Abstract
Most populations now use hereditary surnames, and most societies have patrilineal surnames. This naming system is believed to have started almost 5000 years ago in China. According to legends and ancient history books, there were Eight Great Xings of High Antiquity that were the ancestors of most Chinese surnames today and are thought to be descended from the two legendary prehistoric Emperors Yan and Huang. Recent work identified three Neolithic super-grandfathers represented by Y chromosome haplotypes, O3a1c, O3a2c1, and O3a2c1a, which makes it possible to test the tales of Yan-Huang and their descendant surnames. We performed two independent surveys of contemporary Han Chinese males (total number of subjects 2415) and divided the subjects into four groups based on the relationships of their surnames with the Eight Great Xings, Jiang (Yan), Ying (Huang), Ji(Huang), and Others (5 remaining Xings related to Huang). In both studies, we found that subjects with O3a1c were enriched with Jiang-related surnames and subjects with O3a2c1a were enriched with Ying-related surnames. Also, subjects with Jiang-related surnames were enriched with O3a1c and those with Ying-related surnames were enriched with O3a2c1a. Finally, subjects with O3a2c1 were slightly enriched for the Others-group, consistent with linking O3a2c1 to another legendary leader Chi You who lost to Huang and was largely ignored as an ancestor of Han on par with Yan and Huang. These results are remarkably consistent with historical writings on Yan and Huang and suggest that tales of Yan-Huang and their related-Xings and surnames may not be unrealistic.
