When someone has the same last name as someone else does that mean they’re related

Question

Someone claimed that if you have the same last name as someone then that means that you’re related to them. I don’t believe that, just because 2 or more people have similar names doesn’t mean that they’re related.

Answer

depends. some last names are from professions (fisher, smith, etc.). for me, i'd be related to them bc in my culture your ancestral line is drawn from your paternal side. so even if a wife's family is actually from city y, if she marries her husband from city x, that becomes her city as well as the "hometown" of their children. in the village where my family originates from, everyone has the same last name.

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Tbh most likely yes. If you trace their family tree far far they are related but at times it's so far people don't consider it anymore but they are.

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I have such a common last name, I’d be so annoyed if I was related to everyone that had it 😂

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I mean I have the same last name as Jamie lee Curtis and we aren’t related. I wish lol

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Trace it cuz it’s not all the time

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You are related in some way, but it could be very very VERY distantly related, by marriage, etc.

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It very much depends on the last name.
I don't think every "smith" or "brown" is related.
But some of them sure as hell will be

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I’ve always believed that the same last name means that the people are related, albeit VERY distantly. Or, in some cases, former slaves took on their former master’s last name if the master treated them well. 
Where I live, a lot of blacks have the same last name as mine (and I’m as pale as can be). I still call them cousin—they normally get a kick out of it 😄