also Leichner, Likeness, etc. - The Leichnitz Surname Project is a unique project because of the vast amount of genealogical records that we have on the family going back to Christoff Leichnitz who lived in the 1600s, and because the surname is so rare. We believe that everyone with this surname is descended from Christoff Leichnitz. For many of you it will be easy to connect you to this individual. For others, we may have some work to do but once we obtain an extensive DNA database we should be able to identify which branch you are likely to be descended from. Then we will need to see if we can find the records to close the gap. Some individuals are likely to expand our knowledge of this family surname. We know that some branches in the 1900s chose to change their surname to Leichner, Leichnetz, Likeness or variations of Leichmic. But there are many Leichners in the world who we do not know if they connect to Leichnitz or if this is an entirely different surname. The same goes for variations of Liknes, Likenes in the Netherlands. Are these earlier versions of Leichnitz or an entirely different surname? While this is a y-DNA surname project, we also have an interest in autosomal (Family Finder) and mtDNA results that may aid us in understanding the family's history and connecting others to this family. If you have or suspect a link to this family lineage, please consider joining and helping our research and your own research.