Y-DNA Results and what they tell us about Walsh lineage

Came across a fantastic web site that shows how to look at your Y-DNA test results and determine where in Ireland (sometimes within 5 miles) your family came from.  In our case this would be our Walsh line.  I won't bore you with all the details, but it looks at commonly occurring surnames in your DNA results and triangulates those results with old clan castle maps and farmer census records.  For more details, here is the site:

https://www.irishorigenes.com/

Unfortunately for us, the Walsh surname is not native to Ireland and our Y-DNA results prove it.  First off, Walsh comes from the Gaelic name Breathnach which means foreigner or more accurately Welshman.  In looking at the common surnames in my Y-DNA results, we see names like Nichols, George, Uprichard, Daniel, Lewis and Ruggles. Most of our Y-DNA surnames have names adopted after a person's first name (Nichols = Nicholas, George, Lewis, Daniel and Uprichard = son of Richard).

What this means is that before there were surnames we all shared a common male ancestor ... probably a thousand or more years ago. That common ancestor's off spring eventually adopted surnames (~1100 - 1300 AD) and they did not always adopt the same surname. Therefore, some have the last name Walsh while others have the last name Nichols, Uprichard, etc.   Typically we can then look at the other records and see where these names are predominant and see where our ancestors came from.  In our case, these names are not native to Ireland. They eventually found their way to Ireland ... hence the term Breathnach (Walsh).

Recent analysis of our Big Y results (a big thanks to Lucas McCaw) traces our Walsh roots back to Wales (circa 900 AD) and to England (circa 200 AD).  Sometime between 200 - 900 AD our early ancestors moved to Wales and sometime between 1100 - 1300 our paternal ancestor moved to Ireland. My theory is that it was during that time or shortly before surnames were starting to become common that the move from Wales to Ireland occurred. The rationale is that if surnames were already in place in Wales before the move then a different surname (not Walsh) would have been established ... and if the move occurred way before surnames then the move would have been long forgotten by the time surnames were adopted.

According to walshclans.com, "the name arose in the 12th century when Normans of Welsh and English origin arrived in Ireland under Strongbow. The native Irish referred to many of these soldiers and followers as ‘Breathnach’. This has given rise to the numerous locations where Walsh is found – the term Breathnach being used as a generic name for any of these Breathnachs/Welshmen that turned up in a locality. Its wide distribution must be a tribute to the wandering and adventurous nature of the early Walshs.

The Walsh name is quite prevalent in the South East of Ireland, in particular,the coastal counties of Wexford, Kilkenny , Waterford and inland to Tipperary."

Some other interesting tidbits from irishorigenes ...

• Battle origins are on the Mayo/Sligo border
• Dwyers and Kennedys originate in Tipperary
• Tighe and Mullen both have roots in Mayo.

These all line up with known facts or suspected theories about our Irish family. I'll discuss this more in another blog about the Walsh/Nolan connection. An 8 year mystery finally solved.  Until then here are some maps about our family surnames.