Liu's surname mainly comes from the change of Qi's surname, Ji's surname, foreign surname and given surname. The earliest branch originated from the surname Qi, and was a descendant of Emperor Yao. Formed in the late summer, from Lushan, Henan. Liu, whose surname is Qi, has two homologous branches: one comes directly from Liu Lei and was formed in Xia Dynasty; In the early Spring and Autumn Period, a scholar society composed of descendants of Liu Lei was formed. Another branch of Liu's family, which originated from Ji's surname, was formed in the Spring and Autumn Period, taking Yi as its surname and coming from Yanshi, Henan. There is another family named Xiang Bo, who is Xiang Yu's uncle. He originated from a foreign country and changed his surname. Because he helped Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet, Liu Bang gave himself the surname Liu.

1. The earliest branch originated from the Qi family and was the descendant of Emperor Yao. Formed in the late summer, from Lushan, Henan. Liu, whose surname is Qi, has two homologous branches: one comes directly from Liu Lei and was formed in Xia Dynasty; In the early Spring and Autumn Period, a scholar society composed of descendants of Liu Lei was formed.

Liu Lei was born in the late Xia Dynasty. He studied dragon training with the master of dragon breeding technology, and domesticated four dragons for Kong Jia, the thirteenth emperor of Xia Dynasty, so he was named dragon lion by Kong Jia. Liu Lei lived in the south of Yanshi County, Henan Province when he was a Kongjia dragon. Later, due to poor reproduction, a female dragon died. Liu Lei was afraid that Kong Jia would be punished, so she secretly fled to Lu Xian County (now Lushan County, Henan Province) with her family. Liu Lei's descendants took Liu Lei's name as their surname, which was the earliest surname of Liu in China.

2. Liu's surname originated from Ji's surname and was formed in the Spring and Autumn Period. He took Yi as his surname and was from Yanshi, Henan.

3. Change foreigners' surnames

(1) Given surname: Xiang Bo, uncle of Xiang Yu, was given the surname Liu for helping Liu Bang at the Hongmen banquet. In 202 BC, after Liu Bang proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang, he accepted Lou Jing's advice and decided to move to Chang 'an, so he changed Lou Jing's surname to Liu.

(2) Early Western Han Dynasty: Xiongnu. At that time, the Xiongnu tribe was powerful, and Liu Bang, the emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, adopted the policy of affinity and married the daughter of the royal family to the Xiongnu Khan as his wife. Modu chanyu's surname is twins, but according to the custom that Huns take their mother's surname, the descendants of twins are all surnamed Liu.

(3) During the Wei, Jin and Sixteen Kingdoms period, a branch of Xiongnu claimed to be the descendant of Han Dynasty princess and Xiongnu Khan in order to win the support of the people in the Central Plains, and always used her mother's surname, so she was surnamed Liu. Liu Yuan, the founder of the former Zhao Dynasty, was a Xiongnu aristocrat.

(4) Dugu was one of the "Eight Honorable Ministers" in the Northern Wei Dynasty. After Emperor Xiaowen moved from Datong, Shanxi Province to Luoyang in the 20th year (494), he implemented the sinicization reform in 496, and changed the Xianbei nationality to Liu.

(5) During the Late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, one of the Shatuo people in another part of Turkey also claimed to be a descendant of Liu Bang. The post-Han regime and the Northern Han regime in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were all established by the Liu family of Shatuo.

From the early Western Han Dynasty, when Xiongnu nobles attached themselves to it, Xianbei people in the Northern and Southern Dynasties entered the Central Plains, until the Manchu Eight Banners were sinicized in the Qing Dynasty, during which a large number of foreigners changed their surnames to Liu.