Conclusion

 

Summing up the above, it appears that the surname WAN is derived from a royal family member in China over 3,000 years ago.  Our first generation ancestor was born with a surname JI but his 17th generation grandson named Xi Zhi (?—574 BC) who used the fiefdom name in Wan County as his surname by calling himself Ji WAN (温季).  As mentioned above, if most WAN clans in southern China are treating Ji WAN as their first generation ancestor and if their Genealogies are as sure as a gun, then Ji WAN could be the first ancestor of all WAN clans.

 

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However, by looking at the "Taiyuantong WAN Clan Genealogy" from another perspective as well as considering the currently available data, the origin of the surname WAN seems perplexed and controversial since all these materials fail to provide any reliable information that enables us to trace our first generation ancestor.  Frankly, it is unlikely that a 3000-year old WAN Clan Genealogy does exist to provide proof that our first generation ancestor was a prince or a military general.  That said, given the scarcely information about our roots, this paper may just serve as a modest spur to induce more people to come forward with valuable leads for sharing.