A newly compiled list has identified 35 surnames that may be traced back to some of Europe’s most powerful royal and aristocratic families.
The names range from the instantly recognisable Windsor to names that remain widespread today, including Spencer, Russell and Bruce.
Genealogy platform MyHeritage said many of the surnames continue to be common across the UK, US, Canada and Australia, suggesting that thousands of people may unknowingly share ancestral links with historic dynasties.
Among the most prominent names are Stuart or Stewart, associated with the royal House of Stuart, and Spencer, the family name of Diana, Princess of Wales.
From Windsor to Spencer: Full list of surnames that link you to the Royal Family
|GETTY
Bruce, another popular surname, traces its origins to Robert the Bruce, the King of Scots from 1306 to 1329.
Several houses that ruled parts of Europe for centuries also feature on the list.
These include the Plantagenets, Tudors, Lancasters and Yorks in England, as well as the Bourbons in France and Spain, the Habsburgs in Austria, and the Romanovs in Russia.
Some names have evolved with multiple spellings over time. Variants such as Stewart and Stuart, Darcy and d’Arcy, or Capell and Capel could all carry aristocratic roots.
Princess Diana was brought up with the name Lady Diana Spencer
| PAThe 35 surnames include:
- Stuart (Stewart)
- Spencer
- Plantagenet
- Lancaster
- York
- Tudor
- Savoy (Savoia, Savoie)
- de Medici (Medici)
- Capet
- Valois (de Valois)
- Bourbon (de Bourbon)
- Orléans (d’Orléans, de Orléans)
- Howard
- Seymour
- Percy
- Habsburg
- Bruce
- Orange-Nassau
- Oldenburg
- Glücksburg
- Romanov
- Baskerville
- Darcy (d’Arcy)
- Neville
- Astley
- Capell (Capel)
- Grey
- FitzAlan
- Courtenay
- Manners
- Russell
- Cavendish
- Talbot
- Hanover
- Windsor (Mountbatten-Windsor)
The Romanovs were the Russian Imperial Family
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The Tudors reigned from 1485 to 1603
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The genealogy platform suggests that anyone curious about their possible aristocratic roots can begin by building a family tree and working backwards through each generation, using historical records such as censuses, birth and death certificates, and immigration documents to verify potential connections.
The platform added that while carrying one of the surnames does not guarantee a direct link to royalty, it may point towards a potential shared lineage with noble families.
From the Tudors to the Windsors, royal houses have shaped European history for centuries.
Now, with many of their surnames still in use today, people around the world could find that their own family story stretches back to the courts and castles of the past.