How common is (was?) it to use a last name as a middle name?
Anne Sullivan, who was born to Irish parents in the US in 1866 had Mansfield as a middle name. Per the link below, she was mildly famous in her day. Mansfield is my surname, but no one in my family can find any relationship to her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sullivan?wprov=sfti1
3 comments
All because you have the same surname as someone doesn’t mean ye are related to each other.
As someone else said, same surname doesnt mean you are related. A lot of family names were just added on from the late middle ages onwards since it became good to have one for administrative reasons among others.
Maybe it’s not a middle name but a hyphenated surname from her father?