The FRAIN FRAYNE,FREYNE FRANE DNA PROJECT is open to all who are interested in working together to find their common heritage through sharing of information and DNA testing. Those with any variant of surnames FRENE, FREYNE, FRAIN etc. are welcome to join the Project to determine if any share a common ancestry. If your Surname is missing and you feel it should be included, we'll be glad to add it. Please contact the admins: One of the main goals of the Frain DNA Project is to determine which of the eligible surnames are genetically related.  FRENE, FRANE, FREYNE, FRAIN, FRESNE and variant surnames are mostly locative but can also patronimic (Fraena / Frani / Frane / Fram). As a toponym: 

'FREYNE. O.Fr. fresne, an ash-tree, from residence near one. So the modern Fr. surname Dufresne and our own Ash. In Norman times this name had the variantions Fresnel, Fresnay, Frenne, &c.'

[Mark Antony Lower, PATRONYMICA BRITANNICA, 1860, p.121]

Ernest Weekley [ROMANCE OF NAMES, Rep. by Kessinger Publishing, 2003, p.141] states:

‘Trees have in all countries a strong influence on topographical names, and hence on surnames. Frean, though usually from the Scandinavian name Fræna, is sometimes for Fr. frêne, ash,  Lat. fraxinus…’

An early patronym was the first name Fræna, with variant forms of Fráni or Frane or Fram: 

FRAMLAND wapentake in Leicestershire is said to derive its name from the Scandinavian personal name Fræna and lundr, meaning 'Fræna's grove' – with variants of the name including Frandone, Franelun, Franelund, Franland, Franlund and Framelund. The origins of the personal name Fræna are obscure; however, it is interesting to note that there were three prominent individuals with this name in England:

• Fræna, a Danish Jarl killed at Ashdown in 871

• Fræna Dux, a Danish noble who subscribed a charter of King Æthelstan in 930

• Fræna (aka Frane and Fráni), a king's thegn fl/ 983/93. He was of Rockingham, Leicestershire and may have been the father of Osulf fil Frame/Frane.   Other men named Frane held land at the Domesday survey.

During the Norman era, vowels and consonants were interchangeable, with the letters ‘n’ and ‘m’ in particular, making the etymology especially difficult for those with surnames such as Frene/Freme, Frain / Fraim, Frane / Frame etc.  Addressing the vagaries of Norman spelling in his book The Norman People in 1874 (pp.35-36), in which he identified English family names of Norman origin, Prof. E.A. Freeman stated: 

‘We have to look at the very oldest records to discover the types of these existing records. The forms of these local names are frequently so singular from their truncation, their ingenious substitutions of one letter for another, their phonetic spelling &c., that it is almost impossible to imagine whether they are local names, or patronymics, or Celtic names, or Hebrew, or Norman. They are to the last degree perplexing.’

Thus we can only speculate which of the Eligible Surname variants might be actual corruptions within a related family network but DNA testing can help. The DNA of the participants in the Project thus far show most are not related within a genealogical timeframe and have quite distinct origins. Please consider having a male relative take a DNA test to determine whether your family is related to others within the Frain DNA Project, and to also help add some illumination for future generations researching these surnames. Genetic testing is the only way we will determine which of these many family surnames share a common ancestry.  

The main focus of the Frain DNA Project is Y-DNA which traces the father's father's father's line.Females with eligible surnames are welcome to join the Project to order Family Finder or mtDNA. However, if they wish to purchase a Y-DNA test they will need to test a brother, father, cousin, uncle etc as proxy since only males carry the Y-chromosome.  See FAQs. 

In relation to the surnames Frain, Freyne, and Freeney, the website Goireland.com states:

FRAIN, Freyne, Freeney

‘de la Freigne is an earlier form of the name (with many variant spellings) and as such it repeatedly occurs in every collection of documents relating to counties Kilkenny and Tipperary from the year 1302 when Fulk de la Freigne was seneschal of Kilkenny. The form used in mediaeval deeds in Latin is usually de Fraxineto. It is thus etymologically akin to the better known surname French: Latin fraxinus, French fréne (ash). The surname of the Barons De Freyne, of Frenchpark, Co. Roscommon, is French. Freney does not seem to have been used before the sixteenth century. Freney of Ballyreddy is recorded as one of the chief gentlemen of the barony of Ida (Co. Kilkenny) in 1608. Later in the same century the Book of Survey & Distribution shows Freneys to have been old proprietors in that barony. James Freeney, of Ballyreddy, was one of the prominent people attainted after the Jacobite defeat. Frain (Frayne etc.) is more numerous today than Freeney. The former is most often met with in Mayo and Roscommon; while Freeney is mainly found in Dublin. Mother Ursula Frayne (d. c. 1886), notable for her work with missionary priests in Canada and Australia a century ago, was from Co. Carlow.’

As proven by current DNA results, there are numerous unrelated ancient progenitors of the families eligible to join the Project. Clearly, genetic testing offers the best solution to determining just how many separate points of origin there were. We know already that these surnames are not all related by blood, although some might be connected by ‘house’ or clan. Utilising DNA testing in tandem with traditional paper trail research is a very powerful combination for trying to unravel the mysteries of who is related to whom, and which related families are more closely related than others. It is hoped that more men will DNA test so that clusters of related kinfolk will form and then perhaps some light will be shed on individual family and surname origins.

Thus far, the lines of descent submitted by participants in the Frain DNA Project are as follows:

MICHAEL FRENEY c.1834 St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada
Kit: 97615:  IRE? > CAN > USA

MICHAEL FRENEY b. c.1834 St Johns Newfoundland m. Maria O'Rourke
Thomas J Freney b.20 Dec 1870 St Johns Newfoundland m. Rosetta A O'Keefe
Cornelius J Freney b.23 Jun 1896 Boston MA USA m. Ruth Alvaraz

THOMAS FRAIN - Ireland
Kit 168736: IRE

THOMAS FRAIN b. ? IRE m. ?
John Frain b. abt. 1820 m. Bridget McLoughlin, Co.Mayo, Ireland
Thomas Frain b. 1841 m. Winifred Caffarkey, Co Mayo, Ireland
George Frain b. 1881 m. Bridget Plover, Co. Mayo, Ireland
Patrick Frain b. 1912 m. Mary Mc Nulty, Co. Mayo, Ireland

JAMES FRENCH – Ireland
Kit 180023: IRE > ENG

JAMES FRENCH b. c. 1835 Co. Tyrone IRE m. Bridget Lynch
James French b. 30 Mar 1870 Rylands Co. Tyrone IRE m. Margaret Friel
James French b. 13 Apr 1891 Co. Donegal bur. Murlog, Illford Co. Donegal IRE m. Anne Ellis
Andrew French b. 1927 Co. Donegal d. Essex ENG m. Hildegard

DUFRESNE
Kit 175604: 

Lineage not submitted

A.E. FRAYNE
Kit 184780 

A. E. FRAYNE c.1863