The villages near my hometown in southwest Henan are almost all named after their surnames, such as Sunzhuang, Zhouzhuang, Lidian, Jukou, Yintian, Gaomiao, Huangdesi, Zhaocun, etc. When I saw a village, almost all of them were named after their surnames. Most of them are named after their surnames directly, and some are named after their surnames combined with the characteristics of the village.
For example, Jukou used to be a river wharf, and it was named based on the local temples and temples at that time. Generally speaking, in villages with a surname as the name of the village, this surname belongs to big households. For example, in our village, people above 95 have a surname. There are also some villages where the surname is the name but not the big households. In other words, there are a few people with this surname in the village today. Or maybe the surname no longer exists. Regarding this issue, I asked the local old man who manages the family tree to learn more about it.
Most of the villages near us were migrated during the Ming Dynasty. It is said that at that time, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, due to war, there was no human habitation for thousands of miles. People were moved here, and each family was given a piece of land to recuperate. Under such circumstances, each village originally had only one or two households, like a big "farmer", so most villages were named after their surnames. Over the past few hundred years, due to the feudal system, wars and other factors, the distribution of surnames in some villages has changed. In some villages, due to migration, mergers and other factors, for example, there was a nearby village that was occupied by a large landowner. After liberation, Most of the family members have gone to other provinces, causing the original surnames to decrease or disappear. For various reasons, some of our local villages are named after their surnames, but they do not live up to their names.
There are also individual villages named after historical figures. For example, if there is a big figure in a certain village, number one, number two, third overall, etc., to highlight the local cultural characteristics, the name will be named after a historical figure. Historical figures do not necessarily have to live in their hometown, especially in feudal society. "When a person achieves enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven." Rich and distinguished families often move out, leaving only a village name. In such a village, other surnames gradually spread out and the population increased, but the previous village name was still used habitually. In short, if a village named after a surname is not worthy of its name, it is probably due to some "change" in history that caused the original surname to decrease sharply or disappear! What do you think happened? Welcome to discuss.