Welcome to the Makota Surname Project! Is your last name MAKOTA? Have you wondered where this surname originated? As far as we know, there are MAKOTAs whose oldest known ancestors come from: • Eastern Europe, such as Poland and Ukraine • Africa • Asia, such as Japan The Makota Surname Project wants to find out if the Makotas all have a common ancestor or if there are 3 or more branches that have the same last name by coincidence. We would love to hear your story! Who is your oldest known ancestor? Where did he come from? What stories or legends do you have about the origin of the Makota family? And, if you haven't done so already, don't forget to have your Y-DNA test done! Sample collection is painless; it merely involves rubbing the inside of the cheek with a foam swab. Since markers on the Y-chromosome are being analyzed in this study, the DNA sample donor must be a male with a direct male Makota lineage. Only males have the Y-chromosome and it is passed directly, virtually unchanged, from father to son, never to or from females. Women interested in finding information about their Makota lineage need to have a male relative (father, brother, uncle, a male cousin, from their direct Makota line) actually supply the sample for Y-DNA analysis.