Although popularized by tradition, just exactly who the Eight Immortals are, however, had been a subject of constant change until the Ming writer Wu Yuan-tai decided in his Eight Immortals Journey to the East, that they are Han Chung-li, Lu Tung-pin, Li Tieh-kuai, Chang Kuo-lao, Han Hsiang-tzu, Lan Tsai-ho, Tsao Kuo- chiu and Ho Hsien-ku.
雖然流傳甚廣，但八仙是那八位，卻一直改來換去沒有一定。直到明朝吳元泰「八仙出處東遊記」，將漢鍾離、呂洞賓、李鐵拐、張果老、韓湘子、藍采和、曹國舅、何仙姑定為八仙，從此八仙才有了特定人選，並沿用至今。