Welcome to the Valkenburg Surname Project! Is your last name VALKENBURG? Do you suspect you have a Valkenburg origin? Are your ancestors from The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, one of the Scandinavian countries, or elsewhere? When the Valkenburg Surname Project began in January 2012, its goal was to find out if the Valkenburgs from The Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany all have a common ancestor or if there are several branches that have the same last name by coincidence. As the first results from members' Y-DNA came in, it was very clear that there is NOT a common ancestor. Our goal now is to track the various families and where they originated. We would love to hear your story! Who is your oldest known ancestor? Where did he come from? What stories or legends do you have about the origin of your Valkenburg family? Dutch speakers – if you are not comfortable writing in English, then you can send us an email in Dutch: Behalve Engels, spreek en schrijf ik ook Nederlands, derhalve kunt U ook corresponderen in het Nederlands. And, if you haven't done so already, don't forget to have your Y-DNA test done! Sample collection is painless; it merely involves rubbing the inside of the cheek with a foam swab. Since markers on the Y-chromosome are being analyzed in this study, the DNA sample donor must be a male with a direct male Valkenburg lineage. Only males have the Y-chromosome and it is passed directly, virtually unchanged, from father to son, never to or from females. Women, and men descended from Valkenburg women, who are interested in finding information about their Valkenburg lineage need to have a male relative (father, brother, uncle, a male cousin, from their direct Valkenburg line) actually supply the sample for Y-DNA analysis.