The name means "origin" or "source" and the clan was one of four that dominated Japan during the Heian Period (794-1185), the others were the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Taira. The clan is also known as the Genji, the Sino-Japanese reading for Minamoto. The name derived from the practice of the emperors demoting people, including some of their own sons and daughters, from the imperial family to the nobility, usually to thin out their own families and cut expenses. The first emperor to do this was the Emperor Saga, who, having reportedly fathered 49 children by at least 30 women, was finding the imperial purse strings exceedingly tight. It seems he gave the name Minamoto to 32 of his sons.

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Toru 源融 (822-895): 18th son of Emperor Saga.

Tsunemoto 源經基 (894–961) Founder of the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto Clan. Grandson of Emperor Seiwa and the clan name of Minamoto was bestowed on him by the emperor in 961. Attained the position of Chinjufu-Shogun.

Yoshiie 源義家 (1041-1108): First son of Yoriyoshi. Popularly known as Hachimantaro, the God of War, in recognition of his exceptional military skills.

Yoshikuni 源義国 (1091-1155): Son of Yoshiie, father of Yoshishige.

Tameyoshi 源為義 (1096-1156): Grandson of Yoshiie and father of Yoshitomo. Seems to have had 19 sons by at least 16 different women. Commanded the Minamoto forces in the Hogen Rebellion of 1156 in which Yoshitomo was on the other side. (Members of the Fujiwara and Taira clans also found themselves fighting against their own relatives.) The Tameyoshi forces lost and he was beheaded on the orders of Yoshitomo.

Yorimasa 源頼政 (1106-1180)

Yoshitomo 源義朝 (1123-1160) Had a total of nine sons, the third of whom, Yoritomo, went on to become Japan's first Shogun. In the Hogen Rebellion of 1156 Yoshitomo sided with the leader of the Taira clan, Taira Kiyomori, against his own Minamoto family led by his father, Tameyoshi. After Kiyomori emerged victorious Yoshitomo was ordered to execute Tameyoshi, but refused. In 1159 Yoshitomo turned against Kiyomori and attempted to seize power in an episode called the Heiji Rebellion. He was soundly defeated, however, and escaped but was later killed while attempting to regroup in Kanto.

Yoshishige 源義重 (1135-1202): Son of Yoshikuni. The founder of the Nitta branch of the Minamoto Clan. Also attained the office of Chinjufu-shogun, but not until over four centuries after his death in 1611. This was at the instigation of the second Tokugawa Shogun, Hidetada, as part of that clan’s attempts to claim ancestry from the Nitta.

Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199): Son of Yorinobu, and, like his father before him, inherited the title of Chinjufu-Shogun, Commander-in-chief of the Defence of the North, from his father. He was the first Shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate.

Yoshitsune 源義経 (1159-1189: Son of Yoshitomo. Was a brilliant military commander and won many of the victories which allowed his half-brother, Yoritomo, to consolidate power and become Japan’s first Shogun.

Yoriie  源 頼家 (1182-1204): First son of Yoritomo, and the second Kamakura Shogun.