# Most Famous Person With Your Family Name **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 23, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604 "2010-11-23T01:14:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/21 "2010-11-23T03:12:26Z")
Either a U.S. Army general from WW2 who had a couple of movies made about him or a really hardcore English evangelist who was one of the ancestors of modern day Christian Fundamentalism. The general is a descendant of my g-g-g-g-grandfather and judging by where he was from the evangelist probably shared my ancestry, but neither is closely related by any means. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/22 "2010-11-23T03:15:36Z")
If my mum had been my Dad I’d have the most common surname in the UK. But my dad was my dad so I have what might be one of the rarer ones. Trust me there are no famous, by current definitions of ‘famous’, people with my surname. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/23 "2010-11-23T03:17:50Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Who’s the most famous person who shares your family (or in the West last) name? > > In the United States Seung-Hui Cho, Virginia Tech shooter You’ve never heard of Frank Cho or Margaret Cho? Much more famous. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/24 "2010-11-23T03:24:46Z")
No one. My last name is hyphenated and my family are the only people who have. And we’re not famous. I can’t think of anyone famous with either parts of my name, either. I don’t think anyone’s ever asked if I’m related to someone famous. Although one of them is the name of a very famous street in New York City, and I have joked that it’s named after one of my ancestors. My family is not exciting. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/25 "2010-11-23T03:28:55Z")
There’s a professor in England who has written a few books. But my last name is pretty damn rare. ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/26 "2010-11-23T03:30:59Z")
Alexander Graham Bell…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/27 "2010-11-23T03:47:50Z")
Part of having one of the most common surnames in the English-speaking world is that I have too many choices for this question. A common in-joke between me and my husband involves us referring to anyone sharing our last name as “cousin.” The first one to pop into my head was Cousin Dante, a kick returner for the Chiefs, but he’s nowhere near the most famous, just the first one to jump into my brain. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/28 "2010-11-23T03:49:21Z")
A Hungarian economist and onetime government official. Highly unlikely that anyone outside Hungary would have heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/29 "2010-11-23T03:51:32Z")
There’s a mountain and a couple of towns out west with my family name on them. Unfortunately, I’m not actually related to the people they were named after. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/30 "2010-11-23T04:01:35Z")
General Sherman. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/31 "2010-11-23T04:04:25Z")
1. a _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit model 2. an Olympic runner who famously lost her big race ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/32 "2010-11-23T04:07:27Z")
Staff Sgt. Max Fightmaster. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/33 "2010-11-23T04:10:20Z")
There was a Hungarian scientist who appeared on a postage stamp in the 19th century. A botanist, I think. My uncle, who has done a lot of research into out family tree, believes we are related even though the particular branch of the family with our surname comes from the St. Gallen area of Switzerland, traced back to 1690. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/34 "2010-11-23T04:29:04Z")
A theologian and a media personality. Both with the same exact name. Which is also the name of my uncle. What can I say, it seems to be a popular combination. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/35 "2010-11-23T04:41:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > the particular branch of the family with our surname comes from the St. Gallen area of Switzerland, traced back to 1690. We’re probably distant cousins. St. Gallen/Appenzell is where my family is from. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/36 "2010-11-23T04:47:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > We’re probably distant cousins. St. Gallen/Appenzell is where my family is from. We know who left Switzerland to go to the New World. He was the 15th of 15 children! Imagine that. No one would have blamed the parents for stopping at half that, but I’m glad they didn’t. From the family tree, it looks like half his siblings died in infancy. Still, probably not much land left to spread around, so he took off. I have traveled to Switzerland met the family members still there today. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/37 "2010-11-23T04:50:30Z")
Looking at Wiki more than I thought I share a lasts name with: \* o Either of the two saints named martyrs in Old Saxony about 695. o a Danish dramatist and poet. o a German orientalist and theologian o a pioneer of X-ray diffraction and crystallography. o the evolutionary biologist specializing in the evolution of infectious disease. o A Russian composer. \* Concepts o The ----- construction, a method for reconstructing a crystal structure from an x-ray diffraction pattern, or -----'s sphere, a mathematical tool used in that process. o The summation Oh yeah ETA my last name is the first name of one of the sailors captured on the U-505 during WWII ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/38 "2010-11-23T05:12:45Z")
No one. Only 13 people have my last name. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/39 "2010-11-23T05:41:45Z")
A character from a Dickens novel. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2010, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604/40 "2010-11-23T05:43:45Z")
If you allow the alternate spelling, the Man In The Glass Booth. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-person-with-your-family-name/561604.md?page=3)