When viewing a dna match, it seems that the only time surnames are listed as being in common is when both parties share that surname as an ancestor. This is great but is of little use when one member has a sparse tree. For instance, in one 4th cousin match their grandmother is my 3c2r. We both have the same individuals in our tree, her's is ancestral and mine is on a lateral line. No surname match shows up. I only found them when browsing their tree and noticed the unique name. My goal had originally been to fill in information on lateral lines in my tree so that more common surname matches could be made by the automated system when it browses our trees. It appears there is no benefit to doing this. Yes, I know it is always good to fill in the blanks for completeness but I was hoping that common surnames would show up regardless of where the individuals occurred in the tree. It seems that is not the case.