If you have the same last name?

Question

If you have the same last name such as Collins and there was another person with that last name. Is it likely you are related but very distant.

Answer 1

Lots of last names were a description of your appearance (eg White), your job (eg Smith) where you lived (eg Hill) or who you were related to (eg Peterson).

So obviously all the people that lived on hills all over the place aren't going to be related.

Occasionally if you have a very unusual last name you can trace the origin back to all belonging to one family.

Answer 2

no not likely

ages ago people got last names by what they worked as like smith (blacksmith) if you understand

Answer 3

Not necessarily. My maiden name is Tisdale and it is English, but there were 2 clans with the last name Tisdale. My family is Irish actually and originated with the last name Ray, so I don't know where it came into play. Now my step dad's last name is Lovelace, but he is related to people with the last name loveless when he did his search. It seemed as though people changed names around alot back then.

Answer 4

it can be. for an example, many african americans wear names from european and english decent. they lost their identity, anyway the slave masters who owned them gave them their european last name to show ownership to those slaves who worked on their plantations, those names can be from all those forefathers of current african americans.

Answer 5

The answer is simple.  WHEN LAST NAMES STARTED, they were not given by people being related.  

Sometimes, it was occupation.  You can have more than one (black) Smith in a town, who are not related, but wind up known as Smith. Names also come from places.. like a village.  John "from" Smithfield could become John Smithfield.. and so could James "from' Smithfield. They are not related..they came from the same place.

In some countrie's the custom was the son of John, became Johnson. 10 Johns, in the village, not related... all their sons eventually were called Johnson.  No relationship, except to the father.

What you are doing, is thinking that there was some guy named Smithfield, and he had bunches of kids, and they are all descended from him, so they are all related.  What you think, is totally common thinking, but sorry, it is totally not correct.

People with same last names are not always related.  

Answer 6

Not necessarily Mike.  Most people in Europe did not have a surname until the last millennium.

In England, most had one by the end of the 14th century.  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, they could have each shared their surname with others not in their family.  Also, in many cases, it was a few more centuries before the same surname was passed down through the following generations.

Now, there is a belief everyone is related. Some feel the human race came from a single set of parents, either through what is given in the Book of Genesis or genealogy DNA which seems to indicate we all began inAfrica.

However, we do not all share the same root person of our surname with others with our surname.  Often, the same surname can come from more than one national origin and even those of the same national origin are not necessarily related.

Answer 7

You have some good answers here. Just a few more scenarios to add:

Correct spelling wasn't important until fairly recently so a name may have changed over time to become the same name as an unrelated family's.

Similarly names were often changed over time in records due to phonetics. It sounded like (to whoever was taking the record) so it became. Usually when you hear something wrong you hear it familiar so it could have changed to an existing name.

Immigrants often change their names to a common name, either to fit in or because they couldn't communicate with the customs officer and were assigned a name.

In times of conflict people will often change their name to sound like the dominant culture, i.e. the Collins family might have been the Kolinky's.  

Sometimes people acquire names through adoption. In a family sense they're related, but not biologically.

I do know a couple that had the same name but were unrelated so when they married they changed their name to be pluralized which was already a common name, i.e. their names were Collin so they became the Collins'. they are completely unrelated to any other Collins.

Answer 8

No, not all the time. But yes, it could be likely. It's probably a 50/50 chance you are..