Any one who was born in a family of kazoku or shizoku but did not succeed the family to set up a new branch was basically classified as heimin despite the designation of his parents' home (for example, Takashi HARA who was called a commoner prime minister became heimin after he was born as a son of the chief retainer of the Morioka domain.)
華族や士族の家に生まれた者も、家を継がず分家して一戸を創設する際には、生家の族称から離れて、原則として平民の族称を享けることとなった（平民宰相といわれた原敬がこの例で、盛岡藩家老の息子だったが平民となった）。