Surnames and Y chromosomes in Spain

Spanish scientists have found out that men with rather rare surnames are distant relatives of each other. The results of the study are published in the European Journal of Human Genetics (Martinez-Cadenas et al., The relationship between surname frequency and Y chromosome variation in Spain).

The surname, as a rule, is passed down from generation to generation in the male line, as well as a. In their study, scientists tried to identify the relationship between the surnames of men and the possible similarity of their Y chromosomes.

Almost two thousand volunteers from Spain took part in the study. The scientists selected 37 Spanish surnames that were common in various regions of the country. Then the surnames were divided into five groups depending on their occurrence: very common (more than 150 thousand carriers), common (from 15 to 150 thousand carriers), non-common (from 5 to 15 thousand carriers), rare (from 3 to 5 thousand carriers) and very rare (from 100 carriers to 3 thousands). 

After that, scientists collected 1,766 DNA samples from men who bore one of the selected surnames. The men were not directly related to each other. 

As a result of the study, scientists found out that the correlation between the presence of a common surname and the similarity of Y chromosomes does not depend on the region where its bearer lives, nor on the type of origin of the surname (derived from the father's name, from the profession). The correlation is directly related to the prevalence of the surname. Men who were carriers of an unusual surname (no more than 6 thousand carriers), as a rule, had very similar Y chromosomes (correlation coefficient 0.906, p<0.0001). Thus, scientists have suggested that the owners of rare surnames have common distant ancestors.

According to the study, the average age of these surnames is about 500 years, but some of them are older and reach the age of 800 years. This age was calculated by determining the most recent common ancestor of study participants with a specific surname. So, scientists note, this is not the true age of the surname, but rather the point in time when the most recent common ancestor was discovered among the participants.

At the same time, no such similarity of Y chromosomes was found in carriers of common surnames. 

Graph from the article Uncommon surnames narrate the family history of those who bear them, 

published on the Scientific News Service website – VM.

A similar study, previously conducted by British scientists, also gave similar results. However, a study conducted by Irish scientists showed the opposite result. In Ireland, the bearers of common surnames had similar Y chromosomes, while the owners of rare surnames did not have such a similarity.

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03.02.2015