# Could any Dopers be secretly related? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969 "2002-08-21T18:42:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/21 "2002-08-23T18:41:43Z")
Handy, not everyone in Europe was related to the kings. :rolleyes: All the ROYALTY was related, yes, due to the rate of intermarriage, but it’s not like one original king and queen populated the entire freakin’ continent. ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/22 "2002-08-23T19:11:56Z")
Some last names occurring in my family tree: Boyett Markham Johnson (Irish) Lewis (The Welsh strain, I think) Ford (a name adopted by some Native Americans, I think, not quite sure, but I believe that’s what happened.) Schmidt (Ten bajillion Germans can’t be wrong!) I don’t give out my real last name on the boards. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Daerlyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Daerlyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daerlyn)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/23 "2002-08-23T19:20:21Z")
Anyone related to the Mercury’s in Rochester, New York area? You’re probably my cousin. For that matter, the Mercuri’s in italy, some little village about 25 miles south of Rome, are also related to me. Any McGraths, MacLeans, Browns from New York, Toronto, New Brunswick? You just might be related to me. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2002, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/24 "2002-08-23T19:47:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nocturne \* > Lewis (The Welsh strain, I think) Score! ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/25 "2002-08-24T00:51:38Z")
Well! I ran across my surname (Hovis) in a post just today, so I may have a relative here yet. I think it was **BryanEckers** or something similar…now I’ll have to go find it again. I almost fell off my chair. ~karol ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/26 "2002-08-24T04:21:39Z")
Our family history on Mom’s side has been documented to ~340 and goes back verbally to 20 AD. Freaky. **Francesca** and I are related. We found this out during a white elephant exchange on here last year. Her last name is the same as my paternal grandfather’s. It is a very unusual name to begin with, and they share the very unusual spelling. Freaky. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2002, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969/27 "2002-08-24T09:38:56Z")
If you have any of the following surnames in your ancestry, drop me a line: **Wilton** - originally from Cornwall **Hanniver** - from Ireland, before that maybe England? **O’Meara (O’Mara)** - Kings County Ireland (now County Offaly) **Wandel** - Ransen, Germany **Battersby** - unsure. Married at “Saint Olave Old Jewry, London, England” before emigrating, but think they must have been from elsewhere in England **Brough** - Dundee, Scotland **Cushion** - unsure. Was convict transported to Australia, may have used an alias. **Dunwoodie** ( **Dinwiddie** , **Dunwiddie** , **Dinwoodie** , etc) - Barony Lanark Scotland but emigrated to Belfast, Ireland before coming to Australia - Brother and sister John and Eleanor Dunwoodie came out here but lived in different states. **Groombridge** - from Groombridge, Kent. Duh. **Higginbottom** - unsure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-any-dopers-be-secretly-related/124969.md?page=1)