林氏图腾释义

【释义】林，树林之义。甲骨文、金文、小篆以及楷体的林字在形体上是一样的，都像并列的两棵树，是会意字。

【起源】商朝贵族比干（子姓），冒死给商纣王提意见，被剖腹挖心致死，其妻陈氏怀孕逃到牧野长林石室（今河南淇县西南、卫辉西北深山密林中的一个石洞中），生下一个男孩，取名坚。周武王灭商后见坚，以其居长林而生，赐姓林氏。东周（都今河南洛阳）初期，周平王姬宜臼有庶子（妾所生之子）名林开，林开的子孙有的以祖辈名字为姓氏，也称林氏。此外，鲜卑族原有丘林氏，随北魏孝文帝迁至洛阳后，改为林氏。

得姓始祖：林坚（比干子）
始 祖 地：河南林县、卫辉、淇县
郡望堂号：西河、南安；济南堂、九龙堂
当今排序／人口：第16位／约1510万
宋版百家姓排序：第147位
现存家谱：1096部

Explanation of the Lin Clan Totem

Meaning

Lin (林) means forest.

In oracle‑bone script, bronze inscriptions, small‑seal script, and modern regular script, the character 林 has essentially the same form: two trees standing side by side.

It is a pictographic, associative‑meaning character.

Origin

During the Shang Dynasty, the noble Bi Gan (of the Zi lineage) risked his life to remonstrate with King Zhou of Shang.

He was executed by having his heart cut out.

His wife, of the Chen clan, fled while pregnant to the Stone Chamber of the Long Forest in Muye (located in today’s mountainous forests southwest of Qixian and northwest of Weihui, Henan).

There she gave birth to a son and named him Jian.

After King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty, he met Jian and, knowing he was born in the Long Forest, granted him the surname Lin.

In early Eastern Zhou (capital at modern Luoyang), King Ping of Zhou had a concubine‑born son named Lin Kai.

Some of Lin Kai’s descendants adopted his given name as their surname, forming another branch of the Lin clan.

Additionally, among the Xianbei people, there originally existed the Qiulin clan.

After Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei relocated them to Luoyang during his Sinicization reforms, they changed their surname to Lin.

Ancestral Founder of the Surname

Lin Jian (son of Bi Gan)

Ancestral Homelands

• Lin County, Henan

• Weihui, Henan

• Qixian, Henan

Prominent Clans / Halls

• Xihe, Nanan

• Jinan Hall, Jiulong Hall

Modern Ranking / Population

• 16th most common surname in China

• Approximately 15.1 million people

Ranking in the Song Dynasty’s Hundred Family Surnames

• 147th

Existing Genealogies

• 1,096 volumes preserved today