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The largest group of Looney matches, descendants of Robert Looney, a native of the Isle of Man, share a Y-DNA haplogroup (branch of the human genetic tree) commonly associated geographically with Scandinavia and northwestern Europe - I-M253. This is not entirely surprising, since approximately 15% of Y-DNA haplogroups of the Isle of Man are of this and related haplogroups, indicating their Norse Viking ancestry. On the other hand, the large majority of the haplogroups of the Isle of Man are of a haplogroup associated with the indigenous Celtic population of the island.
Recently, a member of the group of Robert Looney genetic matches, took the Big Y genetic test at Family Tree DNA, and as a consequence received a report showing his most distantly (to this point) known subclade/branch of the human family tree - I-FGC15537. Though other members of the group of Looney matches he shares have not yet taken this additional test, by implication, they share this result as well.
What is the significance of this particular result? As with other DNA results, it is who one matches genetically. His SNP, i-FGC15537, and his other genetic markers, make him a match to a man of a different surname who is a descendant of the Isle of Skye, off the western coast of Scotland. The Isle of Skye received significant Norse Viking settlement during the Viking era. He also is a genetic match to a man, also of a different surname, from Norway. The inference of these matches is that their connection goes back for a thousand years or more in the case of the Isle of Skye match, and close to two thousand years in the case of the man from Norway---long before surnames were in common use.
Recently, a member of the group of Robert Looney genetic matches, took the Big Y genetic test at Family Tree DNA, and as a consequence received a report showing his most distantly (to this point) known subclade/branch of the human family tree - I-FGC15537. Though other members of the group of Looney matches he shares have not yet taken this additional test, by implication, they share this result as well.
What is the significance of this particular result? As with other DNA results, it is who one matches genetically. His SNP, i-FGC15537, and his other genetic markers, make him a match to a man of a different surname who is a descendant of the Isle of Skye, off the western coast of Scotland. The Isle of Skye received significant Norse Viking settlement during the Viking era. He also is a genetic match to a man, also of a different surname, from Norway. The inference of these matches is that their connection goes back for a thousand years or more in the case of the Isle of Skye match, and close to two thousand years in the case of the man from Norway---long before surnames were in common use.