Welcome to the McDuffie Surnames DNA Project. The project is open to all males with the Duff, Duffy, McAfee, McDuff, McDuffie, McFie or McPhee type surnames, and any of the variant spellings. The purpose of the project is to connect clan members from around the world who have an interest in their shared paternal genetic heritage. Due to the similarity of surnames this project is essentially three surname projects in one. Historically, there are three separate clans (or families) whose surname contained the Gaelic root word Dubh (meaning black). This has led to confusion over the years about which surnames belonged to which particular clan and whether or not they were really separate clans at all. Modern day genetic testing has proven that the three main surname groups (McDuff, McPhee/McFie/McDuffie and Duffy) are indeed not related. It may help to keep in mind that the introduction of written anglicized surnames to populations with largely oral language traditions, like the Gaelic speakers of the Scottish Highlands and Ireland, meant that neither the surname translation from Gaelic to English, nor the spelling of that translation was as fixed as it is within populations that have been writing and spelling their surnames consistently for generations. Because of this fact the project is arranged by haplogroups and subclades, which we believe is a more accurate representation of relatedness than sorting by surnames alone. The main goal of the project is to help members with their genealogical research by identifying shared ancestors and family groups. Individuals with different surnames but who believe their ancestors share a Duff, Duffy, McAfee, McDuff, McDuffie, McFie or McPhee connection either through Autosomal, MtDNA or Y-DNA are also welcome to join the project.