Your Family Tree

Do you think your family originated from the top 1 percent?

According to a new study of unique last names from around the world, moving in or out of the upper class doesn’t take just a few generations — it takes centuries.

Measuring not just income and wealth but also occupation, education, and longevity, researchers found that upper-class families took 300 to 450 years before their scions fell back into the middle class. Throughout society, poor families, taken as a whole, took an equal amount of time — 10 to 15 generations — to work their way up into the middle class.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the London School of Economics conducted the study, which they published in the journal “Human Nature.” The researchers based their study on families with unique last names. Those unique last names made it possible to trace the families through genealogical and other public records. In England, those aristocratic names included Atthill, Bunduck, Balfour, Bramston, Cheslyn, and Conyngham.

The social scientists looked for those and other unique, upper-class surnames among students who attended Oxford and Cambridge universities between 1170 and 2012, rich property owners between 1236 and 1299, as well as probate records since 1858 — which are available on Ancestry.com.

They found that social mobility in late medieval England wasn’t any worse than in modern England. Illiterate village artisans in 1300 took seven generations to incorporate fully into the educated elite of 1500. Conversely, if you died between 1999 and 2012 and had one of the 181 rare surnames of wealthy families in the mid-19th century, you were more than three times as wealthy as the average person.

The glacial pace of overall social mobility appears to be a universal phenomenon, no matter the political forces at work. Researches found 13 unusual Chinese surnames among the educated elite in the 19th century. Today, despite the Chinese Communist revolution, social upheavals of the Cultural Revolution, and exile of many families to Taiwan and Hong Kong, holders of the 13 surnames are still disproportionately affluent and influential as professors and students at elite universities, government officials, and heads of corporate boards.

Researchers aren’t sure why social mobility appears to move so slowly, despite outside political and social forces, and suspect genetics may play a role.

The United States isn’t even old enough yet to test the researchers’ theory. But that hasn’t stopped many observers from identifying certain that connote wealth in the United States.

There are, for example, about 100 Mellons alive today sharing $12 billion, the fruit of a bank their forefather Andrew W. Mellon founded in the mid-1800s. The several hundred living members of the Rockefellers share $10 billion in wealth that started when John D. Rockefeller founded Standard Oil in 1870.

With just $1 billion, the Kennedy family’s wealth is eclipsed by the assets of less romantic family dynasties (the wealthiest family in the world, the Waltons, trace their riches to the founding of Wal-Mart in 1962), but the 30 Kennedy heirs live with a name associated with America’s Camelot.

Time will tell how long it takes those heirs to end up driving a cab. In the meantime, if you have a unique surname, or even if your last name is Smith, Ancestry can help you find out where your ancestors worked, how well they were educated, and how long they lived — all signs, according to researchers, of their place in the social hierarchy.

How to turn on macbook pro? what is a baker' helper How to make a map in minecraft? How to stretch glutes? What is y2k? How to find area of rectangle? What is the meaning of copacabana? How to do in text citations? how much do seasonal driver helper make at ups What is the meaning of dmd? What is pulmonary hypertension? What is the meaning of memorial day holiday? How to find a percentage of a whole number? How to mod sims 4? How much tips to declare? How do you do tricks on a scooter? How much does it cost to cut down a tree? How to do cool yo-yo tricks? What does hipaa mean? Tricks to not leaking when casting a sds page gel? How to alphabetize in google docs? How to declare tips on taxes? What is the meaning of turtle? How to do dark magic tricks? What are the ten amendments? When iago tricks both cassio and roderigo fought? What is tha meaning of rip? What does transition mean? How to stop sharing location without them knowing imessage? Magic tricks how to cut some one in half? What does sensual mean? What does sum mean? What does malort taste like? How long to cook turkey tips on stove? What does semi monthly payments mean? How long to pressure cook beef tips? How to tips "protect customers' data" 2019 2018 2017? How to go to sleep? java where to put helper methods How to get rid of hives? how to make tuna helper tuna creamy broccoli yourself recipe how to unhide quest helper wow What is the meaning of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow? How to find wavelength? where is the helper domo How much to give for a wedding gift cash 2021? What does motion to adjourn mean? How to use spirit calling bell? Safety tips when using rba? How should raw animal proteins be stacked prior to cooking? Why tinder tricks you? Why do black people go nuts over magic tricks? how to install games from wii u usb helper on wii u What does concacaf stand for? How to convert image to pdf? how does substation helper at hoosier energy make How to do spider man tricks thps? How do i keep track of every poop my puppy tips? What is the meaning of fortnight? What does contemplate mean? How to remove sharpie from plastic? What does perm press mean? How to check oil level? What does olly olly oxen free mean? What is the meaning of evil eyes? How to build a fence? What is repentance mean? What does tilde mean? What is molar mass? What is the meaning of oscar? What does hby mean in text? How wake earlier tips morning person? What are some good study tips? How do you teach lionhead rabbits tricks? What are virulence factors? How to get rid of fatty liver? Tips for those who can't spell? What does ? emoji mean? How long can dogs learn new tricks? What does reiterate mean? Green day wake me up when september ends meaning? What do gang signs mean? How long does fashion nova take to ship? How to get rid of pimple on lip? What is the meaning of reaffirm? How to do magic tricks with cards that were on america's got talent? What does 11:11 mean in the bible? What self awareness meaning? How much are tickets to disneyland? What is a swot analysis? Job interview tips how to make a great impression? What time does the nascar race come on today? Tips how to write a school district transfer appeal? what is a hvac helper? How to put q-tips in jars? How to clean leather couch? how to turm off chat helper on samsung j3 What is the meaning behind medusa tattoos? What are the first tricks to teach a puppy?