Yin (surname)

Yin (Chinese: 殷; pinyin: yin) is a very rare Chinese surname dating to the fall of the Yin (Shang) Dynasty in 1046 BC. After the Yin's collapse, the surviving Yin ruling family collectively changed their surname from their royal 子 (pinyin: zi; Wade-Giles: tzu) to the name of their fallen dynasty, Yin 殷. The family remained aristocratic and often provided needed administrative services to the succeeding Zhou Dynasty. (Source: Records of the Grand Historian Sima Qian. 史记 Shiji). This is the only historic origin for this surname. The surname is today found mostly in Northern China, although there have been a few historic migrations south to the Yangtze River near the Wu region of China.

Besides Yin, the surname 殷 is also Romanized as In, Eun, Oon.