We now tend to talk about surname culture in general terms, but in fact, surname and surname are different. Simply put, the surname is used to distinguish between marriage, and the surname is used to distinguish people's high and low. Surnames were the prerogative of the nobility, while early commoners did not have surnames.
In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Gong made ceremonies and music in Luoyang City, and an important content was to establish the patriarchal sealing system, which is what we often call the patriarchal system. The fundamental principle of this system is the primogeniture system. This system emphasizes that Zhou Tianzi is the great clan of the Ji surname throughout the world, representing the entire Ji clan exercising clan power. At the same time, Zhou Tianzi is also the co-lord of the whole world politically. The throne of Zhou Tianzi could only be inherited by the eldest son of Zhou Tianzi, and the other sons were enfeoffed as princes. For example, Uncle Kang was sealed to Weiguo, Uncle Tang was sealed to Jinguo, and so on. These princes were monarchs in their vassal states, and at the same time there was a relationship between them and the Son of Heaven. They were all nobles with the surname Ji, and they also established their own clans in their own princely states. Relative to Zhou Tianzi, the clans of the princes were called Xiaozong. These princes were the sons of these small sects, that is, the patriarchs. In order to distinguish it from the entire Ji surname, the Xiaozong, where each prince is located, has his own name, and this name is the clan. Similarly, in the princely states, the throne could only be inherited by his eldest son, and the other sons were crowned as Qing Dafu. These Qing Masters also had their own fiefs, and within their respective fiefs, they were also the supreme rulers. And they can also establish their own clans in their fiefdoms, and their clans are called small clans relative to the clans of the monarch. In order to distinguish them from the monarch's clan, their clan also needs to have a name of its own. For example, the Jisun clan, the Shusun clan and the Mengsun clan of the Lu Kingdom. As for the position of Qing Dafu, it was also inherited by his eldest son. The other sons became scholars. The scholars also had their own small clans, and their small clans also needed to have a name of their own. For example, the Nangong, which was divided from the Mengsun clan.
As the Ji surname is a whole, they all constitute the Ji clan, represented by Zhou Tianzi, known as the Great Sect. Under this great sect, the small sects of the monarchs of the various princely states were its constituent units. In the princely states, the princely monarch exercised clan power on behalf of the Ji surname throughout the princely states. The Ji clans in the princely states were composed of the clans of each Qing Dafu. In this way, a patriarchal system of layers of feudalism was formed.
This is true not only in the Ji surname, but also in its different surnames. For example, within the State of Qi with the surname of Jiang, the monarch is the great patriarch of all the Jiang surnames, and under the monarch, there are the clans of the Qing masters. In the Chen kingdom with the surname of Concubine, the monarch is the great patriarch of all concubines, and under the monarch, there are also the clans of Qing Dafu.
Clans with different surnames, such as the Jiang surname and the Ji clan, can be intermarried, while the Ji clan cannot be intermarried. For example, the monarchs of the two countries, lu and wei, could not intermarry with each other. As for the clan, it has played a role in distinguishing the noble from the lowly. For example, a nobleman known as Ji Pingzi, from His Season, knew that he belonged to the qing doctor's family. In normal times, aristocratic men do not have to report their surnames, and surnames and first names are generally not linked together, such as Zhou Gong's surname Ji and Mingdan. But Zhou Gong was not known as Ji Dan.
The patriarchal feudal system was only used among the nobility. In the case of commoners, there is no surname or surname, they only have a first name. We can see that during the Spring and Autumn Period, some civilians were mentioned by accident, all of whom had no surnames.
However, in the Spring and Autumn Period, the patriarchal feudal system began to collapse. The patriarchal aristocratic system of feudalism was broken, and a large number of nobles fell to become scholars, and eventually became ordinary commoners. At the same time, the number of good elements among the civilian population began to rise.
By the Warring States period, reforms in various countries were aimed at combating patriarchal aristocracy. Except for some people who were very close to the monarch, most of the original patriarchal nobles had descended into ordinary scholars. In other words, except for the monarchs of those seven countries and a very small number of people such as pingyuan jun and xinling jun, the identities of other people are the same, and there is no need to distinguish between them. Last names are confused. By the time of the Warring States period, people no longer distinguished between surnames and surnames. Everyone directly takes the original surname as their surname, as a prefix in front of the name.
At the same time, in order to strengthen the control of the people, the government introduced a household registration system. All the people became the people under the administration of the state. For the convenience of management, the people can not only have a name. For example, your name is Xiao Wei, he is also called Xiao Wei, how to distinguish it? In this way, civilians also need to have a prefix in front of their names, and civilians also have surnames. Therefore, we see that in the Warring States period, almost everyone had a name and a surname.