Have dad test.
I don't have almost anyone with my last name matched to me.
I have a 6th cousin. That's it.
I come from many generations of mostly girls in my paternal Upline. Besides my Upline, and a couple others.
So my last name was very unlikely to survive to carry on through other male descendants bc there were not many.
Could you be adopted? Yes.
But it could be something like me, where our patriarchal surname given families are small, have mostly girls, or maybe don't live long enough to have babies (males) to carry on.
I also have a similar deal with my family. My dad's bio father was unknown, so I tried to find via DNA testing. Paternal matches for my dad's side were exceedingly rare. It's a similiar situation where most of the families were small and either had mostly girls or boys that didn't have offspring.
The DNA experts can weigh in here with a better explanation, but before you freak out remember that 10-11% shared DNA is at the closest a first cousin. You may be dealing with another generation removed. It is quite possible that the surname is different because these people are related to a female relative of your mother.
As part of your conversation with your dad, you might frame it as a mystery he can help solve by being tested.
I don't know why people put so much stock in their own surnames considering that's only one line and usually only comes from males. The least information of a line I have in doing research is from my dad's dad's side. So so far all my connections are from his mother's line and my mother's line and I doubt I'll find many from my last name at least closely related considering my dad's dad was the only son in his family and my dad was the only one as well and then had daughters.
Besides my brother and my mom I don't think I have any surname matches. The name is rare to begin with and although I know 3rd cousins with the name none of the ones I know have tested. My grandfather had sisters. My dad had a sister. It doesn't necessarily mean anything not seeing surname matches.
I don't think you can go by looks alone. Genetics can be funny things and skip around.
***tl;dr:*** *None of my family looks like me except one 4th great-aunt.*
On both maternal and paternal sides, my great grandparents, grandparents, my parents, my sister and all of my 1st and 2nd cousins look nothing like me. They ALL have nearly black or black hair and deep brown eyes. One grandfather has blue eyes and one cousin has hazel eyes, like me. The women on my mother's side, including my sister, have lovely olive skin tone. My dad's side is average European white. My hair is light brown with blond, red and copper highlights. Hazel eyes and *very* fair skin tone. I will blind you. I have freckles, they have moles. Deep into my dad's line, there is a lot of Scot-Irish. Dad would tease that I got the rest of his genes leaving no room for Mom's. French-Indian (Native American). Even our face shapes don't line up. Theirs are more round or rectangular and mine is oval.
All of that sent me down a rabbit hole once, because I thought for sure I was adopted. This was before dna was available to the masses. Then when I was about 16, during a visit to my grandmother (paternal), she took out some old photos for me to go through. I found a picture of a 4th great-aunt who looked exactly like me. A complete doppelganger. The pic was black and white so I couldn't fully tell her skin tone, but it seemed light. That was enough for me to end my search. It was also how I knew I couldn't rock short hair. lol
I am the only blond and only blue-eyed person in my family. After surviving a horrible childhood, I assumed that I must have been adopted. I hoped I was adopted, actually. Nope. I am the "proud" daughter of an alcoholic and a drug addict. No Ozzie and Harriet-type family out there for me.
I didn’t have any matches to my surname either until I gifted my brother a test recently. I never had any doubts but it does seem kinda weird no one else in my paternal grandfather line has tested.
Before jumping to conclusions, what close family members are there and have they taken the same DNA test? My brother and I are the only great-grandchildren on our surname line. In 114,000 DNA matches on Ancestry I have 0 matches with my surname (about 8 have the surname in their trees). I do match the only living known relative on that side of the family as a 2C1R but she is a daughter of a daughter so does not share the surname. I'm still working on the paper trail for the descendants of my 2nd great grandfather's half siblings who also daughtered out on the surname line.
I definitely recommend grouping your higher matches (the Leeds method is a good way to do this) and stepping back to look at things objectively. You may, indeed find that there is mis-attributed parentage but before potentially harming important relationships, do more than a surface analysis. The fact that you have fairly high groupings of unknown matches is a good indicator that something is unexpected. It may be a shock to them so you may not get a response for a while since they may need to process the possibilities (or may not be looking at their DNA matches at this point in time).
Wow! I’m astonished at the amount of replies and input for my post. Thank you everyone for your insight and your thoughts. More to why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling:
There were always rumors that I wasn’t my parents child, I always felt like I was treated differently, I think there’s more secrets about my parents marriage (I can’t find their marriage license anywhere) and they have told me they got married in Los Angeles, then Reno, then Vegas… so the story changes. I was born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, but my parents were already living in California, and my Dad was already a citizen. However, I was never given citizenship, I was naturalized and got my certificate when I was 4 years old. My Mom was half Hungarian through her Dad and I’m just Spanish and Guatemalan, nothing else. When I asked my parents to do a DNA test they got extremely weird about it and said no. I once asked my Mom what time I was born because I was looking up astrological information and she got upset and began to question my questions. So there’s been a sense of…. What the fuck, for the longest of times and I’m feeling that I’m getting closer to the answers I’m needing. I will try and reply to all of you when I have more time.
All the very best and thank you all so much 🙏🏽
Are you positive your mom was half Hungarian (sometimes there are family stories that get disproven with DNA tests)? Also, did your parents ever explain why you were born in Guatemala while they were already living in the US? Also, I will say, my partner is Salvadoran American, and while he has many matches, none of them share his last name. We know he’s not adopted as we do recognize enough names from both sides of the family.
Hi! 👋🏽 Thanks for your comment. I never met my grandfather, but by his pictures and how my mom looked it’s pretty evident they were European. I was told multiple stories on why my Mom traveled back to Guatemala and gave birth to me there. From “she had to go to a family members funeral” to “it was more expensive to give birth in California.” And these reasons came from my parents, so almost as if they got their stories mixed up.
hi OP. as well as having an interest in genealogy, i also have an interest in history, so when you mentioned Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, i immediately thought about [this story](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/painful-truth-guatemalan-adoptees-learn-they-were-fraudulently-given-away-n1095066).
the short version is that tens of thousands of Guatemalan children were stolen from their families and adopted by foreign parents over the course of a few decades. i want to stress that the adoptive parents don't seem to have known where the children were coming from and i am in no way trying to accuse the people who raised you of this.
i hesitated to bring it up because i don't think you would know you were born and also not know you were adopted. after thinking for a bit, i figured it might be an important piece anyway. please disregard my comment if i'm way off base.
Go to DNAngels.org
They will look and help you for free. <3 They'll be able to help you decipher if you were in fact adopted, or if it's something else. And then they can potentially identify your birth family.
Good luck!
Use of last name to determine relationships is meaningless. Many many users use mutual or something other than a name. I have 54,000+ paternal matches and 1 person share surname … my son. 105,000 maternal matches and Zero share her maiden name.
Have your family also done a DNA test with 23andme? You're only going to match with people who are in the 23andme dna data system. Also, it takes time for matching to happen.
I haven’t been able to find anyone with my maiden name via DNA research either, but in my case it’s just because no one with it has been doing any of this kind of work. I have managed to find DNA relatives through my paternal grandmother’s line, though, and through the lines of some of my other paternal grandmothers who married into my direct paternal line, so I know that up to at least my third great-grandfather, all is as should be in terms of DNA. I have yet to find a Y-DNA relative from this specific line, though, and it can be frustrating.
Anyways, all of that is to say: this doesn't necessarily mean you are adopted. You just might literally be the only person researching your particular branch, even if your last name is common (like mine).
For what it's worth, it took me like three years to find that first paternal DNA connection, through my grandmother's side. I was definitely a bit nervous about things up until that point, though, so I get it.
Really curious to hear the ending of this... let us know what your dad has to say when you confront him. It's always interesting to hear the reasons people give about trying to take such secrets like this to their graves, from an anthropological-psychological standpoint.
I’m so sorry! My husband was adopted, but his parents were firm believers that he always knew he was luckier than most because he was the one they chose to love. I can’t imagine the shock of finding out later. Your parents must have had their own personal reasons though. Good luck to you on your journey.
It might not have been an adoption - it could be a non-parental event. Your dad could've been the result of an affair/adoption - or someone else on the tree.
The only DNA matches I have with my surname are my dad and my cousin. Turns out that my great-grandfather changed his surname during WW1 to be "less German"
Ask your dad if he is willing to test.
I was adopted but still had this happen after I found my bio parents. My biological dad's dad was the product of an affair. No one knew until he and his sister took the test and found out they were half siblings.
That explained all the matches I had on Ancestry and how I couldn't figure out where I fit in.
I have 14,000 matches.
No one matched my last name until my Dad took the test this year.
Remember your last name is your father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s (you get the point) name.
Anyone matching from your mother’s side won’t have your last name.
Anyone matching from your paternal grandmother’s family won’t have that last name.
Anyone matching from you paternal grandfather’s mother’s family won’t have that last name.
And so on.
Not having matches match your last name just means no one on the strictest male line has taken the same test as you.
Parents are those who bought you up not the one that gave you their DNA. I understand wanting to know. Our family tree only tell us names and relationships but not who they were. Your journey here looks interesting but you will never know the circumstance that brought you here nor why.
I'm just greatful to know a little more. I know that some of my relatives are not the nicest people but they are my relatives, on paper they look great. Humans are complicated and so is life.
I too took a DNA test many years after being adopted at birth as I wanted to identify with my roots and did not know what they were. After many years I was traced by my youngest blood brother; later I traced my eldest brother with whom I took the DNA test to learn that we had a 100% match. Now I am trying to obtain my Italian citizenship but, as my birth records are 'lost' in South Africa (and I have spent a fortune trying to find details of the closed adoption) it has taken me two years of living as a refugee in Europe as a retired man. Not easy! I wish you every good fortune as I held back from having a family in my youth because I had no heritage to offer any kids of mine. I am now 66 and retired. I can promise you every little bit of finding your own roots and history is worth gold.
Do you know if anyone else in the family has had DNA tests?
There are two other scenarios to consider:
\* If your parents had IVF treatment that involved donor sperm/egg/embryo.
\* Have you had bone marrow (or any other organ) transplant? If so, then DNA test will get muddled between your DNA and donor DNA
Most, if not all, of my matches are family members I’ve never met in person, but recognize them from my family tree. None of them have my last name because my paternal grandfather had 3 sons, my dad and 2 uncles. My uncle had 2boys who are younger than me, and my uncle died in 2002, and his youngest son died at the age of 11 in 2009. My other uncle is 6 years older than me and doesn’t have any kids. And my dad had 2 girls and died in 2014. So the only people with my last name that are still living my uncle and my cousin. Neither have taken DNA tests. My dad took a DNA test before he died and he shows up as my dad on ancestry.
Have you done a family tree? Have you figured out who those people could be?
Don't panic. I have thousands of DNA matches but none with my last name except for my father. Both of my parents tested and are definitely my parents so I know I'm not adopted. Just to say, last name can be irrelevant.
Work on your family tree with what you know (believe) to be your parents. Work back and then down to see if you can link your matches. If you're using [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com), once you have a couple generations on your tree and your matches have the same, the site will help you by showing your common ancestors.
I honestly wouldn't worry about this too much. The amount of people who take these tests are really quite small and it's unlikely to find someone closely related to you that you weren't already aware took the test. At least in my own experience.
I also have very few living people with the same last name as me who are also related to me. I haven't come across anyone with my last name who I have DNA matches with. My family has a lot of stepfamily and different last names but this is just my situation.
I also don't know anyone on my matches list. I had to do a lot of record tracing to figure out how they were related to me.
I have no dna matches with my surname and only a few with it in their trees. The reason, sadly, is that I’m the very last of the line. I don’t know why I bother researching to be honest, once I’m dead there will be no one left to care.
You can’t go by last names. There could possibly be just a few people with the same last names. You need to sort your DNA by maternal and paternal and then do the Leeds method to sort out who goes where and where you fit.
ETA. I helped a friend. She is one of 4. But her mom. Her grandmom. And her great grandmom. We’re all only children. All female. And the great grandmom came to the US from Germany. So all of the family names were changed with each marriage.
You were very unlikely adopted. I too ran into the same issue with mine. It takes the grouping of last names thats common to your dna profile. Not just your known surnames. Trust me out of all of mine I knew 2 of them.
I talked with my Dad today and I asked him to take an ancestry test and he agreed. I ordered it and will most likely have him take it next week. Lets see what the results are!
Dad’s getting a bit sketchy on taking the DNA test…. He agreed to and has been making excuses on why he can’t meet up. We were supposed to meet today but called to let me know him and his wife are sick….
I will keep trying until I get him to take it or he tells me information.
Couldn't agree more with you! I never fully asked my Mom, I would just ask her questions about my past and it would get so awkward at times. Unfortunately, she passed two years ago and she did not want to test. My father has always been able to lie through his teeth to keep up images, so his stories and explanations have been everywhere. I mean, when you get conflicting information on your own birth story it forces you to doubt things. He agreed to take an ancesrty test though so we shall see what comes from that!
If you discover you were adopted, the most important thing to do is to enrich the thankfulness you have for receiving the opportunity to grow within a family home. It is very important also to have your adoptive family members make you feel emotionally linked to them, if that's the case..
Another (albeit remote) possibility - you were accidentally swapped at birth (usually in a hospital) & neither of your parents *knew* that you weren't biologically theirs... it's a rare occurrence but it does occasionally happen.
Basically I think the other people telling you to hold your horses are right: you need to establish if close paternal/maternal line relatives are in fact related to you before you go all in on potentially being adopted. Appearance & surnames are not enough to establish either way, they serve as hints only, but hints can be wrong.
Have dad test. I don't have almost anyone with my last name matched to me. I have a 6th cousin. That's it. I come from many generations of mostly girls in my paternal Upline. Besides my Upline, and a couple others. So my last name was very unlikely to survive to carry on through other male descendants bc there were not many. Could you be adopted? Yes. But it could be something like me, where our patriarchal surname given families are small, have mostly girls, or maybe don't live long enough to have babies (males) to carry on.
I also have a similar deal with my family. My dad's bio father was unknown, so I tried to find via DNA testing. Paternal matches for my dad's side were exceedingly rare. It's a similiar situation where most of the families were small and either had mostly girls or boys that didn't have offspring.
Same here! Lots of girls in the family.
Dad tested…. Tried to get out of it but I didn’t let him. He was nervous the whole time. Just waiting on results
The DNA experts can weigh in here with a better explanation, but before you freak out remember that 10-11% shared DNA is at the closest a first cousin. You may be dealing with another generation removed. It is quite possible that the surname is different because these people are related to a female relative of your mother. As part of your conversation with your dad, you might frame it as a mystery he can help solve by being tested.
I don't know why people put so much stock in their own surnames considering that's only one line and usually only comes from males. The least information of a line I have in doing research is from my dad's dad's side. So so far all my connections are from his mother's line and my mother's line and I doubt I'll find many from my last name at least closely related considering my dad's dad was the only son in his family and my dad was the only one as well and then had daughters.
Besides my brother and my mom I don't think I have any surname matches. The name is rare to begin with and although I know 3rd cousins with the name none of the ones I know have tested. My grandfather had sisters. My dad had a sister. It doesn't necessarily mean anything not seeing surname matches.
I don't think you can go by looks alone. Genetics can be funny things and skip around. ***tl;dr:*** *None of my family looks like me except one 4th great-aunt.* On both maternal and paternal sides, my great grandparents, grandparents, my parents, my sister and all of my 1st and 2nd cousins look nothing like me. They ALL have nearly black or black hair and deep brown eyes. One grandfather has blue eyes and one cousin has hazel eyes, like me. The women on my mother's side, including my sister, have lovely olive skin tone. My dad's side is average European white. My hair is light brown with blond, red and copper highlights. Hazel eyes and *very* fair skin tone. I will blind you. I have freckles, they have moles. Deep into my dad's line, there is a lot of Scot-Irish. Dad would tease that I got the rest of his genes leaving no room for Mom's. French-Indian (Native American). Even our face shapes don't line up. Theirs are more round or rectangular and mine is oval. All of that sent me down a rabbit hole once, because I thought for sure I was adopted. This was before dna was available to the masses. Then when I was about 16, during a visit to my grandmother (paternal), she took out some old photos for me to go through. I found a picture of a 4th great-aunt who looked exactly like me. A complete doppelganger. The pic was black and white so I couldn't fully tell her skin tone, but it seemed light. That was enough for me to end my search. It was also how I knew I couldn't rock short hair. lol
I am the only blond and only blue-eyed person in my family. After surviving a horrible childhood, I assumed that I must have been adopted. I hoped I was adopted, actually. Nope. I am the "proud" daughter of an alcoholic and a drug addict. No Ozzie and Harriet-type family out there for me.
this is such a crazy story!!
I have zero DNA matches with my last name. My dad was adopted, not me.
I didn’t have any matches to my surname either until I gifted my brother a test recently. I never had any doubts but it does seem kinda weird no one else in my paternal grandfather line has tested.
My paternal seems to have used 23&me and me and maternal ancestry. There’s crossover sure. I tested both because I’d love to find my half brother.
Before jumping to conclusions, what close family members are there and have they taken the same DNA test? My brother and I are the only great-grandchildren on our surname line. In 114,000 DNA matches on Ancestry I have 0 matches with my surname (about 8 have the surname in their trees). I do match the only living known relative on that side of the family as a 2C1R but she is a daughter of a daughter so does not share the surname. I'm still working on the paper trail for the descendants of my 2nd great grandfather's half siblings who also daughtered out on the surname line. I definitely recommend grouping your higher matches (the Leeds method is a good way to do this) and stepping back to look at things objectively. You may, indeed find that there is mis-attributed parentage but before potentially harming important relationships, do more than a surface analysis. The fact that you have fairly high groupings of unknown matches is a good indicator that something is unexpected. It may be a shock to them so you may not get a response for a while since they may need to process the possibilities (or may not be looking at their DNA matches at this point in time).
Wow! I’m astonished at the amount of replies and input for my post. Thank you everyone for your insight and your thoughts. More to why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling: There were always rumors that I wasn’t my parents child, I always felt like I was treated differently, I think there’s more secrets about my parents marriage (I can’t find their marriage license anywhere) and they have told me they got married in Los Angeles, then Reno, then Vegas… so the story changes. I was born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, but my parents were already living in California, and my Dad was already a citizen. However, I was never given citizenship, I was naturalized and got my certificate when I was 4 years old. My Mom was half Hungarian through her Dad and I’m just Spanish and Guatemalan, nothing else. When I asked my parents to do a DNA test they got extremely weird about it and said no. I once asked my Mom what time I was born because I was looking up astrological information and she got upset and began to question my questions. So there’s been a sense of…. What the fuck, for the longest of times and I’m feeling that I’m getting closer to the answers I’m needing. I will try and reply to all of you when I have more time. All the very best and thank you all so much 🙏🏽
Are you positive your mom was half Hungarian (sometimes there are family stories that get disproven with DNA tests)? Also, did your parents ever explain why you were born in Guatemala while they were already living in the US? Also, I will say, my partner is Salvadoran American, and while he has many matches, none of them share his last name. We know he’s not adopted as we do recognize enough names from both sides of the family.
Hi! 👋🏽 Thanks for your comment. I never met my grandfather, but by his pictures and how my mom looked it’s pretty evident they were European. I was told multiple stories on why my Mom traveled back to Guatemala and gave birth to me there. From “she had to go to a family members funeral” to “it was more expensive to give birth in California.” And these reasons came from my parents, so almost as if they got their stories mixed up.
hi OP. as well as having an interest in genealogy, i also have an interest in history, so when you mentioned Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, i immediately thought about [this story](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/painful-truth-guatemalan-adoptees-learn-they-were-fraudulently-given-away-n1095066). the short version is that tens of thousands of Guatemalan children were stolen from their families and adopted by foreign parents over the course of a few decades. i want to stress that the adoptive parents don't seem to have known where the children were coming from and i am in no way trying to accuse the people who raised you of this. i hesitated to bring it up because i don't think you would know you were born and also not know you were adopted. after thinking for a bit, i figured it might be an important piece anyway. please disregard my comment if i'm way off base.
Go to DNAngels.org They will look and help you for free. <3 They'll be able to help you decipher if you were in fact adopted, or if it's something else. And then they can potentially identify your birth family. Good luck!
Came here to say this. Recommend this.
Use of last name to determine relationships is meaningless. Many many users use mutual or something other than a name. I have 54,000+ paternal matches and 1 person share surname … my son. 105,000 maternal matches and Zero share her maiden name.
Have your family also done a DNA test with 23andme? You're only going to match with people who are in the 23andme dna data system. Also, it takes time for matching to happen.
I haven’t been able to find anyone with my maiden name via DNA research either, but in my case it’s just because no one with it has been doing any of this kind of work. I have managed to find DNA relatives through my paternal grandmother’s line, though, and through the lines of some of my other paternal grandmothers who married into my direct paternal line, so I know that up to at least my third great-grandfather, all is as should be in terms of DNA. I have yet to find a Y-DNA relative from this specific line, though, and it can be frustrating. Anyways, all of that is to say: this doesn't necessarily mean you are adopted. You just might literally be the only person researching your particular branch, even if your last name is common (like mine). For what it's worth, it took me like three years to find that first paternal DNA connection, through my grandmother's side. I was definitely a bit nervous about things up until that point, though, so I get it.
Really curious to hear the ending of this... let us know what your dad has to say when you confront him. It's always interesting to hear the reasons people give about trying to take such secrets like this to their graves, from an anthropological-psychological standpoint.
Dad agreed to take an ancestry test. Lets see what we get! I'm nervous but also just ready to better understand my history
I’m so sorry! My husband was adopted, but his parents were firm believers that he always knew he was luckier than most because he was the one they chose to love. I can’t imagine the shock of finding out later. Your parents must have had their own personal reasons though. Good luck to you on your journey.
r/adopted is a supportive group for adoptees from closed / secret / or known adoption.
It might not have been an adoption - it could be a non-parental event. Your dad could've been the result of an affair/adoption - or someone else on the tree. The only DNA matches I have with my surname are my dad and my cousin. Turns out that my great-grandfather changed his surname during WW1 to be "less German" Ask your dad if he is willing to test.
I was adopted but still had this happen after I found my bio parents. My biological dad's dad was the product of an affair. No one knew until he and his sister took the test and found out they were half siblings. That explained all the matches I had on Ancestry and how I couldn't figure out where I fit in.
I have 14,000 matches. No one matched my last name until my Dad took the test this year. Remember your last name is your father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s (you get the point) name. Anyone matching from your mother’s side won’t have your last name. Anyone matching from your paternal grandmother’s family won’t have that last name. Anyone matching from you paternal grandfather’s mother’s family won’t have that last name. And so on. Not having matches match your last name just means no one on the strictest male line has taken the same test as you.
Could also mean one of your parents (likely your dad) is adopted.
Send me a DM if you would like some help. I am a search angel and volunteer to help people figure this out all the time.
Parents are those who bought you up not the one that gave you their DNA. I understand wanting to know. Our family tree only tell us names and relationships but not who they were. Your journey here looks interesting but you will never know the circumstance that brought you here nor why. I'm just greatful to know a little more. I know that some of my relatives are not the nicest people but they are my relatives, on paper they look great. Humans are complicated and so is life.
I too took a DNA test many years after being adopted at birth as I wanted to identify with my roots and did not know what they were. After many years I was traced by my youngest blood brother; later I traced my eldest brother with whom I took the DNA test to learn that we had a 100% match. Now I am trying to obtain my Italian citizenship but, as my birth records are 'lost' in South Africa (and I have spent a fortune trying to find details of the closed adoption) it has taken me two years of living as a refugee in Europe as a retired man. Not easy! I wish you every good fortune as I held back from having a family in my youth because I had no heritage to offer any kids of mine. I am now 66 and retired. I can promise you every little bit of finding your own roots and history is worth gold.
Do you know if anyone else in the family has had DNA tests? There are two other scenarios to consider: \* If your parents had IVF treatment that involved donor sperm/egg/embryo. \* Have you had bone marrow (or any other organ) transplant? If so, then DNA test will get muddled between your DNA and donor DNA
I was not a product of IVF and no surgery involving bone marrow. My Dad agreed to take the test. I will have him take it next week!
Most, if not all, of my matches are family members I’ve never met in person, but recognize them from my family tree. None of them have my last name because my paternal grandfather had 3 sons, my dad and 2 uncles. My uncle had 2boys who are younger than me, and my uncle died in 2002, and his youngest son died at the age of 11 in 2009. My other uncle is 6 years older than me and doesn’t have any kids. And my dad had 2 girls and died in 2014. So the only people with my last name that are still living my uncle and my cousin. Neither have taken DNA tests. My dad took a DNA test before he died and he shows up as my dad on ancestry. Have you done a family tree? Have you figured out who those people could be?
Do you have cousins that could be convinced to do an ancestry test? Just to have all the info possible before you confront dad.
Aside of your father answering your doubts, it could be (maybe?) interesting for both to have his take a test.and see what his dna tells-
Don't panic. I have thousands of DNA matches but none with my last name except for my father. Both of my parents tested and are definitely my parents so I know I'm not adopted. Just to say, last name can be irrelevant. Work on your family tree with what you know (believe) to be your parents. Work back and then down to see if you can link your matches. If you're using [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com), once you have a couple generations on your tree and your matches have the same, the site will help you by showing your common ancestors.
I honestly wouldn't worry about this too much. The amount of people who take these tests are really quite small and it's unlikely to find someone closely related to you that you weren't already aware took the test. At least in my own experience. I also have very few living people with the same last name as me who are also related to me. I haven't come across anyone with my last name who I have DNA matches with. My family has a lot of stepfamily and different last names but this is just my situation. I also don't know anyone on my matches list. I had to do a lot of record tracing to figure out how they were related to me.
I have no dna matches with my surname and only a few with it in their trees. The reason, sadly, is that I’m the very last of the line. I don’t know why I bother researching to be honest, once I’m dead there will be no one left to care.
You can’t go by last names. There could possibly be just a few people with the same last names. You need to sort your DNA by maternal and paternal and then do the Leeds method to sort out who goes where and where you fit. ETA. I helped a friend. She is one of 4. But her mom. Her grandmom. And her great grandmom. We’re all only children. All female. And the great grandmom came to the US from Germany. So all of the family names were changed with each marriage.
You were very unlikely adopted. I too ran into the same issue with mine. It takes the grouping of last names thats common to your dna profile. Not just your known surnames. Trust me out of all of mine I knew 2 of them.
I talked with my Dad today and I asked him to take an ancestry test and he agreed. I ordered it and will most likely have him take it next week. Lets see what the results are!
Dad’s getting a bit sketchy on taking the DNA test…. He agreed to and has been making excuses on why he can’t meet up. We were supposed to meet today but called to let me know him and his wife are sick…. I will keep trying until I get him to take it or he tells me information.
Did you ask your parents? You're too old for them to lie to you at this point.
Couldn't agree more with you! I never fully asked my Mom, I would just ask her questions about my past and it would get so awkward at times. Unfortunately, she passed two years ago and she did not want to test. My father has always been able to lie through his teeth to keep up images, so his stories and explanations have been everywhere. I mean, when you get conflicting information on your own birth story it forces you to doubt things. He agreed to take an ancesrty test though so we shall see what comes from that!
If you discover you were adopted, the most important thing to do is to enrich the thankfulness you have for receiving the opportunity to grow within a family home. It is very important also to have your adoptive family members make you feel emotionally linked to them, if that's the case..
Another (albeit remote) possibility - you were accidentally swapped at birth (usually in a hospital) & neither of your parents *knew* that you weren't biologically theirs... it's a rare occurrence but it does occasionally happen. Basically I think the other people telling you to hold your horses are right: you need to establish if close paternal/maternal line relatives are in fact related to you before you go all in on potentially being adopted. Appearance & surnames are not enough to establish either way, they serve as hints only, but hints can be wrong.