Genealogy News · Source Analysis · Published on 2026-10-07

The Lu Surname (禄) and Buliugu (步六孤): Clues to Lineage Origins in Memories of Northern Wei Surname Changes

Regarding the relationship between the Lu surname (禄) and names such as the Xianbei Buliugu (步六孤) and Buluogu (步禄孤), existing sources mostly explain it in terms of the Northern Wei surname reforms and ethnic integration. This article整理s the relevant clues and highlights the need for further verification through genealogies, local gazetteers, and family memories.

Accounts of the origins of the Lu surname (禄) are often linked to the sinicization of Xianbei surnames during the Northern Wei period and to the integration of ethnic groups in later generations. Some surname sources list the Lu surname alongside names such as Buliugu (步六孤), Buluogu (步禄孤), and Bulugu (步鹿孤), suggesting that these names may reflect differences in transliteration or transmission in written records. They examine these names within the historical context of the Tuoba Xianbei tribes and the social structure of Northern Wei society. However, similar names do not necessarily mean that genealogical lines have been connected, and whether branches of the Lu surname in different regions all originated from the same source still requires verification branch by branch.

The surname reforms carried out after Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital to Luoyang provide important historical context for understanding this issue. Relevant records generally suggest that some compound Xianbei surnames were changed to Han surnames during the reforms, and the connection between the name Buliugu (步六孤) and the Lu surname (陆) has therefore been repeatedly discussed by later generations. At the same time, surname changes may have been influenced by multiple factors, including region, family status, migration routes, and conventions of documentary writing. Descendants of the same tribe or surname may not all have adopted the same Han surname. Therefore, treating the surnames Lu (禄), Lu (陆), Bu (步), and Lu (鹿) simply as belonging to the same lineage, or tracing a particular branch directly back to Northern Wei nobility, requires more substantial supporting evidence.

Existing surname sources indicate that clues concerning memories of Buliugu (步六孤) are distributed across Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, and other regions. Some compilations also use the hall name “Daijun Hall” (代郡堂). Such material can serve as a starting point for tracing one’s roots, but hall names are often products of later clan identity and genealogy-revision traditions and cannot, on their own, prove ancestral relationships. When researching a specific family, priority should be given to comparing prefaces to old genealogies, lineage tables, epitaphs, inscriptions on ancestral halls, local gazetteers, and migration records, while also noting cases of different people sharing the same name, later additions to records, and character changes made to observe naming taboos.

Online genealogies are useful for organizing names, generation names, places of residence, and marital relationships, while family memoirs may preserve details about relocation, household divisions, the construction of ancestral halls, and oral traditions. Both should be cross-checked with local gazetteers and material documents. If a branch of the Lu surname (禄) can provide a clearly identified first ancestor to migrate, the place of origin, the date of the first migration, or a continuous sequence of generation names, it can be compared further with regional clues in surname databases before assessing the extent of its connection with names such as Buliugu (步六孤).

The historical significance of the Lu surname (禄) lies not only in tracing an ancient surname origin, but also in observing how interactions among multiple ethnic groups, surname changes, and family memories have together shaped identity today. Root-seeking should give priority to the continuity of the chain of evidence and respect the accounts of different branches, while clearly distinguishing among the conclusions that “a connection existed historically,” “this is how a particular branch has traditionally recounted it,” and “this has been established by documentary evidence.”

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