You may find that
your Y-DNA test results exactly or nearly match someone with a completely
different Surname. This situation can occur and are the result of one of
the following events:
1. You
share a common ancestor before the establishment of surnames
2.
Convergence: where both participants’ result mutated and now matches
3. An
adoption in one or other of the lines
4. An
extramarital event in one of the lines
5. A branch
of the family adopted a different surname
Matches with
other surnames are typically more prevalent with those who are Haplogroup R1b.
Most likely, when
you match someone with a different surname, you share a common ancestor before
the establishment of surnames or convergence occurred. Imagine a situation 3 generations before
surnames were established, where our imaginary ancestor "Robert" had
5 sons from his first wife, who then died, and 2 sons from his second wife.
In the next generation, these 7 sons had a total of 27 sons who lived to
adulthood. These 27 sons then had 108 sons. Each of these 108 sons would have Robert's
Y-DNA. Over time, many of Robert's sons moved away to other villages,
often when they married, and sometimes they were looking for a better situation.
Many of Robert's grandsons then moved away from their father, maybe only to the
next village. The 108 males in this family tree are now spread out
geographically. A few had even traveled a long way from their ancestral
homeland looking for a better situation.
As surnames became established, it is very possible that most of
Robert's grandsons ended up with different surnames. Robert's descendents are not the only ones with
the same Y-DNA. Robert also had 3 brothers, who had descendents.
Robert's father had 4 brothers, who also had descendents. Robert's
grandfather also had brothers who had descendents. There were many males
who had Robert's Y-DNA, or a close result if there had been a mutation.
Each of these males could have adopted a different surname. At the
minimum, those in different places most likely would have taken on a different
surname. Also, those who did not know that they were distantly related
probably took on a different surname.
Today, there would be many males with Robert's Y-DNA - and a wide
variety of surnames, spread over an even larger geographical area. Since
these matches are before the adoption of surnames, they are most likely not
worth pursing for your family tree. The value of these matches is that they
could provide clues regarding the ancestral location, for those that have not
been able to discover the ancestral location.
Another event
that can result in Y-DNA results matching for males with a different surname is
called convergence. Convergence is a scientific term that applies when
two Y-DNA results have mutated so that they now match each other.
Adoptions
occurred in the past, although they weren't necessarily as formal as procedures
for adoption are today. A widow could remarry, and the children took on the
surname of the new husband. A child could be abandoned, and a family took
in the child, and the child assumed the surname of the new family. Before
pursuing Y-DNA matches with another surname based on assuming that an adoption
occurred, first review your family history research to determine if there is
any evidence to support a possible adoption. For example, do you have a
widow remarrying and the new husbands surname matches one of those surnames of
the DNA results that you match? Do you have a child in your direct male
line that appears in a census, yet you can't find the birth record? Are
any of the surnames with your DNA result matches found in the locations where
your ancestors lived? Have any children disappeared between censuses, and you
do not find a death record? If you don't
have any evidence of an adoption in your family tree, then it probably isn't
worth pursuing a Y-DNA match with another surname under the assumption that
there is an adoption.
Extramarital
events occur, including illegitimate births. Extramarital events where
the female is married will be the most difficult to track down. For an
illegitimate birth, typically the Parish Registers will note that the person
being baptized is illegitimate, and only rarely does a Parish register indicate
the father. Often, even the death of the person will indicate that they
are illegitimate, since illegitimacy carried such a stigma for the person's
whole life. From your family history
research, you would most likely know if your direct male line includes an
illegitimate birth. You have probably also validated the Y-DNA result for
your family tree, so you would have identified a problem if the two results
didn't match, and most likely have undertaken additional research and done additional
testing to resolve the situation with your family tree. If you wonder if
an illegitimate birth occurred further back in your family tree, then your best
course of action is to pursue research to take your family tree back further,
before pursuing matches with other surnames.
Extramarital events where the female is married are much more difficult
to track down. There must be some evidence to make this conclusion.
For example, did the descendents of the first son match others with the family
surname, and descendents of the last son don't match the surname result? Was there a later divorce and
remarriage? If so, does the surname of the second husband match any of
those surnames for the Y-DNA match?
Another event
that can result in Y-DNA matching others with a different surname is when a
branch of the family tree takes on a different surname. There are many
reasons why a surname could be changed. Perhaps, it is simply personal
preference, or the family immigrated to a new country and wanted to fit
in. A husband could take on the wife's surname, to prevent her surname
from becoming extinct in her family tree. The surname could also have
evolved into a different form when migration is combined with illiteracy.
The person migrating could only say their surname, and the spelling could be
dramatically different in a new location with a different language or
accent. Most likely you would have some
clues in your family history research as to whether a different surname is
possible. Do you have a missing person of family group? If all the
people are accounted for, then most likely, assuming a different surname by a
branch of your tree is not the reason that you have a Y-DNA match with a
different surname.
Most likely,
Y-DNA matches with other surnames are a result of being related through a
common ancestor prior to surnames, or through convergence. A match with another person is always
exciting. The question then becomes, do you pursue the match? The
first step before pursuing a match is to upgrade your test to 37 Markers, to
see if the match still occurs. In most cases, there will no longer be a
match. The next step would be to review your family history research to
determine if there is possibly an adoption, surname change, or extramarital
event. If you don't find any clues to support the possibility of these
events, then it is reasonable to assume that the Y-DNA match came from a common
ancestor prior to surnames or convergence.
Those who are
Haplogroup R1b will tend to have DNA matches with other surnames.
Haplogroup R1b is the largest population group in Europe, therefore, due to the
size and scope of this large population, there have been many opportunities for
convergence. You can eliminate seeing Y-DNA
Matches with other surnames by setting your Public/Private setting (on your
Personal Page at FtDNA.com) to Private.
The Public/Private setting determines whether the search for Y-DNA
matches will only look for matches within Harden Surname Project or if it will
look for matches in the entire Family Tree DNA customer database for those
participants with a Public setting. The
Public/Private setting is established for each individual participant.