INTERPRETING GENETIC DISTANCE WITHIN SURNAME PROJECTS

67/67 Your perfect match means you share a common male ancestor with a person who shares your surname (or variant). Your relatedness is extremely close with the common ancestor predicted, 50% of the time, in 3 generations or less and with a 90% probability within 5 generations. Very few people achieve this close level of a match. All confidence levels are well within the time frame that surnames were adopted in Western Europe.

65-66/67 You share the same surname (or a variant) with another male and you mismatch by only one or two 'points' at only one marker. It's most likely that you matched 36/37 or 37/37 on a previous Y-DNA test. Very few people achieve this close level of a match. All confidence levels are well within the time frame that surnames were adopted in Western Europe.

63-64/67 You share the same surname (or a variant) with another male and you mismatch by only three or four 'points’. It's most likely that you matched 24/25, 36/37 or 37/37 on previous Y-DNA tests and your mismatch will be found within the second panel at DYS #'s 458, 459 a, 459b, 449, or within 464 a-d, or at DYS 576, 570, CDYa or CDYb in our third panel of markers. Your common ancestor is probably not extremely recent, but your mismatch is likely within the range of most well established surname lineages in Western Europe.

61-62/67 You share the same surname (or a variant) with another male and you mismatch by five or six 'points'. Because of the volatility within some of the markers this is slightly tighter than being 11/12, 23/25, or 33/37, and it's most likely that you matched closely on previous Y-DNA tests. It's most likely that you matched 24/25, 36/37 or 37/37 on previous Y-DNA tests and your mismatch will be found within the second panel at DYS #'s 458, 459 a, 459b, 449, or within 464 a-d, or at DYS 576, 570, CDYa or CDYb in our third panel of markers. Your common ancestor is not very recent, but your mismatch is likely within the range of most well established surname lineages in Western Europe.

60/67 You share the same surname (or a variant) with another male and you mismatch by seven 'points'. Because of the volatility within some of the markers this is about the same as being 11/12 and it's most likely that you matched 23/25 or 24/25 or 33-34/37 on previous Y-DNA tests. If several or many generations have passed it is likely that these two lines are related through other family members. The only way to confirm is to test additional family lines and find where the mutations took place. Only by testing additional family members can you find the person in between each of you...this 'in betweener' becomes essential for you to find, and without him the possibility of a match exists, but further evidence must be pursued. If you test additional individuals you will most likely find that their DNA falls in-between the persons who are 7 apart demonstrating relatedness within this family cluster or haplotype.

58-59/67 You share the same surname (or a variant) with another male and you mismatch by eight or nine ‘points’. It is most likely that you did not match 24-25/25 or 35-37/37 in previous Y-DNA tests. If several or many generations have passed it is possible that you are related through other family members. The only way to confirm or deny is to test additional family lines and find where the mutation took place. Only by testing additional family members can you find the person in between each of you...this 'in betweener' becomes essential for you to find, and without him only the possibility of a match exists, but further evidence should be pursued. If you test additional individuals you must find the person whose DNA results falls in-between the persons that are 8 or 9 apart demonstrating relatedness within this family cluster or haplotype.

56-57/67 is too far off to be considered related, unless you can find an “in-betweener’ as for determining ‘Only Possibly Related,’ above. It is important to determine what set of results most typifies the largest number members of the group you are 'close' to matching. You may be 57/67 with an individual, but 61/67 with the center of the group, and your potential relatedness to him is through the center of the group.

55/67 You are not related and the odds greatly favor that you have not shared a common male ancestor with this person within thousands of years.