SURNAMES

Having the understanding now that we’re not Scot or Irish, I turned my attention to other R1a1 members in the only databases, with DYS388 values that equal 10. The same mutation that exists in my DNA, passed down to me from Nicholas. I then used TMRCA or Time to the Most Recent Common Ancestor, a mathematical equation used to calculate the most likely time that a common ancestor between two individuals might have lived. It takes into account distinct mutations rates and calculates the genetic distance between the individuals.

Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

In Britain, hereditary surnames were adopted in the 13th and 14th centuries, initially by the aristocracy but eventually by everyone. By 1400, most English and Scottish people had acquired surnames, but many Scottish and Welsh people did not adopt surnames until the 17th century, or even later. Henry VIII (1491–1547) ordered that marital births be recorded under the surname of the father. (Approximately 79 percent of white Americans have surnames that are of English, Irish, or Scottish derivation)

These are the surnames I found and their Genetic Distance to me and my Hays Ancestors. The TMRCA calculations are approximate estimations. I’m not including the Hays surname here because I’ve already mentioned is origins above, however I did find approximately 5 Hays or Hayes matches who are all within 500 years genetic distance from me. Most were within the last 6 generations and were decedents of Nicholas, one from Ireland and his paternal Grandfathers came from a John Hays of Northern Ireland.

Surname Dickey – TMRCA = ~500-650 Years

The surname is a pet-form for the personal name Richard, a compound of Germanic elements “ric” which can mean power, hard, brave, or strong. The name Richard was popularized in England by the Normans. The surnames Dick and Dickie are particularly associated with Scotland and some forms are found in Northern Ireland including Dickie and Dicky. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown of Robert Dikky which is dated about 1504 during the reign of King James IV of Scotland. Surnames at that time became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation.

Surname Stetson – TMRCA = ~950-1100 Years

There are two possible origins for the “Stitson” surname. The first, and the one which applies to most name holders is as a patronymic derivative form of “Stot or Stott”, an Old English metonymic for a cattle dealer, or a nickname for a particularly wild, young person. The second possibility wild, young person. The second possibility is as a derived form of the Anglo-Saxon “Stytt”, which means to strike or knock, and this again was a form of nickname, possibly for a boxer or fighter.

Surname Swain – TMRCA = ~1000 Years

This surname is not only one of the oldest of all recorded surnames, pre-dating the 1086 Domesday Book (see below), it is one of the earliest settler names in America. It derives from the pre 8th Century “Viking” (Scandinavian) personal name Sven, Suen or Sveinn, a form of endearment translating literally as “boy”. The name in several variant forms was enthusiastically adopted by the English, and also by the 1066 Norman invaders who were themselves of Viking origins. By the 16th Century the term “swain” had developed the senses of “young rustic”, and hence “rustic lover, wooer”. The modern surname from this source can be found as Swain, Swaine, Swayn and Swayne, while the patronymic forms are Swains, Sweynson, Swenson and Swainson.

Surname Pike – TMRCA = ~1075 Years

This picturesque and interesting name if of early medieval English origin, and has three possible derivations, although they are all metonymic occupational names; the first possibly is that it is for a fishmonger, or a fisherman for Pike, as we have early recordings in the Subsidy Rolls of London of an Alexander le Pik, who was a fishmonger and owner of a ship in 1292. The derivation is from the Middle English “pike”, (the fish, being named from its pointed jaw). Secondly, it may be a surname for one who worked the soil using a pointed tool (pike) for breaking up the earth, also deriving from the Middle English “pike”. Lastly, it is likely that it could be the name given to a soldier who used a pike, a weapon consisting of a sharp metal end on a long pole. This time the derivation is from the Old French “pique”, pike.

Surname Drake – TMRCA = ~1100 Years

This unusual and interesting name has two possible origins, the first and most generally applicable being of Anglo-Saxon origin, from the Olde English pre 7th Century byname or nickname “Draca”, meaning “dragon” or “snake”, in Middle English “Drake”, Old Norse “Draki”. The derivation for all these forms is from the Latin “draco”, snake, or monster. As a nickname, it would presumably apply to someone formidable and fierce in battle, but it could also be a metonymic “occupational” surname for a standard-bearer, as in “Draker” (1260, Cambridgeshire). “Draca” was used in medieval England to mean a battle-standard as well as a dragon. Other more distant surnames include Earls, Curtis, Jordon, Turner, Bailey.

Time: 500 Years ago – The plantation of Ireland

My interpretation of the surname matches would be that our Hays ancestors did not adopt a surname until approximately the 17th century. Here you’ll find our Dickey Ancestors also adapting their surnames in Northern Ireland in Antrim County. I believe it is approximately in this time period you’ll find our Ancestors settling in Northern Ireland having moved from southwestern Britain.

The word Plantation in its modern sense means transforming a natural landscape by the planting of trees. In the 16th and 17th century the word is also used of transforming a political landscape. In this sense it is settlers who are planted, in a deliberate act of colonization.

The Anglo-Norman settlement of Ireland, in the 12th century, follows the medieval pattern of conquest followed by the grant of feudal territories. The Tudor approach, by contrast, relates to new forms of centralized government. Bureaucrats now work out systems for planting settlers, down to the smallest detail.

The first major opportunity for plantation occurs in 1583, after the failure of a rebellion led by the earl of Desmond. The forfeiture of his lands, and those of his followers, puts about half a million acres of fertile land in Munster at the disposal of the English government. Moreover it is relatively unoccupied, because so many peasants have died of famine in the disturbances.

By 1586 the details are in place. Parcels of land are offered for rent to English gentlemen (referred to as ‘undertakers’), who are given precise instructions as to the number and size of farms into which their property is to be divided for subletting. All tenants are to be English by birth.

Time: 1000 Years ago – Norman Conquest of England

The rest of the surnames are all primarily of English / Norse origins approximately 1000 AD and these surnames you’ll primarily find in south west Britain. Our Ancestors from 1000 years ago can be found among the Norman invaders of England.

From Wikipedia: The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of the Kingdom of England by the troops of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy (in Northern France adjacent to the English Channel) and their victory at the Battle of Hastings (on the other side of the Channel in Southeast England) on 14 October 1066 over King Harold II of England. Harold’s army had been badly depleted in the English victory at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in Northern England on 25 September 1066 over the army of King Harald III of Norway. By early 1071, William had secured control of most of England, although rebellions and resistance continued to approximately 1088.

The Norman conquest was a pivotal event in English history. It largely removed the native ruling class, replacing it with a foreign, French-speaking monarchy, aristocracy, and clerical hierarchy. This, in turn, brought about a transformation of the English language and the culture of England in a new era often referred to as Norman England.

By bringing England under the control of rulers originating in France, the Norman conquest linked the country more closely with continental Europe, lessened Scandinavian influence, and also set the stage for a rivalry with France that would continue intermittently for many centuries. It also had important consequences for the rest of the British Isles, paving the way for further Norman conquests in Wales and Ireland, and the extensive penetration of the aristocracy of Scotland by Norman and other French-speaking families, with the accompanying spread of continental institutions and cultural influences.

First, unlike Cnut the Great, who had rewarded his followers with money rather than displacing native landholders, William’s followers expected and received lands and titles in return for their service in the invasion. However, William claimed ultimate possession of virtually all the land in England over which his armies had given him de facto control, and asserted the right to dispose of it as he saw fit. Even after active resistance to his rule had died down, William and his barons continued to use their positions to extend and consolidate Norman control of the country. In this way the Normans displaced the native aristocracy and took control of the upper ranks of society.Once England had been conquered, the Normans faced many challenges in maintaining control. The Normans were few in number compared to the native English population. Historians estimate the number of Norman settlers at around 8,000, but Norman in this instance includes not just natives of Normandy, but settlers from other parts of France. The Normans overcame this numerical deficit by adopting innovative methods of control.

Time: 1500 years ago – Slavic Ancestors

The modern Slavic peoples come from a wide variety of genetic backgrounds. The frequency of Haplogroup R1a ranges from 63.39% by the Sorbs, 56.4% in Poland , 54% in Ukraine, 47% in Russia and 39% in Belarus, to 15.2% in Republic of Macedonia, 14.7% in Bulgaria and 12.1% in Herzegovina. Haplogroup R1a may be connected to the spread of Proto-Indo-Europeans.

According to eastern homeland theory prior to becoming known to the Roman world, Slavic speaking tribes were part of the many multi-ethnic confederacies of Eurasia – such as the Sarmatian, Hun and Gothic empires. By the end of the 6th century, Slavs had settled the Eastern Alps region.

A kurgan or burial mound near the village of Ryzhanovka in Ukraine, 75 miles south of Kyiv, has revealed one of the only unlooted tombs of a Scythian chieftain, who was ruling in the forest-steppe area of the western fringe of Scythian lands. There at a late date in Scythian culture (ca. 250 – 225 BC), a recently nomadic aristocratic class was gradually adopting the agricultural life-style of their subjects: the tomb contained a mock hearth, the first ever found in a Scythian context, symbolic of the warmth and comfort of a farmhouse.

Time 2000-2500 Years ago – Scythian Ancestors

Genetic research in modern populations reveals that the same Y chromosome haplogroup (R1a) represents a genetic lineage currently found in central, western and south Asia, and in Slavic populations of Eastern Europe. The simplest explanation of this distribution is that this Y-chromosome mutation will have originated in people of the kurgan-building culture of traditional Scythia

The Scythians never had a writing system, so until recent archaeological developments most of our information about them came from the Greeks. Homer called them “the mare-milkers”; Herodotus described them in detail: their costume consisted of padded and quilted leather trousers tucked into boots, and open tunics. They rode with no stirrups or saddles, just saddlecloths. Herodotus’ histories allegedly report that Saka Scythians used marijuana, but the specific reference is unclear. The Scythian philosopher Anacharsis visited Athens in the 6th century BC and became a legendary sage. Scythians were also known for their useage of barbed arrows, nomadic life centered around horses — “fed from horse-blood” according to a Roman historian — and skill in guerilla warfare. The Scythians are thought to have been the first to tame the horse and use it in combat as well.To date no certain explanation exists to account for the origin of the Scythians or details of how they migrated to the Caucasus and Ukraine, but the majority of scholars believe that they migrated westward from Central Asia between 800 BC and 600 BC.