If your yDNA does not work with your surname .......
If your research and yDNA results meet a brick wall a few hundred years or so back in time and you have FTDNA yDNA test results you might want to check out our new project at FTDNA.
We have worked on a hypothesis for several months involving the connections between our ancestors from Ireland to Scotland and back to Ireland any number of times over hundreds of years. The times our ancestors lived in did not always create a need for them to have a surname.
Surnames were not common for many ancestors even after more affluent landowners needed names to prove ownership of land. Many assumed the name of their landlord and others the surname of their clan leader. Occupations and colors of trees, animals, given names and names of places where one lived or came from were often chosen as surnames.
Once surnames were needed to begin to pay taxes and obtain ownership of land this created the need for our ancestors to have a surname and, often, one was given to them by the clerk or clergy taking and keeping records. People on the move for one reason or another were known to have changed names, some more than once.
Most of us have some experience in our genealogy research with how surnames can evolve over time. Different spellings of the same "root" surname can be significantly different among descendants several generations later and those changes tend to become fixed as the population becomes more literate. We witness the same thing in the yDNA results. The ability to compare our results across surnames allows us to identify those with whom we have kinship even though the surnames may be a little different, or in some cases, a lot different.
People who are considered of royal lineage and pedigree tend to have had more stable surnames often with lineage reaching back many hundreds of years. These are not often the subjects of yDNA testing for obvious reasons. However, even the landed gentry often took the name of the heiress they united with for partnership to continue their own dynasty.
Study groups based on the matching of yDNA results rather than on single surnames may offer group members the opportunity to refine their genealogy work and to more confidently research and expend time and funds in a manner more likely to produce proven results. This strategy also encourages group members with similar yDNA results to interact and compare research across surname boundaries. We have seen already within this group how such a strategy can benefit each party.
We are looking to grow our number of group members in order to better compare results and welcome all haplogroups.
To join this new project please use the top tab for JOIN REQUEST at the link:
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Sons-of-Aodh/http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Sons-of-Aodh/
If you are looking for where to test your yDNA:
http://www.familytreedna.com/http://www.familytreedna.com/
and click on PROJECTS tab to search for a surname project to join in order to receive a discount on ordering your yDNA test.
Thanks,
FTDNA Sons of Aodh Project Administrators