The relationship between surname frequency and Y chromosome variation in Spain

Abstract

In most societies, surnames are passed down from fathers to sons, just like the Y chromosome. It follows that, theoretically, men sharing the same surnames would also be expected to share related Y chromosomes. Previous investigations have explored such relationships, but so far, the only detailed studies that have been conducted are on samples from the British Isles. In order to provide additional insights into the correlation between surnames and Y chromosomes, we focused on the Spanish population by analysing Y chromosomes from 2121 male volunteers representing 37 surnames. The results suggest that the degree of coancestry within Spanish surnames is highly dependent on surname frequency, in overall agreement with British but not Irish surname studies. Furthermore, a reanalysis of comparative data for all three populations showed that Irish surnames have much greater and older surname descent clusters than Spanish and British ones, suggesting that Irish surnames may have considerably earlier origins than Spanish or British ones. Overall, despite closer geographical ties between Ireland and Britain, our analysis points to substantial similarities in surname origin and development between Britain and Spain, while possibly hinting at unique demographic or social events shaping Irish surname foundation and development.

Group membership, geography and shared ancestry: Genetic variation in the Basotho of Lesotho

“…Common origin was also shown for individuals sharing the same surnames, the western societies version of patrilineally inherited social markers (Sol e-Morata et al, 2015;Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016). Spanish and British (but not Irish) surnames showed a correlation between surname occurrence and genetic diversity: the more common a surname was, the less genetically homogenous its bearers were (McEvoy and Bradley, 2006;King and Jobling, 2009;Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016).…”

“…Spanish and British (but not Irish) surnames showed a correlation between surname occurrence and genetic diversity: the more common a surname was, the less genetically homogenous its bearers were (McEvoy and Bradley, 2006;King and Jobling, 2009;Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016). One aspect that has not been properly explored in previous investigations has been the role played by geography in shaping the observed within-group genetic similarity.…”

“…We calculated the total number of pairs of haplotypes having <3 differences (0-2) within each clan, grouped the results in common and rare clans, and performed an X 2 test between the two groups, as defined using the two clustering criteria, and the p-value have been estimated through 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations. The range of mutational steps was chosen in accordance to the average number of differences observed in clusters within rare, very rare, and medium frequency surnames in Spanish, non-R1b Y chromosomes analyzed for the same set of STRs, which better represent chromosomes with a recent single common origin (Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016).…”

“…Analysis of European surname diversity has provided evidence for a correlation between surname frequency and genetic heterogeneity (King and Jobling, 2009;Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016). To assess the possibility that a similar pattern might also be present in relation to group membership, we pooled the individuals into two groups according to how common a clan was.…”

Intergenerational Analysis of Patronymic Transformations in the Quebec (Canada) Population Since the Seventeenth Century

“…Patronymic data are frequently used for studies in historical demography (see, for example, Darlu, 2004;Longley et al, 2007;Roman-Busto, 2015), evolutionary anthropology (Prost et al, 2008;Cheshire et al, 2011), and population genetics (King et al, 2006;Darlu et al, 2012;Martinez-Cadenas et al, 2016). Among the underlying assumptions common to this type of study are the single origin of each family name (often unverified) and the stability of its spelling over generations within a population.…”