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Welcome to the Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) Waddell Project! The FTDNA Waddell project is open to all who are interested in working together to find their common heritage through sharing of information and DNA testing. This project is open to all spelling variations of project surnames OR if you are a genetic match to a project member's DNA results.

We accept all DNA tests: autosomal, mtDNA, and YDNA. All we ask is that you allow admins to access your information and files to compare to other project members. Sharing is key and foundational to our genealogy journey!

Currently the project has over 200 members representing over 15 countries, and four main haplogroups, "E", "I", "J", and "R". The main Soundex group is W340 with a small minority of names in W300, W342, W430, W634, D340, and O340. Keep in mind that phonetic similarities between surname spellings MAY represent a genetic connection between 2 people, but it MAY NOT, so keep that in mind.

Soundex groups of current surnames in project:

• W340 > Waddell, Waddle, Wadell, Wadley, Weddle, Wedel, Weedall, Widell, Woodall, Wooddall, Woodhall
• W300 > Waddy
• W342 > Wadleigh
• W430 > Waldie
• W634 > Wardell
• D340 > Dowdall, Dowdle
• O340 > O'Dell, Odell

To be clear, the FTDNA Waddell Project is a SURNAME-based project, a project of a collection of surnames, not a specific YDNA project. Many FTDNA projects are surname-based.

Currently, there are no FTDNA YDNA focused haplogroup projects for the various genetically connected Waddell lineages. This lack of YDNA based Waddell projects is due to the lack of BigY testing on the part of these Waddell lines. Once more Waddell men BigY test (and other surnames with similar spellings), it might be possible to have separate YDNA projects for each genetic Waddell line.

This project comprises many Waddell surnames and spelling variants. These different spellings MAY or may NOT be genetically connected or even geographically or linguistically connected (we already know this from project stats).

Because of the nature of this project (surname-based, not YDNA based), there are several different genetic lineages of these various surnames. For example, there are men named Waddell or similar in YDNA haplogroups "E", "I", "J", and "R" represented in the FTDNA Waddell project.

These disparate haplogroups inform us that these surnames and different spellings are, in some cases, completely unrelated not only in a genetic sense but also geographically and linguistically. More pointedly:

• Not all Waddells are descended from Scotland.
• Not all Waddells from Scotland are genetically related.
• Not all Waddell surname and spelling variants are linguistically or even geographically tied to Scotland.

Surname similarities can happen for many different reasons. Linguistically, some of these terms are "cognate", "false cognate", and "false friend". Linguistic similarities can evolve naturally over time in parallel, in different parts of the world, purely by coincidence. An example would be that some words are spelled the same in different languages but have no connection besides the similar spelling.

Geographically, different places in the world can have similar words and spellings. There is no reason to assume that you are genetically related to someone because of a similarly spelled surname. Only a DNA test can confirm that.

We hope that your membership in this project will advance your genealogical research as much as it will help others. This project aims to discover the genetic and genealogical family trees for these various surnames and their spellings. Your participation will help us understand the origins of these different surname groups, potentially down to the genealogical family tree level.

Keep in mind that the project administrators are unpaid volunteers. Sharing information is critical to finding relatives and understanding the origins of this public surname project. We can provide genealogy guidance and help in any way possible. Please share the following, if possible, by email to awaddell@tahlyn.com (do NOT reply directly to this email since FTDNA sent it. Please email me directly):

• Links to other DNA tests like AncestryDNA, 23andMe, MyHeritage, etc.
• Links to your public online family trees.
• Links to your social media like Facebook.

The Waddell project will occasionally send out other emails for project updates and other DNA genealogy-related information. We will also post occasionally in the project "Activity Feed", located at this link:

ftdna.com/groups/waddell/activity-feed

We will also post, comment, and interact in Facebook Waddell genealogy groups.

Please join in the discussions and don't be afraid to ask questions. Feel free to email me directly and contact me through Facebook Messenger.

Thanks again for joining the project.

Best regards,

Arthur Waddell.....
Co-Admin FTDNA Waddell Surname Project
ftdna.com/groups/waddell/about/background
fb.me/ArthurCWaddell
ancestry.com/account/profile/011a2a48-0003-0000-0000-000000000000
ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/39801064/
awaddell@tahlyn.com