 His ancestors were a branch of the Tuoba tribe, which founded Northern Wei, and their subtribe was referred to as the Yuchi—and therefore took the name of the subtribe as the surname.His father Yuchi Qidou (尉遲俟兜) married the sister of Northern Wei's branch successor state Western Wei's paramount general Yuwen Tai, and they had two sons together—Yuchi Jiong and his brother Yuchi Gang (尉遲綱).