The FRAME DNA PROJECT was established at Family Tree DNA in 2006 by Carol Kane and Julie Frame Falk. 

Decades researching the traditions passed down in many Frame families:  

• that their ancestors were ‘weavers from Flanders’
  
• that they had ‘fled religious persecution’ and
  
• that ‘all Frames are related’ 
  

has led to the belief that some ‘Frame’ families recorded in early records in the United Kingdom, from where many of our ancestors dispersed to other parts of the world, were originally members of Flemish families surnamed Fremault/Fremaux etc. The Fremault/Fremaux are definitely known to have been among those who fled Flanders to seek refuge in England, Scotland and other parts, as their names, in numerous spelling variations, appear in early ‘Strangers’ church records. Protestant refugees to Great Britain between 1550 and 1650 were mostly Flemish (Dutch-speaking) and Walloon (French-speaking).

Like the early records in England, Frame wills in Scotland from 1500/1600s show the connection to the textile industry and other artisan crafts.  Many with this surname were hand loom weavers. Anglicisation or truncation of the surname to just the first syllable (Frem, Fram, Frame etc.) appears to have happened swiftly. In 1894, A. W. Cornelius Hallen also identified Frame as being of Flemish origin.  In an article titled ‘Surnames’  in The Scottish Antiquary or Northern Notes and Queries Vol. VIII, pp.76-77 (1894) he states:

 'It would exceed the limits of this paper to enter into details; we hope to continue the subject in a future number. I may, however, state that taking Norfolk, London, and Gloucestershire as old English weaving districts, I have found groups of names which Scotsmen would claim as belonging to Scotland, being at the present day common here, but which are of Flemish origin. Just to show that the materials exist for proving the prevalence of Flemish blood in Scotland at the present day, I will mention but a few of the many names common to England, Flanders, and Scotland: Clink, Cant, Mustard, Wingate, Younger, Justice, Furlong, Harrower, Cornelius, Adie, Frame, Cousin, Gentleman, Beveridge, Grote, Emery (or Imrie), Peacock, Enzell, Marriott, Danks, Kemp, Barty, Blaw (or Blow), Bonar, Luke.' 

 The tradition that ‘all Frames are related’ certainly found some solid support within the Project.  Testing has shown that the Y-DNA of the majority of Project testers from around the world has identified a very large and widely-dispersed family who share a single progenitor (Frame Group A (I-L803).   Along with those members in Group A, we have also identified additional smaller groups and some Independents. These are subgrouped accordingly on our DNA Results page. 

We encourage all men with the Frame, Freme, Freame, Fremault, Fremaux or a variant surname to join us in the Frame DNA Project to determine if you have genetic cousins within our membership.

More details on our Project research can be found at our website:

FRAME DNA PROJECT - Research

To join the FRAME DNA PROJECT, please click the JOIN link in the banner at top right.