When you think about it nobility claims are inherently funny nowadays. I mean, what's the point in tracing one's ancestors to the seventeenth century or whatever? I'm pretty sure the rest of humanity must also descend from someone (barring spontaneous generation and acts-of-god)
Whoa man - by my blood I possess the right and all that. Besides, we're gonna need to know who is who when we reinstate Feudalism (In SPAAACE!).
Though yeah, in Sweden at least, it's more of a hobby than anything else. There's a few benefits to being in the hobby organisation though. Some funds and shit you can invest in, if your dynasty has them set up. And I guess it makes some people feel special, and some just proud, but for most of us ordinary people (and most Swedish nobles are just middle and/or working class), all that long surname means is that a lot of people will feel entitled to treat us like shit. Because if our names starts with "von", that automatically means we're overclass snobs who look down on an despise the working man, right? [/bitter tangent]
There's a big difference between being a noble and tracing your lineage to one, though. I don't really count for that reason, as it was my mother who was a noble and the conservative asses in the Knight's House hasn't updated their worldviews since the 18th century and thus nobility can't pass down by women. (So yeah, I get none of the possible benefits of being nobility, while still getting all the shit for having the name. Fun and yays! [/further bitterness tangent]).