Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Is there a last name which only one family uses?
I was thinking of how every last name I have heard of is used by more than one family. I was wondering if there is a last name out there which only one family in the entire world uses. It is okay if its a very large extended family so long as everyone who has that last name is related to some degree or another. For instance I know there are a lot of people with the last name Rothschild, but I think there are other families that are completely unrelated which use the name Rothschild. Clans or tribes don't count unless everyone is related by blood/marriage. Also none of that mess how all humans are related as we came from the same place. I know its true but, it doesn't count for what I am looking for.
2 Answers
- wendy cLv 78 years agoFavorite Answer
Sure.
There are thousands of immigrants in this country who came from Europe, and for one reason or another, the name got altered from the original. In those cases, it is frequently true that the only place the name exists as spelled is in the US, and can work back to one specific person. Without direct research, I don't think anyone here can give any number of those, where it is proven that all are directly descended from one person/ couple.
I have at least one of these in my work. The original name from England was Fillingham, which "became" Fillingim, Fillingame and more. My immediate group is Fullingim, and anyone of this name is desc (or by marriage) to Henry Fullingim and Martha Wade. His original name at birth was Fillingim.
If you research your lineage..you might even find one of these in your own ancestry.
- 8 years ago
Yes, more than a few Americans belong to a family whose last name only exists in the United States because either a custom official or census taker misunderstood their original surname, and for the most part they descend from a single original immigrant ancestor. For example, my paternal grandfather's mother's maiden name was Keesee, which morphed from "La Cage", when a Jacques La Cage immigrated to the first French Huguenot colony in Manikin, Virginia, in 1700.
