First ... Welcome all to the RICO surname project. More project description Information coming ... Second - I will start adding as much pertinent details, material and Information as possible, and time permitting. Third - The Origins of RICO, go back to the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe, and from the Middle East. Specific Neolithic Period Subclades has indicted a long journey from the Middle East, by land thru Anatolia and Greece to Italy, along with Sicily and Spain migration via the Phoenicians. Haplogroup j2. Origins of RICO from Eastern Europe, Northern Anatolia and populating into parts of Greece and Italy, is the Y-DNA Haplogroup R1b. Fourth - Currently, I have only being able to identify just two Y-DNA - RICO Haplogroups of J2a1a1b2 - L24 - PF51 and R1b1a2 - M269 - DF27. The Phylogenetic Tree for R1b1-M269-Df27 is described as : Ibero-Atlantic. Rico - J2: Semitic Origin. Mostly found in the Middle East, Mediterranean, and North Africa. This haplogroup contains the Cohen modal lineage which is found in about 5% of those with this origin. Sephardic Jews and Arab Moors belong to this Haplogroup and they were among the earliest settlers of the Iberian Peninsula. About 28% of Sephardic Jews have this origin. 6% of modern day Iberians have J, J1, or J2 origin. Rico - R1b1: Western European Origin. This lineage is also the haplogroup containing the Atlantic modal haplotype. Basque and Celtic people belong to this Haplogroup and they were among the earliest settlers of the Iberian Peninsula. 65% of modern day Iberians share this origin. The following markers are common to the people bordering Europe's Atlantic within a couple of steps; DYS19 (DYS394)=14, DYS388=12, DYS390=24, DYS391=11, DYS392=13 and DYS393=13. The fact is that the earliest R1b1 in Europe has cultural ties to Spain & Portugal via the Bell Beaker Culture. R1b-M269 Primary Subclade Flow: L51 (2800 BCE) to L11 (2500 BCE) to L21 (2250 BCE). M269 Western Europe Sub-clades: Germany P312, France DF27 + L21, and the UK L21. M269 Southern Europe Sub-clades: Italy U152, Spain DF27 + L21 & Portugal DF27. L21 Subclade - has the widest diaspora or dispersal pattern, that covers Western/Southern Germany, France, Northern Spain / Portugal, the UK & Ireland. FamilyTree DNA - offers the SNP subclades of : 1. DF27 (France & Northern Spain / Portugal) 2. L21 (see above) 3. U152 Italy / Sicily One of these will or my determine your 'Most Recent Ancestor', which will assist you in archiving your Y-DNA Family Genomic Genealogy; as well as, discovering your DNA cousins. TBC