The Moody surname project accepts participants doing all three major types of DNA testing, whether yDNA, MtDNA, or autosomal DNA (e.g., Family Finder). However, the primary focus of the project is the Moody surname and its inheritance through male lines. A yDNA-37 test is the minimum recommended for reliable results, matching, and assignment to a particular group of related participants. All members are encouraged to purchase, or upgrade to,at least the 37-marker test.

Groups are collections of participants who are determined to be related because their genetic signatures (i.e., yDNA marker scores) are very similar to each other,suggesting a Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA), preferably within a few hundreds of years. Other factors, such as having the same surname and geographic origins, help corroborate group assignments. It should be possible for each group, using traditional genealogical research and perhaps further DNA testing,to identify the common ancestor.

The Moody surname project currently has more than 130 male participants who’ve taken a yDNA test. All of those participants have been assigned to a group,although many are in a group indicating they have no matches meeting the criteria for grouping.

Participants are assigned to a specific group based on the presence of some or all of the following criteria. These are indicators of a probable close connection,and the more criteria present, the more likely that there is a relationship between those participants within a genealogical time frame (i.e.since the common usage of surnames, or about the last 700 years). These criteria consist of both traditional genealogy indicators as well as genetic indicators:

1. The member has the surname Moody or a variant, or there is a known or probable non-paternity event in the male line.

2. The Genetic Distance (GD) between two participants indicates a probable relationship.Specifically, with few exceptions, a GD of no more than 4 at 37 markers, 7 at 67 markers, and 7 at 111 markers is used as a limit.

3. Where only 12 or 25 markers have been tested, an individual may be placed as ungrouped due to the uncertainty of any matches when testing so few markers.

4. The presence of unique marker values among group members. Unique marker values are those mutations shared by a small number of people in that particular Haplogroup, and can be used to define a particular genetic group. The presence of these unique values in a specific individual almost automatically indicates to which group that individual belongs, frequently without any need to look at his other marker values. 

5. The results of SNP testing (if any) are consistent among the members of the group.

6. The same surname variant is predominant in the group.

7. The earliest known male ancestor may be the same person among many members of the group.

8. Group members have the same geographic origin. It is important for participants to provide information about their earliest known ancestor, including birth & death locations. This information can be used as evidence to support the assignment of members to a specific group. The project administrator also maintains an external web site where participant lineages can be posted to help others identify relationships and common ancestors. http://moodyhowellfamilyhistory.com/dna/y-dna_results.htm

9. Adding a participant to a group doesn’t significantly increase the time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor for the group.