King Wu. After King Wu conquered the Shang Dynasty and eliminated King Zhou of Shang, he enfeoffed his younger brother in Ran. Due to Ji Zai's good deeds, he was appointed as Minister of Works (Sikong) during the reign of King Cheng and became a prominent official in the Zhou royal court. His descendants adopted the name of their fief as their surname and honored Ran Ji Zai as their ancestor.

Migration and Distribution

There are various theories about the exact location of the ancient state of Ran. Some suggest it was in Jingkou or Jingmen in Hubei Province, while others mention Pingyu and Kaifeng in Henan Province or Maoxian in Sichuan Province. Despite the conflicting opinions, historical records indicate that the Ran family was mainly active in present-day Shandong during the early Zhou Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, among Confucius' many disciples, five had the Ran surname and were known as the "Five Sages of Confucius' School": Ran Qiu, Ran Ru, Ran Yong, Ran Geng, and Ran Ji. They were all outstanding individuals who left a lasting legacy. Since they were all from the state of Lu, the ancestral province of the Ran family is often referred to as Donglu (Eastern Lu).

From the Qin and Han Dynasties onwards, the Ran family gradually migrated to regions such as Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi in the north. A branch of the Ran family from Shandong also migrated to Xupu in Hunan and thrived there. In ancient times, this area belonged to Wuling Jun, which is why some Ran families later used "Wuling" as their ancestral province. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Ran family in Linzhang, Hebei, became prosperous and became a prominent clan. Ran Min, who founded the state of Wei during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, is a notable representative of this branch. According to the "Huayang Guozhi Xiaozhu", many leaders of the Western Yi tribes in Kuizhou and Kaizhou had the Ran surname. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, people with the Ran surname from Kuizhou (such as Ran Shi and Ran Zuyong from Yunan, Chongqing) and Badong (Fengjie, Chongqing) are also recorded in historical records. At the end of the Tang Dynasty and during the Five Dynasties, the Ran family migrated to Guizhou. By the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, they had spread to provinces in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan. During the Ming Dynasty, the Ran family from Shanxi was relocated to areas such as Hunan and Hubei as part of the Hongdong migration. After the Ming Dynasty, the population of