Excavating Past Population Structures by Surname-Based Sampling: The Genetic Legacy of the Vikings in Northwest England

Abstract

The genetic structures of past human populations are obscured by recent migrations and expansions and have been observed only indirectly by inference from modern samples. However, the unique link between a heritable cultural marker, the patrilineal surname, and a genetic marker, the Y chromosome, provides a means to target sets of modern individuals that might resemble populations at the time of surname establishment. As a test case, we studied samples from the Wirral Peninsula and West Lancashire, in northwest England. Place-names and archaeology show clear evidence of a past Viking presence, but heavy immigration and population growth since the industrial revolution are likely to have weakened the genetic signal of a 1,000-year-old Scandinavian contribution. Samples ascertained on the basis of 2 generations of residence were compared with independent samples based on known ancestry in the region plus the possession of a surname known from historical records to have been present there in medieval times. The Y-chromosomal haplotypes of these 2 sets of samples are significantly different, and in admixture analyses, the surname-ascertained samples show markedly greater Scandinavian ancestry proportions, supporting the idea that northwest England was once heavily populated by Scandinavian settlers. The method of historical surname-based ascertainment promises to allow investigation of the influence of migration and drift over the last few centuries in changing the population structure of Britain and will have general utility in other regions where surnames are patrilineal and suitable historical records survive.

High Y-chromosomal diversity and low relatedness between paternal lineages on a communal scale in the Western European Low Countries during the surname establishment

“…Therefore, no indication for a historical admixture event during the Roman Period was observed in this Flemish study to clarify the observed high Y-chromosomal diversity within the communities. This is in contrast to a previous study of indigenous patrilines within Northwestern English communities using a similar surname-based sampling approach, where evidence was found for a historical geneflow event from Scandinavia to Northwest England during the Middle Ages (Bowden et al, 2008).…”

“…To deal with this problem, the unique link between a heritable cultural marker -the patrilineal surname-and a genetic marker-the Y chromosome -provides an opportunity to target sets of living individuals that might resemble populations at the time of surname establishment until today (Bowden et al, 2008;Larmuseau et al, 2012b). In addition, it is possible to organise sampling campaigns for a specific location by using the genetic genealogical approach, which selects indigenous surnames based on the historical documents and carries out in-depth genealogical research for each DNA donor to exclude descendants of illegitimate children, adoptees, extra-pair paternity (EPP) and migrants with an adopted local surname (Larmuseau et al, 2013b).…”

Temporal differentiation across a West-European Y-chromosomal cline: genealogy as a tool in human population genetics

“…Future studies need to give insights into whether surname-selection may still give an extra possibility to provide an even older sample for the population genetic analysis as patrilineal surnames are already present in Western Europe earlier than the seventeenth century. 22,39 CONCLUSION By linking a huge number of Y-chr sub-haplogroups to a certain location at a specific time period, it became possible to study the effects of past migrations on the micro-geographic population genetic pattern within the Western-European region of Brabant. Significant genetic differentiation was observed in the oldest studied time periods (1675-1700).…”

The relationship between surname frequency and Y chromosome variation in Spain

“…Several studies over the past few years [1][2][3][4][5][6] have investigated the relationship between surnames and Y chromosomes, and have generally concluded that surnames are informative markers that can help disentangle hidden population structure and give insight into past historical events.…”