Surnames as a Connection to Royalty

Portrait of King Henry V (1387-1422)
by Benjamin Burnell

It seems that many people with an interest in family history and genealogy turn their attention to the subject of Royalty, curious to discover if their family lines can be traced back to that of Royalty. I was reading a recent blog on Ancestry.com which addressed this issue. The article, “Head of the Class: Do Certain Surnames Indicate Nobility?” was written by Sandie Angulo Chen and can be found here.

The article focuses on how long it takes family members to move up or down the class ladder. In other words, how long can a family be seen to move from the nobility down to the commoner's class, and vice versa. This is really what is at the heart of the matter. Most of us are not in the 1% (or less) group of the world’s royalty. Most of us are in the Middle Class. So if our ancestors were of the Royal Class, how long did it take them to move from Royalty down into the Middle Class?

Chen’s research notes that a recent study of last names indicates that this process takes centuries, not mere generations.  The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis and the London School of Economics. The results of the study were published in the journal “Human Nature.” The study used several factors as criteria in order to measure the family’s movement through the class ranks. These factors include: income and wealth, occupation, education, and longevity. The study focused on families with unique names because these were easier to track through time using genealogical and public records. The English names they used, for example, included: Atthill, Bunduck, Balfour, Bramston, Cheslyn, and Conyngham.

The study found that it took upper-class families 300 to 450 years (or 10 to 15 generations) before their descendants fell through the class rank structure to be considered a part of the middle class. Additionally, it took poor families an equal amount of time to rise up through the ranks to the middle class. This trend seems to be consistent throughout the world, despite location, politics or social conditions. The researchers could not provide an explanation for why social mobility is so slow.

Chen’s article concludes with a section on American families of wealth and social mobility amongst the classes in this country. As she points out, America as a country is still too new to make conclusive statements about social mobility.

What must be considered is that if your family was from England, for instance, and you search back far enough, you may find a link to the Royal British family. After-all, the people of that class were prolific breeders, and their get were more likely to live to produce children, who in turn inter-breed with other families and classes and produced more children down the line. The numbers grow exponentially, and the chances of Royal blood being mixed with commoner increases. In his article, “Everyone is Descended From Charlemagne,” Jack Lee uses statistics and probability to show that someone of French descent is more than likely related to Charlemagne. Lee is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Washington and his article can be found here.

Similarly, Steve Olsen, in his book “Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes" claims that everyone in the world is descended from Nefertiti, Confucius, and Julius Caesar. Therefore, we all have a common ancestor within the past 2 millennia. This makes it more likely that, if you look back far and wide enough, you can find a member of a Royal family in your own tree.

The trick is to make a conclusive connection, which is backed up by solid research and documentation, in order to make that claim. There are plenty of trees posted to the internet where the owner purports to be able to trace their family to Adam and Eve, or even a mythological character such as Odin. But if you look at their research, you will find glaring holes in their documentation.

Good genealogy is based on solid documentation.  In the last century, when genealogy was a very popular hobby, family members would sit down with their relatives and collect family facts and names. By attending family reunions, they would gather more information on distant lines and cousins. This information was sometimes passed to later generations by word of mouth or in hand-written or typed documents. They did not have the convenience of the Internet or Family Tree computer programs. While valuable, these documents are not considered adequate by today’s genealogical standards because they lack solid documentation. While they are based on first-hand accounts -what Aunt Sally told Harry, the family historian - we all know that recollection can be flawed and inaccurate. Family legends which are later researched by descendants sometimes do not prove true, or we discover information that was lost to earlier generations.

National Societies such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, who base their membership criteria on their members ability to trace their family line to an American Patriot who served or aided in the American Revolution, will not accept these recorded family histories as proof of familiar connection. Applications for membership must be submitted which include specific documents which back up the statements made on the application. For instance, a statement as to the birth date and place of an ancestor must be supported by a birth certificate, announcement or similar document.

These type of documents become increasingly difficult to locate or obtain as we search for family back through time. As noted earlier in this blog, most church parish records did not exist before 1500. And the problem of surnames complicates matters. Conclusively proving a connection to a member of Royalty becomes increasingly difficult when researching overseas or in areas where records were not well maintained.

But the researcher should not lose heart. The search is certainly well worth the effort. And the likelihood of finding that your family connects to a member of the nobility is greater. There were far more members of the nobility than royalty. And as those of royal blood moved down the social ladder, they passed through the ranks of nobility. So if, as the study above claims, it takes a member of the royal line 10-15 generations to move down through the social ranks to the commoner, perhaps you can locate a member of your family in the noble class within that time frame.

Finding a member of Royalty or Nobility within your family tree surely makes you feel that your research is worthwhile. The fact that you are descended from Royalty brings with it no privilege or rights, as most countries like France, which is a Republic, have abolished royal titles. But it certainly gives one a sense of pride and the right to brag about your ancestors!