Han Gao Zu Liu Bang
The vast majority of people in today's Chinese are Han Chinese, we speak Chinese, we write Chinese characters, when we praise a person, we will say that this person is a hero and a good man, even Pan Jinlian and the like to steal people, are called stealing Hanzi. Why? Of course, this is related to the Han Dynasty!
During the pre-Qin and Seven Kingdoms wars, the respective people had a strong identification with their own country, such as the Chu people called themselves the Chu State, and the Qin people claimed to be definitely Qin people. The State of Qin has existed for hundreds of years, the State of Qin is in the western part of the Seven Kingdoms, and when they deal with people in the west, they use the self-designation of the Qin people. The pinyin of the word "Qin" can be written chin, and later the people in the West added a suffix after ''chin'' to become "china", a title that has been used until today.
However, for the entire Chinese region, other people do not recognize the name "Qin". As a unified dynasty, the Qin Dynasty existed for only fifteen years. They are still more identified with their original country. Therefore, as soon as Qin Shi Huang died, the world immediately returned to a state of simultaneous struggle among the warring states. The last man born in Chu, Liu Bang, seized control of the world and ascended the throne as emperor. Before he became emperor, he was the king of Han, so the new dynasty was called the Han Dynasty.
At the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, the world was still very unstable, and the control of the central government was still very weak. Later, after more than a hundred years, when Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty was in power, the absolute authority of the central government was established. For more than a hundred years, the rulers of the Han Dynasty adopted a very stable ruling strategy, not rushing to achieve results like Qin Shi Huang, but using the patience of four generations to consolidate the unity of the world. In the end, the Han Dynasty did not follow in the footsteps of the Qin Dynasty and died short-lived. In this way, the Western Han Dynasty lasted for two hundred years from the founding of Liu Bang to its demise. Even from the middle of the Han Dynasty, it has unified the world for more than a hundred years. For such a long time, the people of the world established a national identity and identity with the Han. They identified themselves as part of the Han Dynasty and were subjects of the Han Dynasty. In their dealings with people in other regions, they prefer to use the term Han Chinese.
The territory of the Western Han Dynasty
Although the Western Han Dynasty was later replaced by Wang Mang, Wang Mang's new dynasty existed for only a decade before collapsing. The founder of the new regime, Liu Xiu, was on the one hand a descendant of Liu Bang, and on the other hand, for the legitimacy of his own regime, which was also called Han, and he claimed to be a legitimate continuation of the Western Han Dynasty. Later, this Han Dynasty was known as the Later Han or Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty lasted another two hundred years. It further strengthens the people's identity as a "Han Chinese". Since then, in the history of China, there have been many dynasties. For example, during the Jin Dynasty, the people would definitely feel that they were Jin people, during the Tang Dynasty, the people felt that they were Tang people, and during the Song Dynasty, the people felt that they were Song people. However, behind this identity, they have a more lasting identity, and this identity is Han. Not only did the people who originally lived in the territory of the Han Dynasty recognize this title, but even the surrounding ethnic minorities would recognize their Han identity after entering the Central Plains. Many of our surnames today originate from ethnic minorities, but they all now recognize themselves as Han Chinese.
Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu
Having said all this, I actually want to tell you that your speculation is very correct, and the title of the Han people is related to the Han Dynasty!