Are people that have the same last names as you related to you even if you don't know them?

Question

I've noticed that there are other Milkowski's out there and I wondered if everyone with the same last name is related, even if they never ever met. Brown is a pretty common last name, for example. So what if there was a Brown who researched theirself or something and found a bunch of other browns in europe or something. If that Brown not related to them, how'd they both end up with the same last name?

Answer 1

Not necessarily.  Most people in Europe did not have a surname until the last melennium.  In England most had one by the end or the 14th century.  They were taken of assigned based on a) being the son of someone b) their occupation c) where they lived d) some characteristic about them, for instance a man that had brown hair became John Brown.

When they got through legitimate sons of the same man could each have a different surname but they could have each shared their surnames with others not part of their family.  

Actually, it was a couple of more centuries before the same surname was passed down in the family in many cases.

In the Netherlands it was much later.  It was during the reign of Napoleon. The Dutch thought it would be termporary and in amusement they gave themselves obnoxious and disgusting names.  I understand they had one heck of a time changing those names once surnames became permanent.

Answer 2

No.........everyone with the same last name are NOT related.  There are several reasons people end up with the last name they have.  Some names came about by place of residence or occupation.  Smith for example comes from a person who was a blacksmith.  There were a lot of blacksmiths and in different places.  All blacksmiths were not related but the name could have started with several of them.  SO not all Smiths are related.  Some people adopted names of others.  Like the slaves for example adopted the names of their land owners.  Today there are thousands of African Americans walking around with the last name Washington.  They are not all related.  Many names came about by relationships.  Johnson for example is from someone who was the son of John.  How many men named John do you suppose had sons?  Tons of them, and they were not all related.  And other events in the lives of individual people can have an impact.  My maiden name for example.  The last name my dad got was NOT that of his biological father.  It was the last name his mother had at the time from her first husband.  Yet that is the name he got and is the one he passed on to me, but since we are not even true descendants of the man that he got the name from, then we are definitely not related to anyone else with that last name either.

Answer 3

No. There are four main ways surnames came about in Europe; occupation ("Baker"), father ("Johnson"), physical characteristic ("Little") or where you lived ("Rivers").

Not everyone who worked as a baker, had a father named John, was extremely small or extremely large (they had a sense of humor back then) or lived near a river was related.

Look at Robert E. Lee. He isn't Chinese.

Some surnames in some countries stem (mostly) from one person. Most of the people in the USA named Cady descend from Nicholas Cady, who was born in the 1500's, for instance.

>> related, even if they never ever met

Stop and think, dear. If you came from a family of 12 who lived in Ohio but had been stolen by gypsies at   birth and raised by Eskimos in Greenland, you'd still be related to those people in Ohio, even if you'd never met them. Relationship has nothing to do with your social circle. Most people know most of their first cousins, a few second cousins, their parents and grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles. That's about it. If you go out to the 10th cousins, you have millions of relatives.

Answer 4

Not always. Sometimes surnames are created by one person, in which case you're probably related VERY far back, but it will take you perhaps your entire life to prove it!

Surnames can be taken from professions and places, amongst other things. Anyone with that occupation, or living in the same area would take that name (Eg Carpenter or Spalding). It means that there are a lot of original families, and although you may be related to many, you won't be related to all. You can also have names like Brook, which implies that your ancestors lived by a brook or stream at some point in history. It is practically impossible to tell which stream though.

Also, before the abolition of slavery, slaves and workers would often use their "owner's"name as their surname. for example, if the owner of the land was called Steven, the slaves may take the surname of Stevens, to tell others that they belong to Steven.

In some nationaities (esp in Scandinavian countries) people will take their father's name as their surname, eg. Williamson, to tell others that they are the son of William. This means that surnames can change from one generation to the next, and certainly doesn't mean that everyone with the surname of Williamson is related.

Then you have the people that remarry, and children from the mother's first marriage may take on the stepfather's surname. Obviously there's no blood relation there. And I won't even get started on the joys of changing your name by Deed Poll...

Answer 5

Sometimes the connection could be so many generations back, they aren't more related then any other two people who share similar ethnic origins. Other times, there is no biological relationship at all, because somewhere along the line the surname got passed on too a child who was adopted or really fathered by someone else. In some cases last names that sound the same and are even spelled the same way have origins in different countries by co-incidence.

Answer 6

The previous answers are excellent, however, I would like to add that some people simply chose a name they either liked better or chose it for professional reasons. Some examples are:

Tony Curtis (real name Bernard Schwartz) Actor

David Tennant from Doctor Who (real name David John McDonald) Actor

Now Tony Curtis changed his name because it was believed at the time that he would have greater success as an actor with a snappy name (others would say it was because the name Schwartz was too Jewish).

In David Tennant's case the name change was due to his real name, David John McDonald, already being used by another actor. After learning that he would have to change his professional name in order to join the actors' union, Equity, he chose the name David Tennant.