Other romanizations include Yeu (Shanghainese), Ion (Chang-Du Gan), Yuen (Cantonese), Oan (Hokkien/Min Nan), Wang (Teochew), Won (Korean), and Viên (Vietnamese).

Because the Yangtze Delta region has historically exhibited high clan consciousness,[citation needed] there exist a large number of Yuan genealogies, most of which are now held in public institutions.

[citation needed] Traditional sources trace the surname to Yuan Taotu, a 7th-century BC Chen nobleman, who was part of a collateral branch of the family of the marquis ruling that state.

[7] Descendants of Yuan house are mentioned by name in the Zuo Zhuan as holding high office in the state of Chen[8][9] until it was extinguished by Chu in 479 BC.

An alternate, much less widely accepted theory, suggests that the surname Yuan is derived from Xuanyuan (軒轅 or 玄袁), the clan name of the Yellow Emperor.

One maintained its estates at Fuyue (扶樂), in Chen (陳); another was based at Ruyang (汝陽) in Ru'nan (汝南); and a third of lesser importance was associated with Yingchuan (潁川).

According to local genealogies, the Ru'nan Yuan estates were in the vicinity of the modern township of Yuanlao (袁老), bordering the Fen River (汾水) in the south.

His grandson Yuan An (袁安) made the family's fortunes, rising rapidly through the bureaucracy from 70 AD onwards, reaching the post of Minister over the Masses and playing an important role in policy decisions at the Han court until his death in 92.

The Chen Yuan brought with them dependants and armed retainers, and they were eventually able to carve out large estates for themselves in the peripheral frontier districts.

During the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties period, the Chen Yuan established extensive marriage alliances with the other major clans, especially the Xie, whose ancestral lands were in the same county.

Upon the conquest of the Chen dynasty by Sui in 589, members of the southern ruling elite, such as Yuan Xian (袁憲), were moved to the capital Chang'an where they continued to serve in government.

In general, the spread of the Yuan surname has followed the migration of Han Chinese throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

[20] Early migrations south established Yuan clans along the lower Yangtze River, in Danyang, Lujiang, Wuxi, Yangzhou and Nanjing.

[21] Larger scale migrations south occurred during the middle and late Song dynasty, when north China was overrun by the Jurchens and later the Mongols.

[24] By the Qing dynasty, Yuan had penetrated to the frontier lands of Yunnan in the southwest, Guangxi in the south, Liaoning in the northeast and Taiwan in the southeast.

Generally speaking, the name is relatively absent in the farthest geographical extremes of China, namely southern Yunnan, Guangxi, and the island province of Hainan.

After Emperor Xiaowen of the nomadic Xianbei moved his capital to Luoyang in 494, his clan of Tuoba changed their surname to Yuan (元) to assimilate with the Chinese population.

The character of "yuan" (袁) has also been associated with the Gaoju people of Central Asia, who claimed descent from the Xuanyuan clan of the Huang Di.

There have been suggestions that the name of Genghis Khan's tribe, Kiyad (called "Qiyan" 乞顏 or "Qiyin" 乞引 in Chinese), was a corruption of "Qiyuan".

Although no copies of early genealogies are extant today, fragments have been preserved by famed Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu in the 11th century work Xin Tang Shu.

[30] It was not uncommon for clans to build memorial halls, sometimes titled "Ru'nan", "Woxue" (卧雪: "Sleeping in [time of] snow") or "Shouzheng" (守正: "upholding justice"), in honour of Yuan An.

Clan-based activities and genealogies were attacked during the Cultural Revolution, when various movements inspired by the Chinese government attempted to eradicate symbols of the old society.

A provincial breakdown of the geographic distribution of these genealogies in order of number: Zhejiang (23); Jiangsu (22); Hunan (17); Jiangxi (9); Shandong (9); Sichuan (5); Henan (4); Anhui (3); unknown (7).

[32] Toward the late imperial period, these relationships strengthened to the extent that clans sometimes provided social welfare and enforced customary law.

Renewed interest since the late 1980s by overseas Chinese in root-seeking has been largely encouraged by the government of mainland China as a way of attracting foreign direct investment.

In 2001, for example, the Hong Kong Association of Yuen Clansmen (香港袁氏宗親會) donated HKD $1.2 million toward the construction of a Yuan Chonghuan Memorial Park on the site of his Ming dynasty home.

The group, led by Yuen Mo, a representative of Hong Kong to the National People's Congress, held talks with provincial and local officials with regard to the development of food processing projects in the area.

In May 2005, after updating their 1939 genealogy, the Yuan clan of Ximen, Ningbo, held a large scale ancestor worship ceremony which was much publicised in the local media.