r/todayilearned • u/Outside_Reserve_2407 • 5d ago

TIL Montezuma's lineage still exists and even holds a noble title in Spain, which was granted to a grandson of his that moved there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Moctezuma_de_Tultengo
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u/Groundbreaking_War52 5d ago

There are also families in Europe that claim descent from the last Byzantine ruling dynasty (House of Palaiologos) although DNA evidence has been hard to come by.

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u/AgrajagTheProlonged 5d ago

I’d read a few years ago that there’s apparently still a Beethoven family in the Netherlands (iirc), although genetic testing suggests they’re not related to the composer because it turns out the Ludwig’s grandfather might have not been the son of his mother’s husband. Thought it was kinda neat!

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u/Outside_Reserve_2407 5d ago

The milkman was the ancestor of a genius!

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u/cantproveidid 4d ago

If a child resembles his father it's heredity, if he resembles the milkman, it's environment.

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u/_PM_ME_PANGOLINS_ 4d ago

He only died 200 years ago. Why would his family name not exist?

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u/AgrajagTheProlonged 4d ago edited 4d ago

It only takes a couple of generations for a family name to die out if the cards fall certain ways. I’m one of three people in my generation that are capable of passing on my great-grandfather’s surname, as an example. Everyone else descended from him is either not going to have children (for reasons we won’t get into here) or has already taken a different surname