How many people have you met who have the same surname as you that aren't related to you?

[ThisPlumShark]

None but had 1 message me on Facebook

We had a package delivered to our house addressed to someone with my maiden name. He and his brother live in the village, and when I met his mother she was really disappointed when she realised that I had no family links to the area and therefore am not related. She calls me Miss surname when she sees me.

Lots of surnames have a specific geographic origin - I had a colleague whose research (before computers were a thing) involved sitting in the reference libraries going through the telephone directories and plotting the distribution of every surname on a map and then going back through the years (a new telephone directory was published ever year). They produced a CD of maps so you could go through the years and see where the surnames originated. Some spread and some 'daughtered out'.

It will have fed in to these resources - you can put your name in and see the geographic distribution:

surnamemap.com/

I have spoke to a small handful of people with my name but only knew as I have worked in places where I saw their name beforehand, think orders/ bookings etc.
There's also a 3 famous people with my surname, well that's the ones I know of!

None.

All the people with my birth surname are related to me quite closely. There's only about 15 in the U.K.

Misspelling of an otherwise fairly common name.

My married name is common as muck.

This one lets you compare the distribution today with the 1881 census:
www.britishsurnames.uk/surnames

Loads including about 6 with my exact first name and surname (very common). I even worked with someone who had the same first name as me, got married, and took her husband's/my surname. I must admit I found it a bit weird and somewhat disconcerting to share an office with someone who came in one day with a new (my) name.

My friend has the exact same name as me (both our married surnames) & our husbands have the same first name & obvs the same surname. Her husband and I worked together for years & many people assumed we were married. I would talk about my husband ‘Ben’ and the a’Ben’ with the same surname would turn up in my clinic to work.

I never thought it was unusual though??

None in Wales. A scattering across England. My son did the research. We apparently had a distant relative from Australia who turned up at an aunts back in the 70s

Hardly any. I have met people with a different spelling of my surname. My brother knows someone with the same surname who is not related and there is a woman with the same first name and surname as me who lives nearby. I haven't met her, I only know about her as people contacted me on FB thinking I was her until I made myself visible to friends of friends only. She comes from the same town in Ireland that my great-grandfather originated from and there are quite a few people there with the same spelling of my surname so it's possible that she's a distant relative.

Our surname is outside the top 1000 in the uk, but our unrelated neighbours have the same name, including one family member with the same first and middle name as well as surname as one of ours. There have been surprisingly few mix ups in the over 25 years we have lived here. I have recently become aware of another family with the same surname in our street - with only 35 houses on it that is quite incredible.

mine too.

My maiden name - none! It’s a relatively common name in a small part of a European country but not at all common globally. That said - it’s appeared in a couple of films where minor characters have randomly had the name.

Since being married - I have come across a couple of people in my industry who share my surname. It’s not particularly common but there’s a fair few of us around. When I was first married there was someone with exactly the same name in the email address list at work and I regularly received emails meant for her. I often wondered if it annoyed her that I had suddenly popped up with the same name!

My husband ended up working for a boss who shared his surname - everyone assumed they were related and she was his mum - and he’d got the job by nepotism! She wasn’t very nice either, which made it even worse!

My family name is one of the most common in the UK. So much so my SIL, BIL, niece and nephew share the same.
When we married hubby and I both db"d so I'm less common now 🤣
I don't believe in losing your family name upon marriage, nor your title.

None. I have a 'Devonshire' surname and it's rumoured that all of us there are related (my grandad had fifteen brothers and sisters, so it's very likely). I've only ever seen the name mentioned in a few other places and the chances are that they were related to me too, but more distantly.

Thanks for the link. From it I have discovered that my maiden name is common where I was born, and is hardly found anywhere else. Also, it's primarily Scottish, rather than Irish as my Dad believed. Probably explains why I've not come across it in Ireland!!

Loads.
An old neighbour.
One guy l went out with for a few months .
Old school friend.
Its not very very common either.

There was a teacher at my daughter's school with the exact same first name and surname as me - I often would get very confidential emails about children sent to me even though I didn't have an official school email address - probably due to autofilling. I told them everytime but it kept happening.

Maiden name: none in UK, loads in Ireland.

Married name: Loads, it's a very common surname. My first name - surname combo is also the stage name of a very famous singer. Infamous really.

None with my birth name. It's very unusual.

DH has a surname that's very specific to one area of the country, but we don't live there. If we did we'd meet a lot of people with the same name.

When we married we chose a new surname for ourselves and I've met a few people with that surname as it's more common. I've Googled my first name plus married surname and there's a few people with the combination.

Loads. I have a really common first and last name. In love the online anonymity!

None, but I have a quite unusual surname.

None in real life, but in fiction loads.. novels, films, sitcoms, even American series although I think it's used for it's 'Britishness'

Married name none. Maiden name, loads.

My son in law’s mom and my mom have the same name - first middle and surname.

None

Maiden name: loads.
Surname: one - the pharmacist, who gave a very big double take when she read out the name, so I'm guessing she doesn't come across it very often either.