The objective of this project is to determine whether there is any relationship between the various geographic clusters of the Velten surname, including all spelling variants such as Velton, Veltin, Felten, and Felton. If you have another variation, contact us to add it to the project. By recruiting and testing descendants of patriarchs in the various regions, and using y-DNA technology, we can hopefully determine whether relationships exist and how distant they are.

The name occurs in Germany (in Rheinland-Pfalz, Baden, Saarland, and Hessen-Nassau) and is even more common in Alsace. It also occurs in Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Since it is a Saint's name, there may be no connection between these groups. But various historical events such as the Thirty Years War caused migration, and so there may indeed be a connection. Join our project and help us find the connections.

It can be beneficial to you as a genealogy researcher to know where to concentrate your efforts and where not. One example is the patriarch, Jacob Veldin of Nanzweiler. Most of the Velten families in the Kusel area are descendants of Jacob. He appears first in the Evangelical church records of Glan-Münchweiler in 1664, which are the first records that appear after the Thirty Years War. Jacob probably migrated to the area after the war, but where did he come from? Possibilities are Alsace, Baden, Belgium or Luxembourg. It would be very valuable to know where Jacob's genetic roots lie, so research efforts could be concentrated on likely regions.

Note this is a volunteer project and the administrator receives no compensation from FTDNA or anyone else.