How come my last name is german but im not?

Question:How do you KNOW you don't have a German grandfather way back there somewhere?

Or how do you know the name is German and not, for instance, Jewish?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: How do you KNOW you don't have a German grandfather way back there somewhere?

Or how do you know the name is German and not, for instance, Jewish?

could be in the family past

Maybe your mother married a man who had a German last name. Or perhaps your ancestry is German but you weren't born in Germany.

maybe some ansisters or your related to someone who was a slave and picked your last name, im not exactly sure but it may be one of these.

Because your family left Germany and came to another country, but retained their name.

my last name is chinese but im not!

it all considers who your family was in the past...

maybe your family is half german ask yous great aunties,greant g-ma,e.t.c

Some one in your family probably was, my last name is scottish but Ive never even been there!!!

famiily past or your name could have been changes from smithson to smithenhowser or something haha. my last name was changed from Pelikanowfski to pelikan in the last century. haha i have a funny last name, its pelikan like the bird. ahaha

My last name has germanic roots, but my father (who is 100% Irish) was adopted.

Or, you don't live in Germany, and you consider yourself whatever nationality where you presently live.

The origin is from there

Depending on your actual heritage it could be
A) you have a member in your far far far away family who actually is germany
or
B) in the past when countries invaded other countries they would force the citizens to conform to the wanted aspects like last names or languages.
I hope that helped

alot of people changed their last names, because of the wars & because of having to move around to other countries, it is very common.

my last name is swedish but I am not...reason being is my grandma remarried after she had my dad...so they changed his name..which changed mine....long story short things happen in the past that can change things ;)

#1. Are you certain you surname is of German origin?
#2. How far back have you traced your family tree?
#3. Have you done a DNA test?
#4. Of course, your nationality is where you reside, or where you have established nationality.

Well, have fun trying to figure it all out!

Many settlers in St. Petersburg were German. Names don't always tell the complete story of anyone's heritage. There is no absolute pure race of people. People have wandered the face of the earth settling in other lands, invading other lands. There have been boundary changes. You might have ancestors that came from Russia but they might have some German ancestry.

2 things...
A name does not have a nationality. You may believe your name "is German", but is that a proven fact, or your belief?
2nd
A name being of any "nationality" (which is debatable to begin with) is never guaranteed to be anything about someone's actual, researched and verified, ancestry.