The ancestor of the surname Huang Can can be traced back to Boyi during the reign of Shun Di. Boyi is Shao Hao's fifth grandson, and his grandmother is the granddaughter of Emperor Zhuan Xu. Boyi was awarded the surname of Won by Shun Di for his meritorious service in water control.

Among his descendants was Huang, who established the State of Huang in Huangchuan, Henan Province in early summer, and supported the Shang Dynasty in the summer. When Zhou destroyed the Shang dynasty, he remained neutral, the title survived, and the title was reduced to viscount, so he was called Huang. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Chu dominated the world, and only Huang and Sui dared to compete with it. In 648 BC, the State of Huang was destroyed by the State of Chu. After the national subjugation, the descendants of Huang took the country name as their surname.

The migration of Huang:

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Huang clan split, and there was a new movement to develop southward. One migrated from Jiangxia to the southeast, crossed Jiangxi into Zhejiang, and formed the Huang Jinhua family in Jinhua area; Jinhua has a branch of the Huang family. In the Five Dynasties, Huang Shan moved to Xiushui, Jiangxi, and formed the Huang family in xiushui county. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the Huang family became a famous writer and filial son Huang Tingjian.

The other branch first moved from Jiangxia to Gushi, Henan, and then went south through Anhui and Jiangxi to Shaowu, Fujian, forming the Shaowu Huang family. Some of them entered Vietnam and became local surnames.

Because Huang's main force was far away from the north in the Qin and Han Dynasties, he suffered less damage in several wars in northern China. Huang surname developed steadily and rapidly in southern China, especially during the Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and flourished in Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, eventually forming a typical southern surname today.