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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: sting on Thursday 16 May 13 03:25 BST (UK)
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I suggested my hubbie get his DNA tested and an acquaintance recommended the FTDNA Y67 test. We have an uncommon surname and I didn't really expect many matches. However I wasn't expecting the result of matching another surname so often. 2 at 4 steps, 8 at 5 steps, 4 at 6 steps. Although there are matches with other surnames as well, in all 38 matches, but 14 matches to one particular surname.
I want his brother tested now although I haven't worked out how I'm going to ask. There is a small possibility of a male third cousin or two in other countries I might be able to contact. We'd have to pay for testing, what would you do?
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Why do you want his brother tested too?
Don't you think they would have similar DNA results?
Or aren't you sure about that?
The cousin would have more divergence, one would think.
Dawn M
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Dawn is correct. The cousins would be better to test than the brother.
A lot of people will find that their surname changed at some time or another through an NPE or whatever and, of course, a lot of Welsh and Irish only adopted fixed surnames fairly recently, so a lot of them that are related in the last 500 years will have a variety of surnames.
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Your results are not at all unusual. The number of matches varies considerably. Some people have no matches at any other level. At the other extreme I've seen some people with over 600 matches at 67 markers, all with a variety of different surnames. It is common to find more distant matches with other surnames. You have quite distant matches. The common ancestor could well have lived before surnames came into general usage. The best tactic is to test someone like a fourth or fifth cousin with the same surname so that you can verify the tree back to the point where you share a common ancesto