I don't know if 'sir names' matter a lot these days. Maybe it does for those whose 'sir names' are 'family names' as well. My name is followed by my father's, so we don't have a family name as such.

The fact that we are in the twenty-first century does not matter a lot with respect to some aspects of our lives. One being our 'sir names'. Some of us carry the name of our native places, 'family' names, the vocation that our great-grandfathers and grandfathers practiced (by which our social standing was spelt, and from which some of us have disassociated). Like in 'The Da Vinci Code' when Sophie is told of her actual family and it's history.

Frankly i don't know how to react when somebody tells me of their family lineage, linking other people (about whom i know very little) and it's greatness. Their family name speaks some amount about them, but to ignorants like me, i am totally unaware about it. Does it actually concern us, to speak of such in today's times? Maybe to people of your own community where such things might carry some weight. Of course, we have a few famous 'sir names' which are too popular; of celebrities, industrialists, the like.

But to me, such things do not matter. Seriously, i started recognizing second cousins of my father's only from recent years.