The change of Xianbei family names to Han names was part of a larger sinicization campaign. It was at its peak intensity under Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei dynasty in 496.

Background

To formalize sinification, a number of actions were taken prior to the name changes.

Changes

Northern Wei ordered Xianbei family names that were two-to-three syllables to be shortened to one-to-two syllables, converting them to Han names. Later historians, including Wei Shou, the author of the official history of Northern Wei, Book of Wei, found shortened Han-style names to be easier to write about, and therefore used post-496 family names even where pre-496 events involving Northern Wei were described. Later, after the division of Northern Wei into two in 534, the paramount general of Western Wei, Yuwen Tai, tried to reverse these name changes and restore Xianbei names. Yuwen Tai further had Han officials and generals change their names to Xianbei names. A number of generals and officials changed their names back to Xianbei names, but after the collapse of Western Wei, the regent Yang Jian near the end of Northern Zhou permanently restored the use of Han names for both Han and Xianbei alike. As a compromise, there were some exceptions, for example, the clan of Emperor Wen of Sui's wife Empress Dugu kept their Xianbei name of Dugu and did not once again change the name into Liu.

Name correspondence

Below is a list of the Xianbei names that are known to have been changed into Han names:

Major Xianbei names that were not changed

Several major Xianbei clan names were apparently judged by Emperor Xiaowen to be sufficiently Han-like to not to be changed. These included: