My dad is puerto rican but why does he have the last name dunham?

Question

Okay, my dad is puerto rican. But for some reason he has the last name dunham. i never met his father before so i have no clue what he is. and my mom is scottish and black and cherokee but has the last name taylor. isnt taylor an irish last name? also i was wondering if anyone knew any sites that could me look up my family tree? i don't know much about my ancestors and i'd like to find out as much as possible. thanks.

Answer 1

Surnames aren't always linear.  Sometimes servants or adopted household members take the surname of the head of house.  An historical clear example of this is how many African slaves in the US would take the surname of their original "owner" or the name of the plantation, farm, or business that they worked for.  

Puerto Rico also has a diverse history and it would be unheard of for a non-Hispanic to marry into a Hispanic family on the island.

Some examples of this mix is in my spouse's Cuban heritage -- Hortencia, Olga, Estella, Delia, Josephine.  These are all Germanic names but they originated in Cuba well prior to 1900.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as a pure race or nationality.  Your Puerto Rican father might have had a great great great great grandfather in his male line who was English.

Taylor is an English occupational name.  That doesn't mean that someone who is Irish didn't have a great great great great grandfather that was English.

Answer 3

Surname: Dunham

This is an English locational surname. It derives from one of the villages called Dunham in the county of Nottingham, or Dunham Magna and Dunham Parva, in Norfolk, or Dunham on the Hill, in both Norfolk and Cheshire. The origin is the pre 7th century Olde English "dun" meaning a hill and "ham," a hamlet or homstead. In effect the villages called Dunham on the Hill are repeating themselves, as Dunham means on the hill!

Surname: Taylor

This is an English surname but of French origins. It derives from the word "tailleur" meaning "a cutter-out of cloth", the surname being adopted from the medieval job description after the 12th century. It would seem that tradition dictates that the spelling as tailor refers to the trade of tailoring, whilst Taylor, Tayler, Tailour and Taylour are the surname forms, but this is arguable. What is certain is that the surname is extremely popular, and in England ranks second only to Smith in the surnames listing.

Racial makeup of Puerto Rico since 1800: (from wikipedia)

   During the 1800s hundreds of Corsican, French, Lebanese, Chinese, and Portuguese families arrived in Puerto Rico, along with large numbers of immigrants from Spain (mainly from Catalonia, Asturias, Galicia, the Balearic Islands, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands) and numerous Spanish loyalists from Spain's former colonies in South America. Other settlers included Irish, Scots, Germans, Italians and thousands others who were granted land by Spain during the Real Cedula de Gracias de 1815 ("Royal Decree of Graces of 1815"), which allowed European Catholics to settle in the island with a certain amount of free land. According to the 2000 U.S. Census there were almost four million inhabitants. Eighty percent of Puerto Ricans described themselves as "white"; 8% as "black"; 12% as "mulatto" and 0.4% as "American Indian or Alaska Native".

(So, it looks like to me that you don't have to be Hispanic or have a Hispanic name to come from Puerto Rico. It is quite possible some of the early explorers from England liked the area and decided to stay, making it their homeland.)