It is indeed a desirable thing to be well descended, but the glory belongs to our ancestors.

Being born into a good family is genuine luck and it settles nothing about you. Whatever your people achieved is theirs, and standing in the light of it too long is a way of avoiding the question of your own record. Inherited advantage is worth being grateful for and useless as a claim.

If you have a name, a background or an education that opens doors, use them without mistaking them for accomplishments. Ask what you would have to your name if the surname were removed. Then go and build some of it.