Y-chromosome diversity in Catalan surname samples: insights into surname origin and frequency

• Published in: European journal of human genetics : EJHG Vol. 23; no. 11; pp. 1549 - 1557
• Main Authors: Solé-Morata, Neus, Bertranpetit, Jaume, Comas, David, Calafell, Francesc
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01.11.2015
• Subjects: Chromosomes; Chromosomes, Human, Y; Etymology; Evolutionary biology; Forensic science; Genes, Y-Linked; Genetics; Genetics, Population; Genomes; Genotype; Genotyping; Haplotypes; Humans; Investigations; Male; Mutation; Names; Paternity; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Short tandem repeats; Single-nucleotide polymorphism; Sociobiology; Spain; Y Chromosomes; Spain; United Kingdom > UK
• ISSN: 1018-4813; 1476-5438; 1476-5438
• DOI: 10.1038/ejhg.2015.14

The biological behavior of the Y chromosome, which is paternally inherited, implies that males sharing the same surname may also share a similar Y chromosome. However, socio-cultural factors, such as polyphyletism, non-paternity, adoption, or matrilineal surname transmission, may prevent the joint transmission of the surname and the Y chromosome. By genotyping 17 Y-STRs and 68 SNPs in ~2500 male samples that each carried one of the 50 selected Catalan surnames, we could determine sets of descendants of a common ancestor, the population of origin of the common ancestor, and the date when such a common ancestor lived. Haplotype diversity was positively correlated with surname frequency, that is, rarer surnames showed the strongest signals of coancestry. Introgression rates of Y chromosomes into a surname by non-paternity, adoption, and transmission of the maternal surname were estimated at 1.5-2.6% per generation, with some local variation. Average ages for the founders of the surnames were estimated at ~500 years, suggesting a delay between the origin of surnames (twelfth and thirteenth centuries) and the systematization of their paternal transmission. We have found that, in general, a foreign etymology for a surname does not often result in a non-indigenous origin of surname founders; however, bearers of some surnames with an Arabic etymology show an excess of North African haplotypes. Finally, we estimate that surname prediction from a Y-chromosome haplotype, which may have interesting forensic applications, has a ~60% sensitivity but a 17% false discovery rate.