Is an X-Match significant in the context of a Family Finder Test?

[Eric Hatfield]

If you match them both on the same segment(s) and that/those segments are reasonably large, and if the others also match on the same segment, then you almost certainly are related. The key is all matching on the same segments (which is called triangulation), which is very unlikely unless you are related.

[Ruskie]

Hi Eric. Thanks for your thoughts on this.

It is (definitely) my maternal line which must match my contact's maternal or paternal lines.

What you say about regional matches makes sense. I do have some suspicions as to which of my family lines the match may come from. None of our surnames are the same but there could be a NPE somewhere along the line.

I will look to see which segments my two contacts match on, but if I am on the right rack, they won't match as they are different branches - my known second cousin is from my grandfather's maternal side, and the other I suspect may be on my grandfather's paternal side.