Ancestry and Family Surnames

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I have always been fascinated with History and the origin of my last name. I sometimes wonder what my ancestors looked like,how they behaved,and what they did during their lives. So I eventually decided to subscribe to Ancestry.com to research my last name "REDACTED". My roots are apparently Celtic in origin that much I am sure of. I have completed my Direct Bloodline and am now working on my Mothers side.

I traced my "Direct Bloodline" all the way back to around 1100 A.D to my 23rd or so Great-Grandpa, REDACTED. He apparently owned a castle and produced several Dukes and whatnot, bringing me to my next point.....

Anyone else interested in their family tree? I would like to hear what other's know about their family roots. Share your stories.
 
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I still can't fully decipher my surname but I'm too cheap to subscribe to ancestry.com.
I think it comes from a combination of the low german word for sunken lane and a variant of a mocking word for tailors.
My surname has been mentioned since 1379 or something like that in the town next to my father's birthplace, the family had an inherited farm back then, so I guess the lineage goes back even further.
Also, my surname is mentioned in a listing for coats of arms, but I couldn't find out if there's still a coat of arms in existence.
I sometimes wonder what happened to the more distant branches of our family. There were some folks who emigrated to the United States in the 19th century, and I know that one person with my surname fought for the US in the Great War.
 
My grandfather spent a lot time reconstructing the family tree. I found it a great waste of time, personally.
Maybe the most interesting thing was that my family was aristocratic - nothing too high, barons I think - untill my great-great-grandfather acted as a political collaborator with ze Germans in WWI (as a flemish nationalist), and our titles were stripped from us after 1918.

It's all futile work, though, I think.
For instance, do you know how great the odds are that I, as a Western-European white male, am a direct descendant from Charlemagne?

Near 100%. If you go back far enough, since ancestors multiply exponentially, you'll find out you're related to pretty much everyone. As everyone knows already.
 
Jebus said:
My grandfather spent a lot time reconstructing the family tree. I found it a great waste of time, personally.
Maybe the most interesting thing was that my family was aristocratic - nothing too high, barons I think - untill my great-great-grandfather acted as a political collaborator with ze Germans in WWI (as a flemish nationalist), and our titles were stripped from us after 1918.

It's all futile work, though, I think.
For instance, do you know how great the odds are that I, as a Western-European white male, am a direct descendant from Charlemagne?

Near 100%. If you go back far enough, since ancestors multiply exponentially, you'll find out you're related to pretty much everyone. As everyone knows already.
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Yes I found that I have a relation to him as you said. I don't think it to be futile though. Different strokes for different folks I guess.
 
I've always been interested in my family and it's origins, but I've never gotten around to actually doing any research on my own.

My uncle has done some work though, that shows that we're related to Carl Wickman, the founder of Greyhound.
 
I know very little about my ancestry, except for few things,and something I can deduce from my own appearance.

My last name is fairly common, and it could probably be translated to English as 'flower's' or (in Serbia, most last names have a possessive form - i.e. it's 'flower's' instead of 'flower') - intriguingly, many people in my family are quite fond of gardening. My grandfather (father's side) traced quite a bit of history behind the name, to some people who've lived about 30 km from the place where I live now.
On the other hand, my father's mother has traces from some people who've lived (and still live) in one isolated community in the mountains about 70 km from here. Apparently, I'm a close descendant from some quite important family from there, and there is a whole village which carries my ancestor's name.
About my mother's parents' origins I know little, though it is possible that I have some Bulgarian blood.

But what I consider to be a fact which applies for me and at least 80% of Serbs (though majority of those deny that, or would reluctantly accept) is that we are Turkish descendants, as Serbs were under Turks for about 500 years, so it's only natural that Slavic roots (which weren't exactly omnipresent by the time Turks arrived) have been all but erased from our genetic history (though there are cases of Serbs with some clear Slavic characteristics, but those are rare). As for me, I am descendant of Turks, as my appearance suggests, but there is a possibility of me having some Slavic blood (mostly because of my grandmother and her origins from the relatively isolated community).

All in all, I don't know much about my ancestry. I'd like to know more, sure, but it's not something I'd exactly devote myself to, as man can easily get lost in it. Still, it can be a fun hobby.
This thread reminded me to look up for some of my grandfather's writings, so it could tell me more.
 
I never really cared about my ancestry or the meaning of my name. A name is just a name, it has no meaning.. I rather look to the future instead delving into stuff from the past. ;)
 
Surf Solar said:
I never really cared about my ancestry or the meaning of my name. A name is just a name, it has no meaning.. I rather look to the future instead delving into stuff from the past. ;)
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Yes, but look at what we can learn from the past, and prepare for the future! :)
 
Jebus said:
It's all futile work, though, I think.
For instance, do you know how great the odds are that I, as a Western-European white male, am a direct descendant from Charlemagne?
Click to expand...

Heh, reminds me of someone on the Escapist forums claiming they are a descendant of both Henry the VIII via illegitimate children and William Wallace on their other parents side.
Shame Henry VIII was notorious in his inability to get any children at all and only managed a few after decades of trying and William Wallace never had any.

Half my family is all over the place so it makes it a bugger to trace back more than one or two generations.
All I know is that a Norman ancestor came over here during a certain invasion and named a bit near London after himself.
 
Alphadrop said:
Heh, reminds me of someone on the Escapist forums claiming they are a descendant of both Henry the VIII via illegitimate children and William Wallace on their other parents side.
Shame Henry VIII was notorious in his inability to get any children at all and only managed a few after decades of trying and William Wallace never had any.
Click to expand...

It's kinda hard to know if Wallace had any illegitemate children. I mean, people don't tend to brag about stuff like that.

It's true, you know, statistically the chances of someone that long ago not being related to you are insignificantly small.
The math is fairly easy, y'know: you have four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great-great grandparents, then 32, then 64, and if you go back a thousand years or so (assuming a new generation every +/- 20 years) you end up with billions of potential ancestors, more people than have ever even existed.
 
My last name is Gares (if you couldn't tell). And my family tells me we're mostly Irish and possibly Spanish.

Like someone else said I'm too cheap to use those websites, but my Dad's great grandmother either came over here from Ireland or her parents did and she was born here. Don't know about my Mom's side, but her last name is Whalen, which kinda sounds Irish to me.

I am related to Ty Cobb, though. Which i guess is pretty cool, if you like baseball. Which I don't.
 
I researched my family name a while back and found out that apparently my family founded Scotland and I'm descended from the first king. Would never have guessed that.

I'm also a distant cousin of Macbeth, which is pretty cool.


Edit: Also one of the Scottish princes I'm descended from married a Viking princess, so I can trace my ancestry through her all the way back to Ragnar Lodbrok.

I couldn't go back any further than that since Ragnar claimed he was Odin's son (which I somehow doubt).
 
I never decided to look into my surname (Nadhamuni) apparently Indian names are hard to track unfortunately :(. Maybe some day I'll see what I can dig up though.
 
Since I am part Chinese, this isn't hard to figure out. Most Asian families with Confucian bent kept extensive family records that can date back centuries. Most "great"/large families even keep family temples to honor ancestral spirits before CCP tore them down. Actually we even know who exactly Confucius's direct descendant is, one of the family directs the annual prayer every year.

My last name depicts a fully drawn bow, so basically my ancestors were weapon makers. Chinese are also excellent record keepers, so if I really cared, I can track down how my name/family migrated, when it appeared and so on fairly easily.
 
I don`t care about my family history,being related to Britney Spears is already too much information.
 
my first name is a high english one

my middle name is a high english one

my last name is also high english and there are numerous spots in both the US and the UK that share my last name.


and from my moms side, i am actually 1/16th american indian, so i could actually claim minority status if i wanted rather than asian ( caucasian!).
 
TheWesDude said:
my first name is a high english one

my middle name is a high english one

my last name is also high english and there are numerous spots in both the US and the UK that share my last name.


and from my moms side, i am actually 1/16th american indian, so i could actually claim minority status if i wanted rather than asian ( caucasian!).
Click to expand...

I am 1/32 Creek. Cool beans !
 
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My last Name is from Spain,well duh Latino America, from Hidalgo or Aragón. and it also a very Ugly last Name.
My first name is Carlos because every baby was being named Carlos at the specific moment I was born, something about Prince Carlos or something I don't Know. Pretty Lame I know.
 
My name roughly translates to:
Great Victory- One who rules instead - and Blonde Hair.

The names have been in my families (my parents families have been related since they both fled after loosing a power struggle) nearly 1000 years ago.

Most in my family have the same names or similar names.
First Name- Common family first name
middle name- Mothers maiden name
last name- Fathers last name.

Second son (0ut of 7 kids, 6 are sons)
First name- Common Family first name
Middle name- Paternal Grandfathers first name
Last name- Fathers last name

Third Son- Common Family first name
Middle name - Maternal Grandfathers first name
Last name- Fathers last name

Rest of sons... Gets confusing. They basically try to not repeat names used for the first three if possible.


Me and my younger brother are both named after the same uncle (but have different first names)

WPD is not really my name.
 
My Family were Danes that settled in the British Isles. My name means in "son of the north" "son of a sea pirage" and "son of Denmark".
 
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