Title:
|
The relationship between British surnames and Y-chromosomal haplotypes
|
Abstract
In Britain surnames are paternally inherited and they are thus analogous to
the paternally inherited Y chromosome. Therefore, males who share surnames
might be expected to share Y-chromosomes. However, this simple relationship is
complicated by the multiple origins of many surnames, non-paternity, and
mutations on the Y chromosome. Y-chromosomal DNA polymorphisms provide us
with a set of tools to directly test, at a molecular level, this hypothetical link.
Since surnames are highly geographically localized, local geographical
patterning of Y haplotypes is a potential confounding factor: genetic structure
within names could arise as a result of geographical structure within Britain, rather
than due to descent. Geographical structure was examined using samples from this
research but little evidence of such structure was found.
Then, to ask if a signal of haplotype sharing exists within surnames, 150
pairs of men were recruited, each sharing a British surname, and Y-haplotype
sharing assessed within each pair. The signal of coancestry exhibited constituted
powerful evidence for common origins of men sharing surnames. It also has
forensic implications and this research shows that it could allow the prediction of
surname from crime-scene samples. .
These findings for pairs of men sharing surnames suggested that a larger
scale' study of larger sample sizes would be worthwhile, so a set of 40 surnames
with an average sample size of 42 apparently unrelated men was investigated
using Y markers. Correlations between surname rank and degree of diversity exist:
the more common the surname, the greater the diversity of Y-chromosomal
haplotypes associated with the name. Furthermore, an individual is far more likely
to share a Y-chromosome haplotype with another person sharing their surname if
the surname is rare. While a handful of surnames show some evidence of having a
single founder, overall the picture is one of far more complex surnames histories.
|