If for example you met someone with the same surname as yours and you don't know the person. Does it mean you are far related?

Yes especially all the rich ones..my surname is not common

Parable007:
Yes especially all the rich ones..my surname is not common

lol, why the rich ones and not poor ones.

Ask your self this question
Are you the only one bearing your name currently ?


You know the answer
Anyway in most African societies it could be true as some names are associated with with certain pples

No other person from That state and part of the country bears my Surname. I've only stumbled on one in Facebook Search and she and her family were from Kogi

To answer your question in the simplest way possible: That is highly unlikely as a lot of names out there are not as 'uncommon' as you might like to think. Most similarities in surname are nothing more than sheer instances of coincidence.

But speaking for myself, my surname is so rare that it is well known in several parts of my home state that only two families bear it- and these families are really large and far-flung.

So, when you walk up to me and tell me that your surname is------, I am definitely going to ask you a couple of questions just to be sure that we are not "kin"(as they say in days gone by).

Kingof2nations:
Ask your self this question
Are you the only one bearing your name currently ?


You know the answer
Anyway in most African societies it could be true as some names are associated with with certain pples

Not just in Africa

Even in the West, such is also obtainable. That's how they get to trace their lineages to some extent.

Sometimes, you find that somebody in a place like the US or some South American country shares some level of kinsmanship with another person in Europe and the link often begins with a shared surname.

Kingof2nations:
Ask your self this question
Are you the only one bearing your name currently ?


You know the answer
Anyway in most African societies it could be true as some names are associated with with certain pples

There are tribes in Kenya that bear Opara, Ngige, Olubayo , Ejimba, Okonji, Amadi, Okwara.