The surname McConnell is of Scottish origin. It is recognised as a variant of the surname McDonnell and it is a sept of Clan Donald. Many McConnells, or testers with surname variants, already belong to the Clan Donald project, but that project is so large that they tend to get lost in the details.

The founder member of this project belongs to the R-M222 subclade, but as he is just at a genetic distance (GD) of 1 from the M222 modal for 67 markers, he has more than 3000 matches at that level. While researching his ancestry we have come across a number of other testers who either match him closely but do not share his surname, or who share the McConnell surname but come from a different haplogroup or subclade. Both groups are of interest, so this project can include both types of testers.

Female tester with an ancestor whose surname is included in the McConnell and variant list are also welcome. All testers with Family Finder results are encouraged to search for FF matches within the project, using the Advanced Matches tool on their MyFTDNA page.