Welcome to the Cooney Surname Project. This project seeks to identify the relationships between the various Cooney lines in the US, Canada, and Ireland, as well as the historical and geographical origins of the Cooney name. If your name is Cooney or you think your paternal line may be traced back to a Cooney, I encourage you to take advantage of the preferred pricing for a Y DNA test. Since this project started almost 20 years ago, there has been many advances in Y-DNA. The early kits in this project only report STR information (repeats on the Y chromosome). That will tell if you are related to a family but to know which of those specific families and when, you need SNP information (mutations on the Y chromosome). SNP information is what the Big-Y test provides. This project primarily uses Y-chromosome tests which test specifically for the Y chromosome that males pass down through the generations. You must be male to take this test. If you are female, you need to find a direct line male (e.g. father, brother, nephew) in your family tree to test. For more information about the power of Y-DNA, John Cleary has an informative presentation at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YN5a5bfM74