吳姓源流（江南）

江南在古时属於吴国的范围，而吴国正是吴姓中国人的发源地。古代的吴国，位置是在现今江苏省无锡县一带，周初，是泰伯的封地，传到十九世孙寿梦的时候才开始称王，国势也日益壮大，国境一直伸延到浙江省嘉湖一带，历史上著名的「卧薪尝胆」故事中，最后被矢志雪耻复国的越王勾践所消灭的吴王夫差，就是泰伯的后裔。据根「通志氏族略」的记载：「泰伯封於吴，子孙以国为姓」，由此可见，吴姓汉族的始祖，是周代的泰伯；泰伯是周太王古公亶父的长子，亦即周文王的大伯父。据「史记周本纪」记载：古公亶父共生有泰伯、仲雍、季历三个儿子，季历的儿子姬昌就是后来的周文王。据说，当周文王出世的时候，有圣瑞出现，所以身为祖父的亶公就说了这么一句话：「我世当有兴者，其在昌乎？」言下对这个甫出生的孙儿充满了殷切的期望，身为长子的泰伯在听到这话后，立刻明了父亲的意思是希望能把家业传给季历，以便将来顺理成章地传给昌，於是，他就自动引退，跟老二仲雍老远地跑到荆蛮地方，并且纹身断发，表示让位於季历的决心。

In ancient times Jiangnan lay within the territory of the state of Wu, and Wu is precisely the cradle of the Chinese Wu surname. The ancient state of Wu was located around present-day Wuxi County in Jiangsu. At the beginning of the Zhou it was Taibo's fief; only when it reached his nineteenth-generation descendant Shoumeng did its ruler take the title of king, and the state grew steadily stronger, its borders stretching to the Jiaxing and Huzhou area of Zhejiang. In the famous story of 'sleeping on brushwood and tasting gall', King Fuchai of Wu, finally destroyed by King Goujian of Yue who had sworn to avenge his shame and restore his state, was a descendant of Taibo. According to the Clan Section of the Tongzhi, 'Taibo was enfeoffed at Wu, and his descendants took the state as their surname'. From this it is clear that the founding ancestor of the Han-Chinese Wu surname is Taibo of the Zhou. Taibo was the eldest son of King Tai of Zhou, Gugong Danfu, and thus the eldest uncle of King Wen of Zhou. According to the Basic Annals of Zhou in the Records of the Grand Historian, Gugong Danfu had three sons, Taibo, Zhongyong and Jili; Jili's son Ji Chang later became King Wen. It is said that when King Wen was born there were auspicious omens, and so his grandfather Danfu said, 'In my line there shall be one who rises; will it not be Chang?' The words were full of hope for the newborn grandson. Taibo, the eldest son, understood at once that his father wished to pass the family estate to Jili so that it might in due course pass to Chang. So he withdrew of his own accord and, with his second brother Zhongyong, fled far away to the land of the Jing barbarians, where they tattooed their bodies and cut their hair to show their resolve to yield the succession to Jili.

跑到荆蛮之后的泰伯，自号为「勾吴」，他的义气感动了许多荆蛮的人，於是有千多家自动地跟随了他，而逐渐发展成为吴国。

Having fled to the Jing barbarians, Taibo styled himself 'Gou Wu'. His sense of honour moved many of the Jing people, and more than a thousand households followed him of their own accord, gradually developing into the state of Wu.

由此看来，吴姓与周姓的汉人，不但同为具有悠久历史的大姓，而且原本还是一家人呢！

Seen this way, the Wu and Zhou surnames among the Han are not only both great surnames of long history, but were originally one family!

发源於苏浙一带的吴氏，后来很快地繁衍到邻近齐鲁之间（今山东省）。根据「姓纂」的说法，山东吴姓汉人，大多是寿梦的第四子吴季札的后代。

The Wu clan that arose in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region soon spread to the neighbouring lands of Qi and Lu (today's Shandong). According to the Xingzuan, most of the Han-Chinese Wu families in Shandong descend from Wu Jizha, the fourth son of Shoumeng.