Anyone know a website that tells you your family orgin?

Question

~like you type in your last name~

Answer 1

The Mormons are known to be experts in this field.  Here are a couple of websites:

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/mormon_churc...

http://www.lds.org

Best wishes!

Answer 2

http://www.surnamedb.com/

Answer 3

No.

For starters... your last name IS NOT proof of where your family/ancestors came from, for many reasons.  For example only.. consider a person who is African American, but has a name that normally comes from France.  Or, someone whose ancestor was adopted.

Your "family" or ancestry is not one name.  Just consider your parents for starting.. your mother has a maiden name which is HER background. Now, go back to grandparents.. same is true. Your ancestors will not all come from the same place.

There ARE "surname" websites.. in my personal opinion, they are totally worthless.  If your name is Lee, you could be from European background.. or from Chinese. Generic answers have nothing to do with actually identifying your ancestry, and their place of origin.

Last.. you can find your ancestors on the internet.. but reputable sites will ONLY include information on persons who are dead.  You only asked about surnames, but think about how much abuse/fraud there might be, if a website KNEW your private information when you entered your name.  

Researching a surname, and researching PEOPLE are two different topics completely.

Answer 4

If you want to know where your ancestors came from, you have to do the research.  Some names have been changed or come from more than one country.

Answer 5

Typing in your surname will not tell you your origin.

Ancestry.Com does have the origins of surnames but many times the same surname has more than one national origin.  Also your ancestor with that surname might have come from some place entirely different than what is viewed as normal.

Another thing, your surname is only a very small part of you.  You have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents that totals 30 people.  If you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, barring any duplicates, you are directly descended from 510 individuals.

Only 8 of those people had your family name but all 510 are part of who you are.

The best thing to do is to trace your family history starting with yourself and working back one generation at a time.  Anytime you wish to do this, there are lots of good people on this board that can give you some great tips and advice.  Just ask.

There are DNA tests.  Usually only Y & mitochondrial are used since they go back in a straight line and remain virtually unchanged.  They can help match you with another family.  However, most of your DNA is autosomal and it is the only DNA that can give you a complete picture of your origins.  However, what they will give you is not specific to nationality or ethnicity but something like Northern European etc.

Y DNA is passed from father to son only.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.

Autosomal DNA is passed 50-50 from both parents. It is the only DNA that relates a female to her father.   If you get back to those 6xgreat grandparents, you get your mitochondrial DNA from only 8 and if you are male you get your Y dna from only 8 but you get your autosomal DNA from all 510.