FTdna matches oddity

[Mart 'n' Al]

I've been looking at my best matches (out of 3,000) on FT-DNA and came across one of the more likely ones who lists 8 names of his ancestors as being significant to him.  We share 47Cm, longest is 10.

He is listed as 5th Cousin - Remote Cousin.

These 8 surnames also appear in my pedigree in the last 6 generations, yet I am unable to find any connection between the two of us.  Oddly, two of the 8 names are my mother's parents although 5 of the other 6 are on my paternal line. I am a big believer in absurd coincidences, but I can't decide whether this is an absurd coincidence or whether I am missing the obvious.  Or as a distant cousin, am I just not looking hard enough?

I'm sorry to be so vague, but I'm not really sure what I am asking!

I attach a shot of the matching names.

Martin

[familydar]

5th to remote cousins means you are looking 7 generations at least.  Do both of you have meaningful pedigree trees with all 64 4xGGP (and ideally their parents and grandparents too) identified?  If not then the match could be just beyond the end of one of the incomplete lines.

Jane :-)

[Mart 'n' Al]

Jane, I totally agree, but EIGHT seemed a bit noteworthy.  I have written briefly to the tree owner.

Martin

[familydar]

Unless things have changed since I set up my account in 2015, the names in the FTDNA surnames field can be populated independently of the person's tree.  They could be wider family members - aunts, uncles, in-laws, NPE candidates etc.  I agree that eight surnames in common looks very inviting, but as you realise and perhaps your match doesn't, they need to be in both of your pedigrees to be meaningful.

I have a DNA match over the pond who hasn't managed to work his tree back anywhere near far enough, so he has several versions of it, all with different ancestral surnames that presumably tally with different DNA matches.  Could be your match is playing the same game.  I can see how it can be tempting to guess at things - ancestry actively encourage it - in the hope that a particularly inspired guess will make it all fall into place, or failing that shake something free.  But a pain for we purists.

Jane :-)

[sugarfizzle]

At ancestryDNA when clicking on a match to see details you are provided with a list of shared surnames of direct ascendants.

Those with large trees often have many shared surnames with me. But it may be with only one of them where the connection lies, or none of them. If all eight surnames are relatively common, then there is nothing unusual about it.

Has this person added a tree, or just listed names of interest? If a tree, look for similar places as well as names - a rare surname from Norfolk is perhaps unlikely to be connected to the same rare surname from Scotland.

You might see someone with the same relatively uncommon surname as your ancestors, but you may be related via the Smith family rather than the unusual surname.

And what you think of as a rare name because it only occurs once in your tree and you have never heard of it before or since, could be a very common name in a particular area of the country.

At least you have a chromosome browser at ftDNA to help with your comparisons.

Regards Margaret

[Mart 'n' Al]

Thanks Margaret. He is going to give me access to his ancestry tree, although he has already pointed out that all his known ancestors emigrated from the UK in the 17th and 18th centuries.

MARTIN

[DavidG02]

I've been looking at my best matches (out of 3,000) on FT-DNA and came across one of the more likely ones who lists 8 names of his ancestors as being significant to him.  We share 47Cm, longest is 10.

He is listed as 5th Cousin - Remote Cousin.

These 8 surnames also appear in my pedigree in the last 6 generations, yet I am unable to find any connection between the two of us.  Oddly, two of the 8 names are my mother's parents although 5 of the other 6 are on my paternal line. I am a big believer in absurd coincidences, but I can't decide whether this is an absurd coincidence or whether I am missing the obvious.  Or as a distant cousin, am I just not looking hard enough?

I'm sorry to be so vague, but I'm not really sure what I am asking!

I attach a shot of the matching names.

Martin

Apologies for the lateness.

Those list of names look to be fairly common occupational or locational or hereditary names. ie common as muck

Ballard is the only odd one out to me that I would be focussing on. I have similar '' these people match you'' and then I realise the names are very widespread. Sure there might be a connection but too far back

[Mart 'n' Al]

We have been unable to find any connection.  His ancestors went to the US before the earliest of my research.  I prefer popular, rather than 'common as muck'!

Martin