Are people that share the same surname all related

[Sevendaysaweek]

Like for example two different families called smith are they related even it’s way back?

Is this going to turn into one of those things I never realised threads.

Do you think OP knows about how pineapples grow?

yeah adam and eve were our ancestors

my maiden name is quite rare met someone in another country with it but no wasnt related were quite gutted actually

Yes, of course.. because when you marry someone from a different nationality and take their surname (stupidly) of course you become genetically different to how you were before you took that name.
And when you divorce and take a made up name (like Einstein) of course you are also related

Because we're all related 😂 there's is no one else anywhere with the same surname, we've looked @myhobbyisouting

Just to confirm the Adam and Eve thing was a joke.

It’s 2020 ffs. We are all derived from Saddam and Steve

Being a total pedant, everyone on earth is related via mitochondrial eve, if you go far enough back.

Dh has a really rare surname like pistolknights

Wonder if it's the same one

You don't have to go back that far before the chances of finding a common ancestor with another individual are quite high. If you think about the multiple - 2/4/8/16 etc. it rises rapidly after the first few layers. You may have heard the saying that everyone with ancestry in the western world is a descendant of Charlemagne - that's what it's based on.

However, sharing a surname isn't a reliable indicator because it's so common for surnames to be changed.

then there are people who change their names via deed polls and just picked one.
i gather the name Lee is one of the most common in the world.
my married name is quite common. i suspect my maiden name is rare especially for north america but not for italy (and i've not dug into those roots due to a language barrier).
while doing up my son in law's family tree i thought i would be fortunate when i came upon a very unique last name, fazakerley because his tree has been a nightmare as all the names are soooooo common. well no joy i guess it's not an uncommon name :(

Defo depends on the surname, I have a very distinctive surname and there are only 30ish of us, we are all related.

Everyone I've found with the same spelling can find their grandparents in the copy of my dad's my family tree I was given twenty years ago - that's worldwide.

Very similar to my mum's maiden name Butterer. It doesn't happen to be an Irish name, does it?

Fazakerley is a place in Liverpool - place-name surnames are often quite numerous.

Slightly off topic but in Thailand this is usually the case.
Surnames were only introduced there in the 20th century and the law states you cannot have the same name as someone you're not related to. Thai names tend to be quite long as a result of the rule.

Nope - there are lots of black Americans with DH’s surname, and unfortunately that’s because some distant relative was involved in the slave trade. It’s actually a pretty uncommon surname in the UK, only about 200 of us, so it’s easy to trace back who it was.

@Stompythedinosaur

Being a total pedant, everyone on earth is related via mitochondrial eve, if you go far enough back.

I was going to say this. There was an 'Eve'.

I dated a Collins once who told me they are all related. And there's a crap load of Collinses.

My grandma's maiden surname is very uncommon and I've done a fair bit of family tree research. There are several variants of it, and everybody is descended from the same couple (my grandma's grandparents) who came to the UK from Europe in the early 1850's.

I've had less luck with all the Carters and Johnsons etc though

You don't have to go back that far before the chances of finding a common ancestor with another individual are quite high.

I read once that every single US President (at least up until the time I read it!) was supposedly related to the British royal family. I don't know if it's true - or it might be that every single US resident is related to them if you go far back enough!

I've had less luck with all the Carters and Johnsons etc though

None of us have had a lot of luck with one particular Johnson recently....

I traced my family name back a few hundred years and found a similar named family in that town but they appeared totally unrelated. It was an occupational name.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

I've had less luck with all the Carters and Johnsons etc though

None of us have had a lot of luck with one particular Johnson recently....

There was a well known genealogist called Sykes who studied the name, he sent DNA packs to all of those he could find and did determine from his results (allowing for affairs/adoptions etc) that there was a common ancestor for that name.

@lovelemoncurd

I traced my family name back a few hundred years and found a similar named family in that town but they appeared totally unrelated. It was an occupational name.

I found some members of my father's family with my mother's maiden name. For a long time I thought they were unrelated until finally I found a common ancestor! So my parents are 7th cousins or something.

I have a fairly common Irish surname. Except it was adopted by my DH’s French great-great grandfather who was looking for a name so he could blend in in Australia and avoid creditors.

It is true that if you go back far enough every one is related. We are all at least 16th cousins, that's me, your milkman, your annoying next door neighbour etc. So, hello cousins😁. If you go back 1000 years and you have british heritage, then all the people alive then are either the ancestor of everyone or the ancestor of no one, I.e. their line has died out. You are therefore the descendant of Alfred the great, Charlemagne or Uhtred the Bold.