Ask Mike: Sharing the same last name
Hey Guys,
I don’t often run across people with my last name. That’s just sort of the way it goes when you have a bizarre surname. Still, plenty of my friends have “common” names. In fact, some who aren’t related share the same name. That got me wondering: Is everyone who has the same last name actually related in some way?
I’m far from the only person to wonder. There are several similar questions within Yahoo! Answers. I poked around Genealogy.com and found that the simple answer is: absolutely not. Just because you share the same last name with someone, that definitely does not mean you are automatically related.
Why? The reason, according to folks within Yahoo! Answers, is that back in the olden days, people were often named for their profession. So for example, if you were a blacksmith, your last name was Smith. If your name was Baker, you really were a baker. Of course, the world needed more than one blacksmith, so it stands to reason that there were many Smiths, who had absolutely no relation to one another.
Genology Today explains that most surnames can be traced back to one of five groups. They were either formed from the sire’s given name, arose from a person’s physical traits or personality, had to do with the place of residence, came about from the person’s job (see above), or they were “invented for their pleasing sound or simply out of necessity.”
As one site puts it, “last names can be used as clues to relationships,” but it shouldn’t be concluded that two people are related just because they share a name.
What are your experiences with tracking down relatives? Do you ever stumble across someone with the same last name and wonder if you’re in some way related? If there are any genealogists out there, I’d especially love to hear from you.
Thanks for reading,
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I am just wondering…. my name is Benton Bloodworth. My great (great, great, great) grandfather was named Thomas Bludworth (he was the mayor of London). Do you think you might know where my last name could have originated from?
I run across people with my surname constantly or I meet people who know someone with my surname. The problem is, this isn’t what my family’s name originally was. We, like many others, were the result of an indifferent Ellis Island immigrantion official during the early 1900’s. We came from Romania around 1910 as the Asztalnok’s but whoever meet my great-great-grandfather processed him as Stefan Stahl either through laziness or prejudice. By the time he was through the paperwork and had arrived in Pittsburgh or Youngstown (our family history is fuzzy on this point) it was much easier to stick with the paperwork as written than to apply for a name change; a name change back then would likely have cost more than a fresh immigrant could afford.
My last name is Seitter. pronounced, Cedar like the tree. Not Cider like the drink. It’s usually mispronounced by telemarketers so as soon as they ask Mr. cider? I tell them I don’t want any.
I’m no genealogist but i do have some information that might help. People with very common names such as Smith, and Miller were made according to thier profession. The name Smith came from a blacksmith, and Miller from the people who worked at mills. Surnames can describe several things, such as proffesions, homelands, and possibly personal attributes. As i have already said that professions can give surnames such as Miller, and Smith, but during Jesus’ time and and before and after, people were known as (name) of (homeland). For example: Jesus of Nazereth.
When children are born some parents want to give names to thier kids that mean something. People also use that as thier surname.
There was a kid in my world history class by the name of Long in my 10th grade world history class. Well my teacher is hilarious and she included the fact that his name could have came to be due to a personal attribute, but who knows. haha
Some strange names were made due to the language. Names such as O’leary, or well any name that has the O and ‘ like that would be from Ireland and i think scottland. Palowski, and other names that end with “ski” are most likely from another European country.
During the great potato famine people would move to America had some strange names and most were tough to prenounce. So when they arrived they would have thier name changed to something that was easier for the Americans to pronounce.
I hope this helps a little bit.
EVERYBODY in the world is related somehow. if you think about it, your moms cousins daughters sons cousins grandmas niece could just as well be YOUR aunt. think about it…
in answer to your question.my aunt has been doing a family history on our family for years. my sister came to visit one day and i showed her a collection we had aquired from my husbands dad after he died. it was a collection of coins of all the british monarcheys. 1000 years worth. she informed me that some where down the line of royalty we were indeed related to a son of one of the kings and his sons name was shakespear…
im going to email her and ask her again if she and my aunt had found any more information on this subject
cheers
mystic
first
Occasionally I will run across someone who knows someone with my same last name. I guess it’s unique enough that I always get asked whether or not we are related. Imagine my surprise when I saw the movie, “The Wedding Crashers” to find that Owen Wilson’s character was also called John Beckwith. What’s funny to me is that I still have people to this day make that reference. Do you remember the name of a character in a romantic comedy from years ago? Somehow that name stuck with people.
I have done some rudimentary searching online over the years with varying degrees of success. What I’ve found lately is that with Google’s effort to digitize every single book out there, there are very old genealogy books that are now searchable using Google. I’ve found out quite a bit about my grandfather and distant relatives that way.
This issue is further complicated by the fact that not every culture places the given name first and surname (or family or relationship) name second.
Often names can best be translated as So-and-so, son of So-and-so. There is no Surname.
Your “back in the old days” only holds true for part of Europe, not the rest of the world.
Modifications to names is also a problem. How many way can you spell Smith, Smyth, Smythe, etc.? Often a Perril is related to a Pearl while two Andersons are not even remotely related. Many people in the past have Anglicized their names or spellings.
The simple answer to the question “Is everyone who has the same last name actually related in some way?” is yes. But, not because of the last name. It is because the answer to the question “Are we all related in some way?” is yes.
I am not a genealogists but it’s funny that you posted this.
My maiden name is Golonin. You will never meet a Golonin unless they are related to me.
My grandfather was already married when he married my Grandmother back in the 30’s.
He gave her the fake last name “Golonin” When she had children she gave them the same last name. When she tried to divorce him years later she discovered that his real name was actually Galvan .
Crazy,eh?
try coming across someone with the same FIRST and LAST name. it was quite bizzare when I was applying for a job, and meeting her face to face!
first comment!! woo!!!!!
i don’t know anyone outside of my family that has the same last name as me.
don’t know why but me and my sister are the only two in the school system though i know tons of people that have my Grandparents last name.
and most of them are my cousins. with the exception of a few.
Very interesting…I, too, have an unusual surname, but my family is so small that I know who I’m related to.
Sorry, I hit “Submit” too soon.
I also wanted to say that my name originated as a place of residence and is a very old name. For some reason, it was never adopted by many people, however, and thus, is fairly rare. When someone asks “Are you related to So-and-So?”, I know when I am and when I am not.
Surnames were based on a)being the son of someone b)their occupation c)where they lived d)some characteristic about them. Most in England had one by the end of the 14th century. However, it was a few more centuries in many cases before the same surname was passed down to each generation. The reason for them was not so much to identify a person as a member of a family but for taxation purposes. Too many Homers in the same village and they had to have a way of telling them apart.
When they got through it was impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to have a different surname and still each could have shared their name with others they to whom they were not related.
Now, some will say we are all related if we go back far enough. However, the root person of your surname will not necessarily be the root person of someone else with your surname.
In the Netherlands and the low countries it wasn’t until the reign of Napoleon before people had a surname. The Dutch thought it was be something temporary. Therefire in a spirit of good humor many gave themselves obnoxious and disgusting names. When they found out they would be permanent, I understand they had one heck of a time getting their names changed.
Correction above. When they got though it wasn’t impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to have a different surname.
I would very much like to hear more on this subject. I have a difficult time finding out if by carrying the same Last Name, and spelled in different ways, we may be in some way related. And if the others are at all interested in finding relatives is another question. And of course just how to approach these possible relatives without being intrusive .
My dad once met a guy with the same last name AND first name as him! They lived in the same city. They were even friends for a while. It was really weird.
I have an unusual last name also, and have found so far that everyone that carries it has ancestors that originated from a certain region in Germany. The family lines may all be interrelated. I don’t know the significance of the name there. We have a hotel named after us.
Internet searches have turned up evidence of at least one person who had our surname as a first name. Since the surname is not generally thought of as a first name, it is suspected that the oddly named person is related in some way, but this has not been proved.
I have this (somewhat of a real) problem at my school. In my homeroom class there is a girl with the same exact last name, same amount of siblings, and they are all the same ages! We are always being refered to as brother and sisters, and are always getting mixed up!
My brother has it worse though… he shares lockers and many classes with a guy thats got the same first and last name!!!
watabout torres? my last name is torres?
I’m #1 in domestic Yahoo for genealogy, I think. I was #1 in August, when the new look debuted and the rankings froze. Your pals in Tech Support haven’t fixed it yet, Mike (Hint, Hint).
This question comes up 3 – 13 times a week. I always point to Robert E. lee and Lee Kwon Yu, both leaders, neither related.
On the other hand, most people in the USA named “Cady” are descended from Nicholas Cady, 1627 – 1712, and many people in the USA named “Pack” are (probably) descended from a George Pack whose will was probated in 1754 in Maryland.
Research is the only way to find out; surnames are clues, nothing more.
Reminds me of a joke; man sees a sign, “Olaf Olafson, Chinese Restaurant”. Goes in, has a plate of chow mein, enjoys it, asks the Chinese man behind the counter where is Olaf.
“That’s me!”
“Odd name for a Chinese”
“There I was at Ellis Island. Man ahead of me is six foot three, blond, goes up to the clerk; ‘Name?’
‘Olaf Olafson’
‘Welcome to the United States, Mr Olafson’”
“I go up, he asks me my name, I say ‘Sam Ting’!”
A guy contacted me out of the blue some years ago. His last name was “Propp”. He’d done an incredible amount of research into our family tree, entering more than 2500 people into a genealogy database, which he sent me.. From what I understand, according to him, the story goes something like this: back in Russia in the 1700’s, the family name was “Probnovich”. Then, around 1800, that was shortened to “Propp”. Around 1820 some Propps (I’m not sure how many) emigrated to the US. While on the boat, two Propp brothers decided to change their last name to “Berlow”. (Why Berlow??). Most Berlows in the US are descended from these two brothers. Also, most Berlows are also related to the Propps. Is this true? How accurate is the info in the database which he sent me? I could probably spend the rest of my life trying to find out. However, I’m always surprised at how accurate the data he sent me is, the more I research it myself.
There is a possibility that you’re related, but there’s an equal chance to be related to someone with a different surname because the person from your family could have taken their spouse’s name when they got married. Also the relation could be so far back that by now, so many new genes have been introduced that it really doesn’t matter anymore.
And there’s always the religious way of explaining things, which i personally believe is crap. but hey, that’s just me.
there was a girl who went to my high school with the same last name as me. but we definitely were not related. she is the only person i know not in my family to have my last name. this includes any celebrity. ive searched my last name on wikipedia and no notable names came up in any field
I know that everyone in the usa with my last name is related and technically everyone is related in some way through adam and eve and again through noah.
There are many surnames, especially here in the US that were created in an effort to convenience the authorities at the migratory borders more than a century ago. If they found the name of the migrant too difficult to pronounce or on occasion simply for their own entertainment, they simply shortened or changed it to suit themselves.
I too have an usual last name, and as someone who’s done fairly extensive genealogy for the past 5+ years, I can say pretty definitely that everyone with my last name is related.
However, our family unfortunately being slave holders back in the day, the exception to this are any black [my last name]s, since what used to happen is that the slaves would simply take the surname of their owner.
Apart from that, I have made a hobby of finding people on the internet with my last name and tracing my relationship to them, and I haven’t been stumped in finding a link yet (even with international kin!)
My last name is Exl, I’ve never had that problem running into someone with the same last name. However I do have a problem finding family with the last name because they lived back in Germany, and according to my father many of their family records were wiped out.
omg that is so kewl… but what would ‘francis’ be???
woah cool i thought it did meen you were related bc i have one of those “bizzar” last names i’ve met one person and theres one famous person and guess what they are both very distantly related like we sher a great great great grandfather
You’re forgetting one thing. My last name has only lasted one generation because when my parents converted to a religion, they chose a new last name.
I might add one of the biggest mistakes a person can make when starting their family history is to get overly involved in their name. Your surname is a very tiny part of your ancestry. The number of people you descend from pyramids as you go back. Get back to your 6xGreat Grandparents, barring any duplicates, you are directly descended from 510 individuals. Of those 510 individuals only 8 of them will probably have your surname. Now, it is possible for one of your other ancestors to have married someone with the same surname whether in the family or not, but without any duplicates 502 will not have your surname.
Get back to you 7xgreat grandparents you come out of 1012 individuals (that is 10 generations including yourself). Again barring any duplicates only 9 will have your surname leaving out 1003 people.
Kiddo you have a lot of kin.
I live in a small town, and most of the people who have the same last name of me actually are related to me in some way or another. But when I find someone away from here who has it, it does make me curious.
Also, surnames were sometimes given according to the name of one’s father. (Son of John=Johnson, Son of Peter=Peterson, etc.) So, obviously, there was more than one Peter or John, in the same way that there were many blacksmiths or bakers.
In the case of the Lillards, 2 men came here in 1774 and I think most Lillards can trace their ancestry back to Jean and Benjamin Lillard from Nates, France.
It is not?
Another thing to remember about last names, at least in the US, is that when families immgrated, many last names were changed to sound more “Americanized”.
Actually, we all have a common ancestor 200,000 years ago(closer if all from Europe). But not everyone who has the same last name are DIRECTLY related.
I know that anyone having my last name of Bouhl, is related to me. That is how rare our last name is. I believe it is German although I’ve now found relatives in France. The region that my great grandparents came from, was controlled by the German empire for many, many years.
I don’t think that
what about the last name ulricksen?that have anything behind? i dont think so cuz my family originated in norway so im not sure
That’s pretty common knowledge as far as the ordianary last names…ie: Jackson being Jack’s son and the ones you cited, such as the Smiths and Bakers. I’ve heard that all my life. But what about those not-so-ordinary names? At one point, there were only a handful of people with my friend’s last name in the whole US. Wouldn’t they have had to be related in some fashion?
My grandfather’s a genealogist. Apparently everyone’s related in some way, usually very distantly, though.
It isn’t so much as the same surname that gives us genealogists a difficult time, but the myriad of off-shoot names that connect starting with the maternal sides. Of course, this does not diminish the constant efforts in tracing a surname ancestry either.
Nonetheless, I have many cousins living in the Georgetown, South Carolina, area whose roots go back to a brother of the man that started my direct lineage in the early 1800s of New York. I’ve found distant cousins originating from England, New Zealand, and other foreign seaports. Making matters worse, my surname changed to its current spelling during England’s Civil War of 1611.
Finding that connection is a challenge for me. Genealogy is a never-ending objective. If I should stumble across a person bearing my exact surname, then I automatically assume a connect exists because of the unique spelling.
Well this is an interesting subject. Most of my roots and blood relations trace back through my family to Ireland. My last name is not too common but others have it. I see you point however. For example, ‘Devine’ is my last name and my roots do trace back to Ireland. However, I am sure not all “Devines’ do. I have met others with my last name who had either never traced their family tree or were certain they were not of Irish decent. Thats my worthless 2¢ worth!
well, my last name is Reina, which means Queen in Spanish, so I would love to know if I am a descendant of royalty!
You make a great and useful point.
My surname is a very unique one attached to a river, so the majority of people with it are related in some way.
On the other hand, genealogy is a completely different game for broadly used names which originated in many different places.
This has led to people with my surname asking me if I think we’re related, and I say of course we are.
As with many things in life, genealogy advice for one name does not fit for another name.
Interesting.
I tend to disagree.
Nice, I like this blog. There is one thing I’d like to add about the Fitz on some names. Like FitzGerald. There is a rumor that a “Fitz” name means that the original bearer was a jerk. “Fitz” just means son in the Norman-French language.
I got this from mental_floss In the Beginning. Copyright 2007 by Mental Floss LLC.
My surname is really unique here in the states. Only one person with my last name, my great grandpa, came to elise island from norway. I recently befriended someone with my last name from norway, on my facebook. He looks like my great grandfather my sister said, so it’s a pretty good chance we are related somehow.
I find this to be an interesting post. I am also interested in learning about shared last names.
everyone is related, were all children of adam, our lastnames came from tribes and empires and such, but we’re all one. thats my opinion and beleif
I am not sure exactly, but you would think somehow they would have to be. I am married to a Hmong guy and it is strictly forbidden and taboo to marry someone with the same last name for belief they are relatives. Just a thought.
My grandfather’s family’s long Lithuanian last name was shortened to a five-letter English variation when they came through Ellis Island in the 1890s. This was a common practice in those days.
hi i barely meet anyone that i dont know who has my same last name, btw my background,-i guess is from like south asia and there is a caste system even though not every one goes by it, its actually true, like the higher caste peepulzez are destined to be more rich, with better luck and better lives. bye!!!
continuation:
I’ve never met anyone with my last name.
I have heard the same thing about your last name being your profession.
never seen anyone withe same last name as me, ANYONE
morrison
ive never run into anyone with my last name, besides family. its a german name and when my brother went to hamburg and he said that he met a few people with our name. apparently it comes from some word in an ancient german lanugage that translates to “smith”. growing up i was always glad i didnt have a common name like Smith because it was too boring, and it turns out that my last name translates to it!
I think this is a good start, but there is a lot more to last names, especially in the United States. Many immigrants had names that were unfamiliar to English speakers, so immigration officials recorded a botched version of the name.
Also, many people in America have changed their last name to be less “ethnic.” My grandfather and his parents had a Russian last name, but because he was being bullied for being a “commie” they changed the name to an English name, which was my name until I got married. I can count on my hands how many people with that name are related to me. In another side of my family, a Polish surname was shortened because of fears they would be discriminated against due to being Polish.
A good example of this is a man who was born with the name Ralph Lifshitz, who later changed his name to Ralph Lauren. Yes, *that* Ralph Lauren. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Lauren
In Korea, where certain Family names are incredibly common, such as Lee, Park, and Kim, every township or precinct keeps a detailed geneology for every family. This is necessary to prevent incestuous marriage, since it is not at all unusual for two Parks or Kims to marry.
I have a very uncommon last name, and other than my close relatives, I hadn’t heard of anyone else with the same name. I did a search on a social networking site for people with the last name, and it came up with 1 other person, a girl who coincidentally also had the same first name as me. After a few messages back and forth, we discovered that our great-great grandfathers were brothers, making us 4th cousins.
Although, it seems like it was a one-time kind of incident. I’ve tried to contact the few other people that also have the same last name as me, but none of them appear to be related. However, I have found other people with different last names, who are actually related to me through marriage, or their maiden name used to be the same.
I’ve been working on constructing my own family tree, and I have around 200 names so far, ranging from distant cousins to long-gone ancestors.
Is there some kind of website where u can enter your surname and trace it back where it started? so having said all that how about all the rare last names… what would be the chances of being related cause I met only 1 person in my life with the same 1
my last name is slater…is yours?
wow ur right this girl in our class & my 5th period teacher both have the same last name!
There’s one thing you’re missing here. Slavery. It was actually quite common for slaves, or former slaves, to take the surname of one of their masters. Take Nat Turner for instance. His surname, as accepted by the white community at the time, came from his master Samuel Turner. Same thing goes for Cato Perkins, the slave of one John Perkins.
Wow. i find this quite interesting as just the other day, i too was wondering the same thing
my married name is Johnson,my husband’s family is swedish and the meaning is obvious (but i wonder about people named simpson) My maiden name ,Houck,is somewhat more unusual,I haven’t met a lot of folks with that name,there seem to be a lot of Houck’s in Pa.some most likely related to me,but sadly I don’t know much about that side of my family (only my g-grandfather’s name,John or John Homer Houck,from “Dutch Bottom Pa.” I can’t even find Dutch Bottom on a map,my ancestors came to this country in the late 1600’s and i think the houck ones are lost to me.
I’ve yet to come across anyone with the exact same surname. I have a joined name, my mom’s maiden name and my father’s surname hyphenated. But I run into tons of people with one or the other.
Take my very last name as an example, Dodge. It’s a truck or car company, one of those. I wonder if I’m related to the company. I mean, my whole family on my dad’s side works on vehicles. So I guess it could be possible! But no promises.
You forgot to mention that surnames can be changed, either by forging paper documents or by the court system. My father’s side of the family had to change their last name during world war II. So my last name today has no relation to what my families name really is.
It’s difficult for me to look up my family’s genealogy online now. Even my mother’s maiden name is very obscure. I’ve never known or heard of anyone having the same last name. Though, they are both from French Origin.
We have our family tree, it was made by one of our cousins. My family name is really unusual and came from a region in France where the family was important in the 16th century. Because it’s so long ago, there are loads of descendants sharing the same surname, and we’re spread out all over the world – Ireland, England, America, Australia; although I don’t think there are any actually living in France anymore. But because our family has so many descendants and it’s such an uncommon name, it’s almost guaranteed that all the people with it are related to us somehow, if distantly.
So your ideas don’t really work for my family – but they’ve helped my friend, who has a really common surname and dated a guy with the same surname and got reeeeeally freaked out by it until I found this out. So thanks. =]
I have actually never met another Howard that I didn’t already know I was related to. My dad traced our family history back like 6 generations or so but it seems like the Howard side doesn’t have very many branches. A lot of our family either died or didn’t have kids. I have yet to meet an Elias or Abraham that I don’t already know I’m related to.
I recently discovered that my last name is a fake! That is, when my great grandfather moved to North America from Iceland he changed his name to a less Icelandic and more English sounding name. Apparently it happened a lot back in the early 1900’s. It was easier to find a job, and avoid being stereotyped. I can only imagine that this is not an isolated case.
Oh yes, this is true. My teacher told us this the other day.
I think you’re giving the Yahoo community too much credit. Maybe that’s biased on your part. Way, way too many who post answers don’t know squat about what their talking about. The genealogy section may have less erroneous posts though, maybe. I will concede that a surname may be derived from a geographical location (place of residence), as with mine was in it’s early form. However, since it evolved it is unique and I can almost emphatically state that those who do have it; do share a common ancestor, ergo; we are related. Unless of course they were adopted. In our families early quest into the origin of our surname, it was discovered that the explanation was completely incorrect. Only credible sites know the true origin and don’t touch on a mythical fallacy.
This has only happened to me once, and quite recently actually. My work hired a new woman, and we share the same last name. I saw her name on the schedule and thought it was cool and wondered if we were related. I actually met her. and she happens to be black, while I am white. But we could still be related! You never know.
Well if your surname is very rare then you would be related to everyone with your surname… I speak from experience.
PS FIRST
Well, at a time people got their last names from what they were especially skilled in—like “Smith”, for example.
My last name is surely NOT common, not at all… I know 24 people who share my last name, and most of them are family… The rest of them, I’ve met on Facebook, believe it or not! On facebook, someone who shares my last name, started a group for people who are also named D’Astolfo. The group is nicely called “D’Astolfo all around the world”. I have no idea where my last name comes from, and I have no idea how to figure it out either. I know that it’s Italian, lot’s of D’Astolfo’s are Italian, but there are Russians and Americans too…
Just thought I’d share this with you all! Look for the group name on facebook and you can see for yourself!
Greetz
I had a coworker with my maiden surname, Leong. Getting to know him, I noticed his resemblance to my only brother. His attitude, behavior, and speech patterns seemed familiar.
Our families are strangers; however the ancesters came from the same region of Southern China.
I never told him what I thought but just assumed we must have come from the same family in the old country. Wonder if a DNA test would prove a relationship in that kind of situation. I never see him since retiring except once when we crossed paths on the street couple years ago.
hehe
My last name is so common where I come from that both of my last names are the same
When I was little I thought that my parents were cousins or something, but as I grew up I noticed how common my last names were and that many people have it and are not related.
Well, I’m not trying to be racist, but I’ve heard that African slaves who where brought and sold were named after their masters. So, they just continue using the name for generations and generations.
It all depends on what you mean by related. Since we all back trace to the same common male and female progenitors, we are related to one another to some extent.
Having said that, no we are directly related to people of the same name. Not only are there trade names but place names and there are several places with the same place name. As if this did not complicate thing enough there is also different and misspellings.
Many languages share the same spelling of words with slightly different connotations. Also the same occupation or place name maybe spelled differently and still refer to the same place or occupation within different languages.
What a name actually means may vary with interpretations of the name. Which can significantly alter how it maybe spelled, pronounced or written. .
I wonder that about whites and blacks who share the same las name. I wonder if those whites were once their owners.
Weel i would think not. alot of slaves didnt have last names when they were freed so they took their owners last name or freeman lol. and alot of immigrants that come in on ellis Island took common names they had heard or seen. My Dads last name is McKinley and i dont think he is irish (although i cant be too sure) and hes black so yea. so Smith and Davis and Clark and Bradley would be names you would see alot along with some others!!
What about all the lee”s, Park’s, Chin’s and all those other asian names. where do all those come from? Half my school has a last name of Lee.
hi!
thats one reason i dont get any email website domains or myspace or uyube usernames i want, because so many people have the same last name as me…it can get frusterating but i manage
That is pretty interesting.
My mother’s maiden name was Stambaugh. She had a family story about how three Stambaugh brothers came to America from Germany over three hundred or more years ago. One died, one settled in Kentucky and the other orignally settled in Kenntucky but went out to Texas and was not heard from again.
I moved to Florida, back in 1955 and met some people named Stambaugh at church there.
When I met the grandfather of the group, he had the same story except that his fifth or sixth great grandfather was the brother that had settled in Texas,
His later decendents moved from Texas to Florida. I think it is interesting to have found out that our common family “history” was a true story.
I am sure lots of people have similar experiences.
But the strangest part of my story, to me, is that when I went to Spain, as a tourist, I was amazed to see people that looked exactly like my uncles and my grandmother and ME! All of our relatives that we know of, came from Germany, Scotland and England.
None that we know of came from Spain.
It is an interesting topic for sure.
hmm…. interesting..
My great-great-great grandfather decided to change his last name from Johnson to Oleson because there were too many Johnsons in our area.
very interesting.
No, I don’t think so.
Exactly for the reasons you stated.
My last name is Miller and I know a lot of people with that last name, probably because their relatives were also Millers back in the day.
i really enjoyed this informative blog…
i wnat to see who answers
i same here
really interested
nice
cool
this is funny cause i work at an office pulling trash and while pulling trash i looked up at a girl and her name in the cubicle was nicole hodge, so i asked her and she said yes, we both was bugging out we both have birthdays in august, left handed i have 6 kids but she has none and we are both from the bronx but live in albany new york, she asked me if i been getting her mail but i was like how would i know if my junk mail or any mail with my name on it was hers. we are friends on a hi and bye note but i thought it was funny.
I might add that people wanting to know their family history and a reply “Google your name” is a stupid reply.
You don’t trace your name. You trace your ancestors with the name. Also, when people make a dumb remark like that it appears they think there was no such thing as a search engine before Google.
There are a lot of Smith’s in my hometown who are not related, but I have often wodered if they were really but didn’t know it. Thanks for the info!
My Dad has traced our family back to the 1400’s. It’s fun to look at. When you go back that far you see a father who traded his daughter off for a team of horses or somethign like that to a guy so her could marry her. We are related to the Esty family. Sara & Mary Esty, 2 sisters who were tried as witches in the Salem Witch Trials. We don not spell our last name like that though, we spell it Estey. There are or were many ways to spell that name. Estee, Esty, Este, Estey. Thanks again for the intersting article.
Actually, every living thing on this planet is related. Even the trees, bacterium, fungi, and whale are all your distant cousins.
I think that just because you have the same last name as someone else doesn’t mean that your families came from the same clan, tribe, or whatever it may be.
1st comment!!
Actually there is a reason why many, many people have common names such as Smith, Brown, White, Johnson ect.
As you already know America is very diverse and no one is truly “American”. Many Immigrants came to the US through Ellis Island. While at Ellis Island they went through a battery of tests and screenings. When they went to a “clerk” and gave their name(s) the clerk would write it down. It was a common practice to, if they could not spell the name, change the name completely.
My mother’s family had their name shortened. Orginally it was Ozenversenowski, and was changed to Owski.
my sirname is Marispini, and i have not seen or heard that from anyone, its possible that tyhe spelling was changed as it origenated in italy
Did you also know that when immigrents came to america, offten times thier first and or last names were changed because the person checking them in didn’t know how to spell or pronounce it. And at that time the immigrents didn’t know how to read or write let alone speak english.
Yeah, I’ve definitely wondered this myself a few times. I’ve always wondered if I’m any relation to Walter McCarty (formerly of the Boston Celtics) or Dave McCarty of the Boston Redsox.
According to recent studies, people with the same last name have a 98% chance of being related.
People in Europe did not have a surname until the last millennium In England most had one by the end of the 14th century. Still it was a few more centuries, in many cases, before the same surname was passed down through the generations.
They were not started so much to identify you as a member of a family but for taxation purposes. They were based on a)being the son of someone b)their occupation c)where they lived d)some characteristic
about them. When they got through it wasn’t impossible for legitimate sons of the same man to have a different surname. Still each could have shared their surname with others unrelated. Some will say we are all related if we go back far enough. However, the root person of your surname will not necessarily be the same root person of someone else with your surname.
In the Netherlands, it wasn’t until the reign of Napoleon that people took a surname. The Dutch didn’t think it was be permanent and as a result many in a spirit of good humor gave themselves disgusting and obnoxious names. I understand they had a hard time changing them once they realized they would be permanent.
In genealogy, one of the biggest mistake a person can make is to get overly involved in their name. They should trace their ancestor’s lineage not their ancestor’s name. Just googling your name is not a good way to start.
Also, your surname is a very small part of who you are. If you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, you are directly descended from 510 individuals. It pyramids as you go back. Of those 510, only 8 will have your surname unless other ancestors not in your direct male line also had your surname. If not, it leaves out 502 people. Back to your 7xgreat grandparents and you are directly descended from 1012 people. Of those only 9 will have your surname unless again someone other than your direct male line ancestor had the same name. It would leave out 993 people.
I recently found out that my last name means “where the lavender grows.” I also found out that Polish last names ending with “ski” were originally for nobility, but after centuries it got to the point where everybody could get the “ski” ending by paying for it.
There’s a prominent accounting firm in my area that is called “my last name,and company.” My sister graduated with an accounting degree so I told her to apply for a position there. We aren’t related to the founder, but I told her that she didn’t have to tell the coworkers. She didn’t apply there.
My last name is Sobieski (like LeeLee) which is the same name as the last king of Poland. LeeLee once said on a Leno interview that she was a niece, which is complete crap. I’ve done some research and in those days (17th century) the serfs who dwelled on the lord’s lands sometimes took his surname as did many American slave in the USA. So, I can say I’m a nephew or something and it MAY be true, but in reality probably isn’t.
My last name is pretty common, and not coming from a job. Like ‘Alexanders’, or ‘Ryan’, ‘Roberts’. I’ve met people with the same last name, but never assume they’re my relatives because it’s not a rare last name to have. Someone said that everybody is related. That must be true, right? Someway everyone on earth is related, (but obviously far-off). Sure it sounds difficult to believe that somebody in Europe is related to someone in Australia or an Asian related to a Greek, but it could be.
What about Indian/Pakistani last names? I have the most common surname in Pakistan (Khan).
I don’t run into lots of people with my last name. The only people i know that have my same last name are 2 and they’re famous.
I’m from Mennonite background. We have this little thing called “The Mennonite Game” in which you meet another Mennonite and then try to find out how you’re related. I actually have yet to find someone with my last name who is NOT related to me in some way.
My birth name is “Mattingly”. After doing lots of research in our tree we have discovered that all Mattingly are related and came from one man who came over in the 1500’s. We also know that we came from the Matta Lee tribe in England prior to the Bloody Mary Wars. How it got changed to Mattingly is unknown as during the wars writing was banned. So most people were lost and refound.
Anyone share the last name of SWAUGER. I think it’s from a german word meaning “my brother-in-law. I’m also interested in any information about Swaugers’ Creek and a town in northern California that used to known as Swaugers’ Station or an area in Maryland called Swaugers’ Dam @ New Germany State Park. Thanks to anyone with info.
okay.. lets say my distant relative is a millionaire, how does it matter unless he knows me in person?
I know that my family surname comes from a royal family on one side, but on my mom’s side i’m russian (half russian half lithuanian) when my grandfather and grandmother came through to america, they were given the last name of Graham, which people often relate to scottish, or english, which in this case it was not.
alot of surnames i’ve notice are set up like roman names.
back in roman times they had 3 names.
ex. Flores Icundus Caecilius
the middle name was the family name, and the last name was the name they went by, and I forgot what the first name was, that was like my first week of latin class.
well in my culture there are not a lot of us. only 18 surnames. every surname is related to one another in a way. it is also forbidden in my culture to marry someone with the same surname as your birth surname. because it was said by our past ancestor that we all were a big family once and somehow got separated. so that is why we have surname to decipher us from what side of the family we should not marry or should marry. i would tell you guys my grandparents story of what surname we can and can’t marry in my culture and ow our surnames got to be but then i would be grinding down the whole text here and also my personal information.
-chaosthao_09
My last name is Griffiths, and I know loads of people with that surname. Originally, its welsh, but none of my immediate family is welsh. Also, it doesn’t really have a profession linked to it. It would be interesting to know if anyone knows how it came about…
I’m curious now; what is your last name? Mine is very common.
My last name is Moore which of course is really common .. i think its like the 5th most common name in the United States. But i always meet people with the same last name as me and sometimes it can get awkward. I remember on the first day of school when i was in 8th grade i got my schedule and i realized i had the same last name as my social studies teacher so i was like greattt this is going to be weird .. and when i went to her class and she was reading attendance she was like we are not related. But people would always ask if we were and that got annoying. Also, there’s this one girl in my grade with the same last name and so we were always in the same homeroom in middle school and i remember when the teacher would do attendance and i was there and she wasnt they would ask me where she was because i guess they thought we were twins ..
technically everyone in the entire world is related sumhow so thats y u mite not even know sumone but they can have same last name…its long and complicated but its true! so i shud b saying hello to all my brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and grandmas and grandpas and cuzins and nephews and nieces and u get my point…
my last name is butler. does that means my ancestors were butlers.
and i tried to find my history before and it said one of my great ancestors was the chief of ireland. Theobald Walter.
but he had killed like 6 men from england so he had to change his last name to Bootler or something like that.
My parents had the same last name before they were married!!!!
Yes, I have thought about this topic too. However, I believe everyone with my name is related, because my name belongs just to my family.
With my last name, I almost always get the response,” Wow! Does that mean you’re related to Nobu Matsuhisa?!” Since my last name is so rare, its very often misspelled/mispronounced by many people. When speaking with Nobu, I discovered that he found eight other Matsuhisas from when he was traveling, and I found that rather interesting.
I do not think that we are very closely related; my great great grandfather was adopted into the Matsuhisa family.
In any case, the last name Matsuhisa is supposed to mean “Strong pine.” How this came about, I’m not sure. Perhaps because our ancestors were samurai, and that name somehow got coined? In any case, I find it interesting for last names to hold so much signifigance with our ancestry and culture. I’d love to learn more about this kind of stuff.
Well when I was back in middle school, there were two people who had the same last name as me, one of them drew the cover of the yearbook for that year. I’m also a very good artist, so everyone was CONSTANTLY asking if I was related to the kid when I didnt even know what he looked like. Then there was another girl with my last name, and everyone thought that I was also related to her. So in the year I went into highschool, the guy with the same last name was in the class right next to me (you could see into the other room because it was separated prettymuch by a window -_-) and the girl who shared my last name was in my math class…it was wierd. We look nothing alike.
I know what you mean. My last name, “Reynolds” means “Ruler’s Advisor”. It is a variant of Reginald but from where I managed to trace it was Reynold for a long time. It is a very common last name here in the USA so chances of me being directly related to someone sharing the last name are slim.
In extension, every time I see Reynolds wrap it annoys me.
I was born in Alabama, so when I was younger, I used to wonder about all the black folks who had the same lst name as me, since I am white, not being racial about it, just curious, from what I was told, that when the North came South and freed all the slaves, 99% of them not having any form of last name and in order to be entiteled to the many aid programs during Reconstrution, alot of them took the last name of their former owners, hence how so many of them have common last names down South. Another way different folks seem to have the same last name, especially those who came here from Europe, sometimes had their last names misspelled by the immagration officers while being processed at Ellis Island, so somebody named Brugard ended up named Bluegard or Blueguard or some form of that. More so for people from Eastern Europe.
all people i google with the same last name as me are musicians
I’d never heard of anyone with the same surname as me until the other day. My mum came home from work having found out that there were 2 other women with her exact same name, born on the exact same day, living in the same city and one of them actually lives in the same town as us. Small world
Also, we tried to track my Grandad’s family down once (he was from the Ukrane) and we found about 13 different people in Canada, where most of his family moved to, all with the same surname. Unfortunately we’ve still had no luck finding his canadian family members.
My surname is “Dzyak,” which is the Amercian-ized spelling for the Slovak word meaning “Cantor.”
As far as we can tell, there are only two branches of families in the United States who spell their names “Dzyak.” However, there are variations such as “Deziak and Dziak.” While they are similar and the families tend to come from the Slovakian area (Carpathian Rus), it does not mean that we are actually blood related. We could be, but that will take quite a bit of research into the original families who inhabited the Carpathian Rus region of the Ukraine.
Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.dzyak.com
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
hi! my aunt Thresa has been doing our family history fo years. we have found out that we are realted to many people trough history. the most interesting facts we found out about our history is:
1. our family was one of the first Quakers in the US.
2. our family was THE first family to be kicked out of the Quakers.
3. we are realted to a Cheyenne Princess and a Cherokee medicine man.
4. we are related to a Texas Ranger who fought in The Battle of San Jacinto by the name of Joseph E. White. we can trace back to his family, but what happened to his children and grandkids we do not know and we can not find where he is buried or where his land grant is.
5. I think this one is the most interseting: we are related to infamous pirate Jean LaFette (sp?) whos treasure is still lost at sea in the gulf of Mexico.
i just wanted to say this!
Well, I Reasearched My Last Name and found out my friend from school was actually my 2nd cousion! and i was related to my principal (by marraige) and i was also related to someone else. the principles husband’s niece was a girl in my class! I’m Serious. You Can Say You are related to someone famous by tracing your family history and learning theirs and say they are your mums cousions wife’s sisters Niece’s Husband ect.ect
I have a very common Hungarian last name, and I’ve run in to a few people who share it.
But people are ALWAYS coming up to me asking if I know “So-And-So”, and I don’t, nor am I related to them.
It’s funny how people always automatically assume we’re related. Most of my family is in Hungary or Austria!
I’m black and i doubt i’d be related to a white Sawyer. For the simple reason that slave masters in the Bahamas gave their slaves their last names. Hence my ancestors would have the last name Sawyer but no physical relation to the master
I feel bad for my cousin, do you know how many Nguyens (or nuggets) there are?
No not all people with the same last name are related. The most perfect example is the name Ngoy. For many of us its an asian name. But do you know that there are some West Africans who have the last name Ngoy? Yup I knew a guy who’s last name Ngoy from western africa, he did not have a drop of asian in his family yet his last name is Ngoy. I also know a guy who’s last name is Nguyen…No asian lineage he is 100% african. My last name is African( From a country located in the very middle of africa), yet there are some Japanese people with the same name, and Indian people as well. I have no Indian and no Japanese lineage at all. I also no of some last names that are common African names but worn by Jewish , other African names are the same as Arabian names. Keep in mind, I’m not talking about African slaves who through time their name changed. I’m talking about Africans( African families) who were not victims of slavery and their names remained intact…Just like me.
i just thought that if i was going to scroll down this entire page there would be a button to click that would help me go back to the top but guess wat nope!!! but i did find this little comment spot so i figured that i shouldnt have spent 5 minutes scroling if im not going to do anything when i get to te bottom so hey interesting Q’s and A’s!!!
My last name is Or’cran. Not something you see everyday right?
My last name is very unusual, but I do run into others who have it from time to time. However, I know that we are not related, as my family name was changed as my grandfather came through customs at Ellis Island. I imagine that there are some people back in Russia with the original last name (if they were lucky enough to survive pogroms and other dangers). But if I meet someone with my last name, it’s a pretty good bet that we’re NOT related.
My last name is Burris. I am white as well as every relative that I know and have researched. I was surprised when Roland Burris of Illinois was appointed Senator. I was surprised he is black! This was a first for the Burris family (my side anyway!)
My sister dated a guy with the last same name as us.. thankfully, she did a little research before getting any further in the relationship.. How wierd would it have been if she found out that she was dating her cousin, or something.
I don’t have a surname or family name. My last name belongs to my father. It is annoying to fill in online forms which require a surname/family name. Not only that, people tend to assume that just because I have a last name, it’s automatically my family name. It can be confusing and strange when people called me by my last name as they are in actuality, calling my father. This is a fine example of cultural ignorance and insensitivity.
My maiden name does not end with an “s”. Some people add an “s” which is a different family all together. It was easy to determine the possibility of someone being related if it did not include an “s”. After seeing the name misspelled on an envelope addressed to my first cousin, he said he added it to his name when he was in high school. He did it because it is his mother’s name. I don’t know if this was to be spiteful or just to be different. With the exception of his birth certificate, the crooked letter is on all of his identification, his wife and children also share the name.
Unlike a woman getting married and changing her last name as a tradition, it seems that a man who changes his surname removes himself from the family. Idk?
Well, if you think about it and read the bible we are all related in one way or another…..so just remembger that the next time you make out with some one it may be your your sibling!
No one has the same last name as me in less they are my family. It is Zima. Not like Ze-ma the beer. It is z-I-ma
I married a guy with the surname Hockenhull, and the only one’s in Australia were his immediate family – and no, it’s not Dutch as most people presume, it is actually British, and apparently one of the two oldest recorded names in Cheshire history.
So when my son and I trotted off to England, we of course had to visit Chester – imagine our surprise when we find there were 256 Hockenhulls in the phone book, and several streets, manors, halls etc sporting the name – it was all a bit surreal.
His Nan told us about the troubles she had during the war – she lived near Liverpool at the time and couldn’t get food stamps because everyone presumed she was German.
My Mum’s surname was Baverstock, and when she married a Mackey she thought it would be good because she wouldn’t have to spell the name out all the time – oh boy, was she wrong – NOBODY gets it right first time, and yet it’s the most phonetically correct variation we’ve come across – everyone knows how to spell and say Mickey Mouse, so why is Mackey so hard?? And how is it people will say McLeod or McLean before they give up guessing how to pronounce it – I really don’t get it but then, I’m used to it.
My uncle was Henry Wadsworth the famous poemet. And my last name isn’t Wadsworth so you answer is NO
I was told a story on how my grandparents got their last name. My great grandfather was from Finland, his last name was so hard to prononuce he took the last name of the person standing in front for him while going through customs in the late 1800’s
My last name is Works, I know there are other people with this last name but I have never met anyone in person other then family. My family is Irish and I know it was changed from McWorkly way back in the day. My mom’s family is from Ukraine. The last name is Sadomytschinko! I know there are only 5 in the United States and I’m sure there are more in Ukraine still. My grandfather has done a family tree that dates back a few hundred years in our family. Its amazing the people you can find yourself related to. I know I’m related to Robert E. Lee who worked with President Lincoln and living in Springfield, Illinois is pretty much a big deal!
I guess waaay back in history some were actually related in some way, but a lot of times people were named for their trade. A blacksmith would be known as Smith. A lot of jobs were named with the item they built with the surname ‘wright. Such as Boatwright, Cartwright, wheelwright, and Woodwright. After the Civil war, a number of freed slaves took on the last name of their former ” owners “. Other than that, I do know that some people have names that are bastardized versions of the original names they had when they immigrated to America or whatever country they moved to. That’s my 2 cents.
the real answer is yes, no, maybe. You are NOT “automatically” related to persons with the same name, especially when it is a generic / common name. YOU might be related to persons with a rare name..that usually happens if a person with a name, somehow winds up with an altered version of the original. In those cases.. there will be a relationship. In the US, most persons are also aware that former slaves often (not always) adopted the name of a former owner. There won’t be a bio relationship there.
The core of being related is not in a last name. You can be related to millions of people with different last names, and not to millions who do have the same name. If you descend somewhere along the line from a same person.. you are related.
“Where does my name come from” and this one, are among the top 5 (common) questions in the genealogy section. Surprise.. a name does not necessarily have ONE ANCIENT single origin.
And Mike.. I am with Ted.. us regulars over at genealogy have been stuck in limbo for MONTHS, and no update on our ranking. Gets discouraging!
(and? have you dropped by to chat with us on HOW to trace YOUR family?)
so all the stuff people have been posting relates to European last names, but i’m azn, and our names don’t connotate occupations or places or anything. does anyone know what that means for us azns with the same last name then? would i be distantly related to someone with the same last name, no matter what?
People of middle-eastern, european, russian etc, etc, origins tend to have it easier on finding their origins.
Stereo-type asians – i.e. Chinese, Japanese- tend to have it harder. Being Korean, I’m Kim. My mother’s maiden name is Choi. My aunt (mom’s sister) has it as Choe(not married btw). My step dad is Lee.
Oh look, I’ve already got all the most popular last names.
Amazing.
I really can’t tell if my origins are that of royalty, peasant, or guard. But I know that nowdays, almost half the people today are of royal origins…. although that doesn’t mean much anymore.
What I do know for a fact is that my Grandparents were born in the North Korea area BEFORE it was North Korea. That’s the only factual origin I know.
It would be too hard to figure out a Korean’s origins.
It gets easier for the Chinese and Japanese but that’s avery thin line.
I have a very original Italian last name. I KNOW anyone with it is related to me here in America and from the same town in Italy. Way back when, my grandfather came here, then his brother, who didn’t like it and after a few years (I think it was after WW1) went back to Italy. I have many undiscovered cousins there. And many undiscovered relatives here.
A Note to Katy:
Very interesting that you write that you are related to Jean LaFitte ‘cos I’m possibly related too. My G-Grandmother was a mid-wife in the Caribbean and I have a paper with his name and a birth date on it. Mysterious.
ive always wondered where the surname Woods originates from
my grandfather ( not really my grandfather, my dads step father) was born in New Zealand .. but was adopted to Australia .. so we dont know what his biological surname was .. and i want to know where Woods originated from
after reading a previous comment .. id like to add .. that through my Grandmother i am related to Prussian Royalty dating back to 1100’s
When growing up ,people would come up to me and say are you related to…i would say nope before they could even finish there sentence .My father came over from Germany alone and we had no relatives here.
There is this guy that has my mom’s maiden name that i like but there would be no way we would be related
I did a family research and found that the spelling of my maiden last name actually had very many spellings, due to there being so many and the parents always named their first born son and daughters first name after them, then when these sons and daughters were old enough to marry they did the same thing and also named their other children after their brothers and sisters, so in order to know what branch they were of for inheritence purposes they had to start spelling their last names with different variations
Which was a real job to find all our people but we finally did, as we are all registered under all the different last names with the Michigan French-Canadian History, and we are known to be the largest family in Canada and North America and the only ones that can trace our ancestory back to the original ancestor which they have a statue of him in Canada.
This was really an exciting adventure doing this research.
Location based surnames don’t always mean that you lived there. For example there would be lots of people called John in London so they wouldn’t be called john London. But a John who moved from London to a small village might be known as John London because he came from London.
I actually met someone on facebook with my FIRST and LAST name. Pretty creepy if you ask me.
from what i am told, my family name can be traced back to two separate families in germany. one member from each married, forever linking the families and the name. now, when i come across the rare name, i wonder not if we are related…but how.
Every once in a while, I will run across someone
with the name (I’m not going to say my real last name, so I’ll just say “wells”) Wells, but not usually
in real life. Most of the time, I’ll be on the web, and sometimes I’ll see “Kara Wells” or “Danna Wells”. But thats pretty easy concidering that I’m a web
nut!
Well You know in my school, there is one girl named exactly like me, first, middle and last name!!
But the only different is that our grandfathers’ names are different. Also, my best friend has the same middle and last name as mine, so almost everyone thinks that we are sisters!
But both of these girls are actually my relatives,, very far ones!
But as in general, Tons of people got the same last name as mine but I do not know them.
I have another way from which my surname comes from. I am originally from India, and my father’s surname is actually my grandfather’s name, and his surname was my great grrandfather’s name, etc.
Now I keep my father’s surname, as I am a modern Indian, so now, all the descendents keep the same surname. If I was born in the old days, my surname would’ve been my father’s name. I know this is sort of complicated!
No.. where I live many have my last name (Hurley) and I am not related to all of them. Also may people where I live have the same last name and spell it different… and again may people back in the day would be running from the police or do something really bad and just change their last name all together.. I know people with the last name Wolford used to be Droflow (Wolford spelled backwards) .. There are lots of interesting stuff on the internet about last names!*
ever come to singapore?
chances are HALF the chinese you meet have the surname Tan (pronounced “ton” NOT “tan”)
and according to some article i read somewhere the most common surname in Singapore is Tan.
Guess what? I’m a Tan! And most of my classmates have this surname too…..
Another thing I have found with the Hatfields and McCoys fude a very famous fude in Appalachia (where I am from).. The people related to the McCoys sometimes have a rare genetic condition that causes them to be violent and they have very bad tempers!! this rare condition also causes high blood pressure, racing hearts, severe headaches.. these people often get tumors that causes them to be even crazier… This condition can cause you to kill yourself or others … very interesting and very scary at the same time!*
again… well sorry about saying that just because you have the same last name it doesnt make you related.. it doesnt mean your related closely… Everyone is related somehow..! I think I read somewhere any two people can be connected through six other people
Ha
i used to wonder about my families geneology and when my cousin traced back my family to the 1800’s…i was interested for about a nano second and then realized. who cares? we had a family reunion in august and the same cousin didn’t come. lol.
we are all related as human beings.
I found your article very interesting. My maiden name is rare also and so anytime I meet someone or hear of someone haveing the same name I get excited. My reason for commenting, however, is to say that I do believe that we are all related. I believe this because of Noah and the flood. So, we are all related through Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japeth.
i would really like to know if this comment is true/false
Haha… my last name is Meeds… Maybe it came from the drink and my relatives made alcohol… Oddly enough I have relatives named Brewer as well…
LOL
the last names hur
but im asian
and thats actually a hebrew name from the Bible
i wonder how that kinda ties in
cause isn’t Hebrew like not asians?
i was always curious about that
&&everyone started of from adam&eve
as to what i believe
so we have had to come from same peoplee
woww, you got me thinkingg
My wife and I got involved in genealogy over 40 years ago when one of her aunts said that she had ancestors with my surname from the same area on the country. We spent the next 40 years trying to prove that we were related but DNA testing a couple of years ago proved that there was no relationship. Mike is absolutely correct in the way surnames were selected. Occupation an place of residence were the most common.
Well, technically, EVERYONE is related, if you go waaaaaaaaaay back.
I just recently found out from my mom that my ancestors are one of the few that came over on the Mayflower. My relative is George Soule (he was a servant of Edward Winslow. He signed the Mayflower Compact. I thought that was quite interesting.
Don’t forget that when immigarnts came through Ellis Island, many of the American workers spelled what they were told phonetically, thus making already difficult names even harder to trace. My last name is unusual enough to have 14 various spellings!…my specific spelling is, I’ve been told, the stangest of all of them!
you are so nice.
I am shocked that the author of this article failed to mention how slavery had a dramatic effect on the surnames of millions of Americans. It’s shameful but it’s also an important part of history. Most importantly, it’s factual and true and as such needs to be reported.
The moment we forget history is the same moment that we begin to repeat it’s mistakes.
I have an odd last name myself. My mom is heavy into ancestory.com. She is constantly trying to find people in her family as well as my dads family. Tonight I did an internet search on my name and found a book written by a man with both my first and last name. It was unbelieveable to see and I just burst out laughing. It’s funny the things you’ll find when you least expect to find them. It definitely was a major lift to my spirits.
here’s the way it works for some of the big Chinese last names :
If an emperor or some high-ranking noble has a certain last name, they can ‘give’ that last name to other people they favor as a ‘gift’ or other people would take on their last name because they want to seem like they have some sort of connection to that noble. Wayyy back in the past all the people in a town or tribe could’ve also had the same last name.
Basically, if you have a really common last name, chances are somewhere in the past there was royalty with that last name.
I too have a some what weird last name. Hurt. According to my father we are from German/Swedish heritage and along the line somewhere they shortened it from Hurtack to Hurt. I have only met a handful of people with the same last name as me.
I haven’t met a lot of people with my last name. I’m only a teen, so I never got too into Geneology, but I did a litttle searching. I found a good amount of people with my last name, but also with different spellings (i.e. Indurski). I’m about nine different nationalities, but one of them is Russian. I know that’s where my surname came from, because there is a river in Russia named the Indurs River. I guess everyone around that area had my last name, but I’m not sure. When I searched on the Ellis Island website, I found a lot of people from Germany, Russia, and Poland with my last name came over around early 1900’s late 1800’s. [[I am German and Polish too.]] They had some different spellings, but weren’t too different. A lot of people have asked me and my family if we were related to ’so-and-so’ [[a lot of them rich doctors and lawyers who want nothing to do with us middle clas family]] and we know we are, but then there are people from Israel [[which I know I may have ties in, seeing how everyone from my Grandpa up was Jewish]] who contacted me on Facebook. I think I might be related to a lot of them, if not all, but I just can’t get enough records. I can’t even get past my great great grandparents, nonetheless people from different countries. My last name is an uncommon one, so I just say these people are somehow related to me. =)
My maiden name is really rare, I’m almost positive I’m related to everyone with this name in Hawaii (where I’m from) and Utah and there’s a really good chance the ones in California too. There’s a family in Seattle I’m not sure about though. This makes genealogy work really annoying because there’s not a lot of people working on this name and it’s Japanese so I can’t even read some of the older documents! But I’m moving to Japan soon so maybe I can learn enough of the language to figure out the paper work I do have.
I think everyone who has my uncommon last name is related. My grandfather made an extensive family tree with everyone in it all the way back 200 years ago when my Great-Great-Great grandparents came here from Germany.
i would really like to know if this comment is true/false
Anyone here have an ancestor that was a miller?
Hi,
A lady in January doesn’t know Howard . I know a few Howard people in O’BriensBridge,Co.Clare Ireland.
And i know the Slater family that live in Murroe,Co.Limerick Ireland also.Hope this helps.