Have you ever wondered if you might have royal blood?
For centuries, royals and nobles have been viewed as “fancier” than the rest of us, but the truth is, they’re just ordinary people too.
In fact, research shows that with certain family names, you could be distantly related to royalty without even realizing it.
Most of us have probably wondered at some point whether we have royal blood somewhere in our family tree. Looking specifically at the British royal family, MyHeritage has identified 35 surnames that could suggest a link to nobility.
But it doesn’t end there. Family History Daily has compiled 100 additional surnames that could point to royal blood in your lineage… or at least a hint of aristocracy.
Their list draws from Charles H. Browning’s 1891 classic Americans of Royal Descent, which examines hundreds of historical documents tied to the Royal Family’s lineage. First, it helps to know the current royal surname, which often goes unnoticed: Mountbatten‑Windsor. The Windsors have been the family’s house name for centuries, but “Mountbatten” comes from the late Queen Elizabeth’s husband, Prince Philip.
Philip, originally a Prince of Greece and Denmark, gave up those titles when he became a British citizen in 1947 and adopted his mother’s surname, Mountbatten. After Elizabeth ascended the throne in 1952, she chose to double‑barrel the royal surname to honor her husband.
Could your surname indicate a royal connection? Here’s a full list of potentially royal surnames:
Abel Alden Appleton Ayer Barber Barclay Beverly Binney Brooke Brown Campbell Carroll Chauncey Coleman Cooper Davis Dickinson Darling Douglas Dunbar Edwards Ellery Ellis Emmett Evans Farley Fleming Forest French Gardiner George Gerard Gerry Gibson Graham Hamilton Haynes Herbert Hill Howard Hume Irving Jackson James Jenkins Johnson Kane Kennedy Ker Key King Langdon Lawrence Lee Leonard Livingston Lloyd McCall McDonald Malcalester Montgomery Morris Morton Nelson Nicholson Nixon Norris O’Carroll Ogle Opie Parsons Patterson Peabody Pomeroy Porter Pratt Preston Quay Randolph Read Reeve Robinson Rogers Sanford Shaw Smith Sowden Stanley Taylor Townsend Turner Tyler Valentine Varson Walker Watts White Whiting Williams Young
But there’s more. Here’s another list of names that might indicate aristocratic or noble connections:
Windsor Tudor Stuart Plantagenet Capet Bourbon Habsburg Hanover Valois Lancaster York Bruce de Valois de Medici Savoy Orange‑Nassau Oldenburg Glucksburg Romanov Baskerville Darcy Neville Percy Astley Capell Howard Seymour Grey FitzAlan Courtenay Manners Russell Cavendish Talbot Spencer
Of course, having one of these names doesn’t automatically make you royalty, but it’s a fascinating starting point if you’re curious about your ancestry.
Remarkably, Queen Elizabeth’s family tree can be traced 1,209 years and 37 generations back with astonishing precision. Ethelstan, born around AD 895, is considered by some historians to be the first true king of England. So the next time you look at your family tree, take a closer look — you might be more connected to history than you ever imagined. Did you find your name? Share your story in the comments!
