Ji is listed 194th in the Song dynasty classic Hundred Family Surnames.

[2] According to the Yuanhe Xing Zuan, a Tang-era text on Chinese genealogy, the Ji surname originated from Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing) on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang.

King Shao Kang of the Xia was said to have enfeoffed one of his sons in the place and his descendants adopted Kuaiji or Ji (written 稽) as their surname.

Then, during the early Han dynasty, a branch of this clan was said to have migrated to Mount Ji (嵇山) in Qiao Commandery (谯郡, within modern Bozhou in Anhui).

[3][4] During the Xianbei Northern Wei dynasty, Emperor Xiaowen (r. AD 467–499) implemented a drastic policy of sinicization, ordering his own people to adopt Chinese surnames.