Am i related to a person who is of a different race but has the same surname?

Question

I am East Indian (as in originated from India) and my surname is pretty rare. I did a search on it and i found that white people in America from the 1930's have the same surname as me. Is it possible that I could be related to them?

Answer 1

It is potentially possible that you have a common ancestor way back.

Answer 2

What is your rare surname?

Answer 3

Possibly could have been a relative who came to America before your branch of family did. Never know.

Answer 4

NO one is automatically related, just by having the same last name.  Consider the last name Lee.. which can belong to a White person in England, a Black person in the US, or a Chinese person in China.  None will be related.

Is it POSSIBLE? Of course.. one scenario is that, unknown to you, your gr gr gr grandfather was from the UK, married in your country; and all his male descendants married women from East India.  "He" may have had a brother who went to the US and had family.  Or vice versa.. your ancestor was not from the UK, but his brother WENT there, had children, whose family wound up going to the US.

So.. the answer is "probably not" but "who knows, it is possible"..  and you may want to research your ancestry. You would ALSO have to research their ancestry, and if you find a distant distant ancestor in common, then you will be distantly related.

Answer 5

Not necessarily but not impossible.  Even having the same surname of someone of the same race or ethnicity does not mean you are related.

Answer 6

maybe not sure how it works is it spelt the same

Answer 7

Yes of course by marraige etc

Answer 8

Possible but improbable. While a lot of Indians went to the UK, very few went to the USA before the 1970's. I would bet 10:1 it is like the English and Chinese "Lee" - the surnames sound and are spelled alike but have different meanings and different families.

If the surname means something like "Smith" or "Carpenter" or "Green" or "Rivers" or "Armstrong" in Hindi (or another Indian language), that's a clue that it is an Indian surname with a similar sounding surname that means something else entirely in the USA.

Hope I can help

Answer 9

Yes, it's possible.

Answer 10

Possible but improbable. While a lot of Indians went to the UK, very few went to the USA before the 1970's. I would bet 10:1 it is like the English and Chinese "Lee" - the surnames sound and are spelled alike but have different meanings and different families.

If the surname means something like "Smith" or "Carpenter" or "Green" or "Rivers" or "Armstrong" in Hindi (or another Indian language), that's a clue that it is an Indian surname with a similar sounding surname that means something else entirely in the USA.

Answer 11

Slave owners often gave their surname to their slaves, to denote ownership perhaps.

Therefore, it is possible that you are not related to these people.  Slave owners often had s*x with their slaves, so perhaps you could be related to them.

I'm afraid further research would be necessary!

Answer 12

Well its possible but you will need to do some research to confirm any possible link as it may be someone unrelated to you.

You could always try to contact them explain you are trying to research your family tree and ask if they have any family tree genealogy available to confirm or refute your suspicions.

Answer 13

yes, you could. Anyone of your relatives could have married anyone of theirs.