How do I find out if my fiance's last name is Greek or other?

Question:

How do I find out if my fiance's last name is Greek or other?

What is it called when you wanna do research on some1's last name to see what kind it is, like Greek, Irish..etc.?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: It's called taking a shortcut that might give you a false answer.

Looking at the etymology of a name in the US or Canada is very misleading. Through the years, our names have mutated from what they were when our ancestors lived in Europe. If you go to some of the "name sites" and just type in a name, you may get an answer, but the odds of that answer being true to the origins of your own name are slim. A few days ago there was a good example of it on this board. Someone asked for the origins of the name "Huise". A simple question...and all of the "name sites" claimed it was British. AHHHH...but then we went to the records of people with that name who immigrated to the US and found they were actually Norwegian, German, and many other nationalities. The name belongs to many ethnic groups, but the "name sites" just picked one nationality and claimed everyone with that name was British....though clearly not true.

If you really want to find out the ethnicity of your boyfriend's name, then do the genealogy research to figure out what his immigrant ancestor's nationality was, where he was born, when he left, etc. That will give you the real answer...and give you something to pass along to your children that has real meaning.

Stay away from any site that tries to sell you "things" with coats of arms or family crests. They had to make things up in order to get you to but those honors. If you want to spend money on something fake when the truth may be much more fascinating, go ahead. But it's purely caveat emptor.