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Description
Surnames in the British Isles became more common after the Norman invasions that started in the 12th century.
Many of the modern surnames from Scotland and Ireland are anglicized versions of old and middle Gaelic or old Norse personal names.
Many descendants preceded their names with Mac, Mc, M' and O’, abbreviations for “son of”.
Personal names from Ireland and Western Scotland were Áleifr or Óláfr from old Norse and Olaf, Amliaoibh, and Amhlaidh from Irish and Scottish Gaelic.
The exact spellings of surnames appear to be due more to the person who recorded the name and/or their location than the particular surname itself.
My McAuley family line was spelled 12 different ways going back to 1635.
Many of the surnames are listed on the Background tab above.
There are multiple separate branches of Irish and Scot, Nordic and Celtic origins with many of the branches interconnected over the centuries.
If you are serious about finding your direct male ancestor’s roots, you need to take the BigY DNA test.
Because any of the Y-DNA STR (Y-12 to Y-111) markers can increase or decrease in value at any generation, their usefulness as an indicator of genetic genealogy degrades as the number of generations increase.
BigY DNA SNP testing, on the other hand, will provide positive confirmation of direct male ancestral connections. In general, once a SNP appears in the DNA, it is passed down to all subsequent generations. And if two males have the same SNP then they have the same ancestor in common who existed some time after the SNP first appeared.
One long term goal of BigY testing is to determine when and where the individual SNPs first appeared.
The SNP data allows the confirmation of an individual’s membership in known familial branch(es). And as the analysis of combined SNP and genealogical data continues, additional branches and emigration patterns will result.
As additional information becomes available, it will be posted in the Results Section (see the tab above).
If you join our project, please include the name, birth and/or death date and location of your most distant known male ancestor on the straight male line.
Requirements
A Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname. They are of the most interest in cultures where surnames are passed on from father to son like the Y-Chromosome. This project is for males taking a Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) test. Thus, the individual who tests must be a male who wants to check his direct paternal line (father's father's father's...) with a Y-DNA12, Y-DNA37, Y-DNA67, or Y-DNA111 test and who has one of the surnames listed for the project. Females do not carry their father's Y-DNA. Females who would like to check their father's direct paternal line can have a male relative with his surname order a Y-DNA test. Females can also order an mtDNA test for themselves such as the mtDNAPlus test or the mtFullSequence test and participate in an mtDNA project. Both men and women may take our autosomal Family Finder test to discover recent relationships across all family lines.
Surnames In This Project
Aulay, Auleth, Awla, Cauley, Caully, Cauly, Cawley, Cawly, Colley, Cooley, Gawley, MacAla, MacAlla, Macameleth, MacAulay, MacAuley, Macawlay, MacAwley, MacCall, MacCallie, MacCauley, MacCawley, MacColley, MacColly, MacCulley, MacGauley, Macgawley, MacGuire, MacKall, Mackalla, Mackaula, MacPhedran, MacPhedron, MacPheidran, Magawley, Magawly, Maguire, Makalley, Makcalla, Makcaulay, Makkalay, M'Ala, M'Alay, M'Auihlay, M'AuIla, M'Aule, M'Cala, M'Calley, M'Callie, M'Callow, McAulay, McAuley, M'Cauley, McAullay, McAuly, McAwla, McCall, McCalla, McCallay, McCalley, McCallie, McCally, McCaula, McCaulaw, McCaulay, McCauley, McCaully, McCauly, McCawley, McCawly, McColley, McColly, McCooley, McCowley, McCown, McCulley, McCully, McElyea, McGauley, McGawley, McGuire, McKall, McKaula, M'Kalla, M'Kallay, Oliffe, Paterson, Patterson