Ji surname is one of the earliest surnames in China. Today, the origin of most China surnames comes from the descendants of Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor. According to legend, the Yellow Emperor was born by a river called Ji, from which Ji's surname was formed. The nobles of the Zhou Dynasty were descendants of the Yellow Emperor, so Zhou Wenwang was also called Ji Chang. Zhou Wuwang is called Ji Fa.
The Yellow Emperor had 25 sons, each with 12 surnames, including Ji. The ancestors of the later five emperors, such as Zhuan Xu, Yao, Shun, Yu, Shang and Zhou, were all descendants of the Yellow Emperor. These descendants inherited the surname Ji, and his descendants established the Zhou Dynasty. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were 53 governors named Ji.
Most of the descendants of these countries with the surname of Ji changed their surnames to national surnames, feudal surnames, grandfather surnames and numbers, so there were not many surnames of Ji. In addition, in the Tang Dynasty, in order to avoid taboo, Ji's surname was changed to Zhou's. Since then, there have been even fewer people named Ji.