The name "Bromilow” or “Brimelow" and their many variations, appear to have originated as English habitation names. A common thought is that the names were probably derived from the name Bromilegh or “broom lea”; Broom = gorse and leah = clearing in a wood. There are examples of these old English Place names in Lancashire, Shropshire, Staffordshire & Kent. Overtime the name became corrupted by differing regional accents, differing phonetic transcriptions and just plain incorrect transcription errors caused primarily by variable literacy among the people doing the recording. Participating is an opportunity to uncover information not provided in the paper records, which will help with your family history research. We will also discover which family trees are related. As the project progresses, the results for the various family trees will provide information about the evolution of the surname. The Y DNA test (simply, a DNA test on the Y Chromosome) tells you about your direct biological male line, which would be your father, his father, his father’s father and so on, back in time. As only males have a Y-Chromosome, you need to be a male to take this test. If you are a woman and you wish to follow your direct paternal line, then you need to talk a direct male relative – father, brother or paternal uncle – to test in lieu. To join this project, your surname will ideally be Bromilow or Brimelow or some variant of these two surnames. If you believe that there is a Bromilow/Brimelow or variant in your direct male line, although you have a different surname, you are also welcome to participate. If you have Bromilow/Brimelow matches among your STR marker results, you are also welcome. Both males and females may also be interested in learning about their direct female line, which would be their mother, their mother's mother, and back in time. Both men and women inherit mtDNA, although only women pass it on. To explore your direct female line you need to order a mtDNA Full Sequence test. Family Finder testers, male or female, who have Bromilow/Brimelow surnames or phonetic variants of those surnames among their Family Finder matches are also welcome.