Origins of the Foad Name

In England, the FOAD surname and its variants (possibly Foade and Foat) are both uncommon and geographically very localized.   In 1881 most of the Foads in England lived in the eastern half of Kent County, strongly suggesting that there might have been only one or at most a very small number of family founders.   Historically, this area of England was subjected to many invasions and migrations from different parts of Europe, so there are many possibilities for the ethnic origin of the Foad founder(s).   Testing of the Y-chromosome of many male Foads will reveal the number of these original founders, as well as the ethnic origin or "deep ancestry" of the project participants and their respective family founders.   These ideas led to the establishment of the Foad Surname DNA Project in March, 2008. 

Geographic distribution by county of Foad and Foat surnames according to the 1881 census of England and Wales.  Thanks to Archer Software for graphic presentations.

By Participating In This Project

Each participant will :
1. learn which genetically distinct founding line of Foads he is descended from;
2. learn his "Y-haplogroup" or the ancient ethnic and geographic origins of his paternal line;
3. learn his defining genealogical Y-chromosome markers which he can use for his own family history research, such as finding "lost cousins" through genetic matching; and
4. contribute to our understanding of migration and settlement of ancient peoples.

Who May Join?

This project is open to any male whose paternal line (his father's father's ... father) is Foad or a variant spelling.   Please encourage a male in your Foad family to participate in this new project.   If you would like to sponsor a male Foad, please contact me at the address near the top of this page.   To participate fully in this genealogical project, each member should share his direct male line ancestry back to his earliest known Foad ancestor.   This information will help us to avoid testing men who are close relatives.   Please click on the buttons above to learn about the Project Goals, recent News, and Results so far.

Taking a Test

Taking a Y-DNA test for this project involves simply scraping the inside of the cheek to collect old skin cells containing DNA material.   It is NOT a medical procedure and only some care and common sense (clean hands, for example) are required.   See FTDNA's test kit and test instructions.

Your Privacy and Other Concerns

Taking a Y-chromosome DNA test for genealogy will not provide any health-related information and there is nothing scary about it.   It is not related to forensic testing, and no one can steal your genetic identity by learning the DNA results found in this project.   While there are no special privacy concerns involved in genetic testing for genealogical purposes, Family Tree DNA and the Foad Surname DNA Project have a strict policy for ensuring the privacy and anonymity of all project participants.   Please see the FTDNA Privacy and Confidentiality Statement for details.

If You Have Questions

If you have any questions about this project, please contact the volunteer Group Administrator (Martin Potter) whose e-mail address appears near the top of this page.   In addition, a large amount of factual, non-commercial information about genetic testing for family history is available at the website of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG).  

To learn more about genealogy in Kent, England, join the Kent Family History Society (KFHS).

The project administrator is a member of, and the project is registered with, the Guild of One-Name Studies (GOONS).

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