Are you related to Niall of the Nine Hostages?
In a recent study by geneticist Daniel Bradley and his colleagues at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, which was reported in the February issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics, it is suggested that at least one in every 12 Irishmen worldwide and one in every five in the northwest of Ireland could be descendants of Niall, who on becoming High King in 377 AD, established a dynasty of powerful chieftains that dominated the island for some six centuries.
Modern surnames tracing their ancestry back to Niall include (O’)Neill, (O’)Gallagher, (O’)Boyle, (O’)Doherty, O’Donnell, Connor, Cannon, Bradley, O’Reilly, Flynn, (Mc)Kee, Campbell, Devlin, Donnelly, Egan, Gormley, Hynes, McCaul, McGovern, McLoughlin, McManus, McMenamin, Molloy, O’Kane, O’Rourke and Quinn.
Niall of the Nine Hostages got his name by taking nine key hostages, including Saint Patrick, in raids on his opponent chieftains in Ireland, Britain and France to cement his power. A near mythical figure, he is said to have had 12 sons and to have been slain in the English Channel or in Scotland. His descendants, known as the Ui Neill, were the most powerful rulers of Ireland and maintained their dynasty until the 11th century.
According to Brian McEvoy, one of the team at Trinity, scientists found an area in northwest Ireland where they claim 21.5 percent carry Niall’s genetic fingerprint. This area was the main powerbase of the Ui Neills, which literally translated means “descendants of Niall.” The Y chromosome appeared to trace back to one person.
“There are certain surnames that seem to have come from Ui Neill,” McEvoy said. “We studied if there was any association between those surnames and the genetic profile. It is his (Niall’s) family.”
The study also says that Niall “resided at the cusp of mythology and history, but our results do seem to confirm the existence of a single early medieval progenitor to the most powerful and enduring Irish dynasty.”
In addition, the study goes on to say that the chromosome has also been found in 16.7 percent of men in western and central Scotland and has turned up in multiple North American population samples, including in two percent of EuropeanAmerican New Yorkers. “Given historically high rates of Irish emigration to North America and other parts of the world, it seems likely that the number of descendants worldwide runs to perhaps two to three million males,” the study says.
The study suggests a link between powerful men and a strong genetic legacy, as more powerful men would have commanded access to more women, and the siring of offspring was related to power and prestige. One of the O’Neill dynasty chieftains, Turlough O’Donnell, who died in 1423, is said to have had 18 sons with nearly a dozen women and claimed 59 grandsons.
Family Tree DNA (www.familytreedna.com) has posted a special page on its website for customers to compare DNA marker results with those of Niall of the Nine Hostages Visit: http://www.familytreedna.com/matchnialltest.html
For additional information or answers to specific questions, contact: info@familytreedna.com or call 713-828-1438. ♦
I am Rm222 but my genealogy back to 1150 Cheshire England in Baguley and wythenshawe a group of Vikings settled there 9th century that came from Ireland must of been one of my ancestors
This is an absurd DNA test kit marketing scam.
DF-27 is a much more viable line to attribute to Niall.
The very idea that the most common line is the Royal Line, and the rarest the common line is silly in itself.
Check out University College London’s expose of this and the similar Genghis Khan marketing scam.
You may find the Sons of Aodh group project enlightening on the familytreedna.com website. They’re tracing lineages back with dna according to Irish genealogical records that have spanned centuries.
I also have the r-m269 y-chromosome. Was also told it belonged to High King Neill. So I did further research and discover that I am a direct descendant of the ONeill of the Fews from Puerto through my great grandfather who’s history in my fathers side of the family. It is pretty shocking.
The southern O’Neil R1b df+27 only goes back around a thousand years ago then disappears. Geneticists can date when the marker began and this one wasn’t in Ireland over a thousand years ago. It is not in any of the surnames prior to around 1100 AD. They could have been mercenaries from Iberia.
Yeah I am not so sure about this however our lines are well mapped out and we are coming from Northern Spain Asturias and have R-M269. I have heard the stories from my Irish friends from Ireland saying they came from us and also our Basque side. We are aware of our Celtic ties to the Irish from our Celtic cross, the bagpipes etc.. Apparently they even used to be swarthy and had black hair blue eyes or black hair brown eyes before the viking invasion of Ireland. The oral histories seem to be proving true through genetics however sharing the same ancestors as King Ui Niall? It would have to be probably before the Irish arrived in Ireland. Interesting nonetheless.
My 23andme test says I’m a descendant of this line I would like to know more about my line.
Thanks
My 23andme also has me a descendent. It would be interesting to read more.
I am R-M269, a descendant of Niall and the Ui Neill Dynasty. I would like to know more of this lineage.
My father’s father etc etc traces back to R-M269. I find this interesting and am curious. I would like to learn more. I find it funny, as well. I have a long time friend whose last name is O’Neil. It seems that we might have a common ancestor.
My 23 and me said I had uniall blood line my father was an Ogletree I would like to know what’s the name link
More info on the M222 branch of R1b, and Niall, here:
https://isogg.org/wiki/NW_Irish
http://www.irishorigenes.com/content/spread-m222
i.d.
I just got my 23andMe results back yesterday and it says I had the genetic marker that connects me to Niall. I knew I had Irish roots but I didn’t know that. I wish I could find the lineage for my ancestry tree.
I just did the 23 and me dna andstery test and it says i am from this line of linage and would like to learn somemore about it
269 here … got the same notice you all did. Michigan back to Canada then back to Jersey line…heard there were 4 brothers that came over late 16’s early 17’s. John and Elizabeth (Stiff) Fleming is as far back to a guarantee as I go though. Let me know what ye find ya?
My Paternal linage R-M269 around 10,000 years ago then was later transformed to R-A151. I live in Western NY. The Wood name is based on the British Isle but not sure were the Irish linage come in.
I recently discovered through 23andme that I share a paternal ancestor with niall. Haplogroup rm269 which turn to rp311 today. Never knew I would find something like this in my dna. I would like to learn more even possibly meet the ones who kept they’re records.
my 23andme results say i’m R-M222 and my ancestor was Neil…I like so many others are related, so i would like to know more…pretty cool to be related to a king.
It’s nonsense. Check out University College London for a complete debunking of this marketing scam.
I found out I also have a lineage to this . Even though I’m mainly Iberian. Very interesting
Hello, I took a 23andme DNA test. The results are incredible. It states that through my paternal side I hail through R-M269. Thanks Ui Niell Dynasty. In a 1,000,000 years I would have never thought this. Is this a hoax or could it be real? You see I am Latin.
Hey there, David. My grandfather who coincidentally is also a Torres also comes from haplogroup RP311. We have zero idea how as we’re of Mexican descent. His father was raised my a single mother and this knows little to nothing about his biological father or his ancestry.
Hey Vee, that is very interesting to me. Specially how your Dad is also a Torres. I would like to discuss this further with you.
My husband also has RM-269 and says he’s related to Niall my husband is 77% European he last name is Lozano although he’s haplogroup R-Z278
My DNA from. 23andme.com says I am a Decscedent of this Dynasty. I would like to know more of this ancestral family.
paternal haplogroup is R-A151. R-M269 common ancestor
23andMe
(My dad, surname Lynch) R-A212 is relatively uncommon among 23andMe customers.
Today, you share your haplogroup with all the men who are paternal-line descendants of the common ancestor of R-A212,
1 in 1,700, it also states the following but I have no idea how the names morphed, though Lynch has variations. The spread of haplogroup R-M269 in northern Ireland and Scotland was likely aided by men like Niall of the Nine Hostages. Perhaps more myth than man, Niall of the Nine Hostages is said to have been a King of Tara in northwestern Ireland in the late 4th century C.E. His name comes from a tale of nine hostages that he held from the regions he ruled over. Though the legendary stories of his life may have been invented hundreds of years after he died, genetic evidence suggests that the Uí Néill dynasty, whose name means “descendants of Niall,” did in fact trace back to just one man who bore a branch of haplogroup R-M269.
The Uí Néill ruled to various degrees as kings of Ireland from the 7th to the 11th century C.E. In the highly patriarchal society of medieval Ireland, their status allowed them to have outsized numbers of children and spread their paternal lineage each generation. In fact, researchers have estimated that between 2 and 3 million men with roots in north-west Ireland are paternal-line descendants of Niall.
Sorry, page/plate 3 not 2 – my bad.
My 23andme testing found genetic Y-Chromosome markers that led to Haplogroup R-L20, which placed Niall of the Nine Hostages as an ancestor, further research discovery puts lines ancestry back Zerah or Zarah son of Judah meaning the Abrahamic line leading straight back to Shem to Noah to Adam in the Bible. However, its linking the paternal line from 19th Century England back to him, any clues on this? My ancestor was a stone and brick mason born in 1861 immigrated to the US in 1886 and he was born in Yorkshire, England. Could his ancestors been MacGowen or a similar spelling, a name given to Irish “Smiths” in workers of metal?
traditional stories say that Queen Tamar and her sister from the tribe of Levi travelled to ireland and portugal respectively from Israel and settled about 593 bc. from here we get the J dna. but if people are finding its really r-20 hey, that may be. maybe J is maternal.
I did a 23 & me DNA test and found out that I have R-M269 in my blood line and I would like to know further information about my lineage.
R-M269 is a haplotype back a few thousand years. My last connection to this path is L21 about 4.5 millennia ago long before Niall. Back in time to the Euro-Asian Steppes. SO, I am not descended from Niall. R-M269 does not make you a descendant of Niall. It identifies you as a descendant of someone long before Niall that he descended from!
If you want to know about relatively recent times do an extensive test for your haplotype, I’m A89 not descended from Niall nor an O’Donnell of the north. An O’Donnell of the south. Just another anglicized name. BTW I have CTS4466 in my past and distant relatives in Spain.
I am A89, my surname is O’Neill. Can trace back to 1770s, Munster. But as you correctly say, I am also not a descendant of Niall. Always assumed with the surname would have descended from the O’Neill clan.
You are still a member of an O’Neill Clan, likely Magh Da Chonn or Carlow.
There’s info available on both. Check FTDNA to pinpoint which O’Neill clam is yours.
R-A151
Looking to find more information on this paternal haplogroup
I am R-A212 with CTS4466 the whole R-M269 thing. We have no idea of the identity of my now deceased father’s father. My son and I are attempting to learn more about who this mystery man was. It was a well-kept secret that his mother and her sister took to the grave.
I’m just another one of the bunch that comes from the dynasty.
23andme said that my paternal parent witch is my dads side said I was related to niall the high King of Ireland I know my mom has a lot of Irish in her my dads mexican but I have a lot more things in me a lot more it’s cool how 23and me works
23andMe says im R269
Ui Niall Dynasty
My 23and me DNA said I have this too. Descendant of Niall of the nine Hostages.
My y-DNA is R-A212, also tracing back to Niall. I find my Hall line in NY in the early 1800s and my first ancestor says his father was born in Scotland but have been unable to trace other Halls in this lien so far. Any connections?
I am also a part of this whole mess. It is interesting that our Halls were Irish but I think they came to Ireland in the 1600s It seems they came to the USA in the early 1700s with my 2nd grt grandfather having been born in Ontario in 1800. If in fact the above is true, then where did. Niall impregnate the Hall clan? Scotland? This is a crazy business!
Robert,
Thank you for replying. Are you R-A212 also? If so, you are the first Hall I’ve encountered in this DNA group. Lots of other surnames but no Halls. I would love to have your contact information to compare notes. My great, great grandfather, Henry H. Hall (b. 1828 in NY0, claimed in the census that his father was born in Scotland and his mother in New York. This is all I’ve been able to find out about him. He ended up in Northern Illinois by the 1850s as a carpenter with a number of other families (Donovan, Arnold, Cole) from the Odgensburg area of NY along the St. Lawrence River. Do you have a tree and would you be willing to share? Your Ontario roots give me some hope that we may be closely related. My email is sidhall3@gmail.com. Thanks, Sid Hall
Unfortunately for this theory – on the one hand, R-M222 is considerably older than Niall, dating back to 100BC It had a massive expansion in Northern Ireland, the Isles and Western Scotland following a major population bottleneck caused by an unspecified disaster. See my L21 paper
https://www.academia.edu/24686284/The_phylogenealogy_of_R_L21_four_and_a_half_millennia_of_expansion_and_redistribution
On the other hand, there is nothing at all to connect Niall to R-M222.
Also, the 3 million descendants thing is absurd, and the same with Genghis Khan and his alleged 6 million.
University College London site has several pages on commercial DNA company scams, and an excellent breakdown of how the various testing methods work and what reasonable expectations are and are not.
To any fraud victims reading this, sad to say, testing M 222 proves one thing about Niall.
You are not his descendant. Sad but true.
On the third hand, we DF-27 O’Neills almost certainly do descend from him. Tradition says we sailed from Basque Spain, having sighted Ireland from the top of an ancient pole which still stands and from which you can indeed see Ireland.
DF-27 is very concentrated in Basque Spain, and we are the only large group of DF-27 in Ireland.
It was always an absurd contention that the very most common signature was the Royal Line and the rarest common.
Thanks for the Academia link, what a great site, I am a member too.
You share a paternal-line ancestor with Niall of the Nine Hostages.
R-M269 common ancestor
10,000 years ago
The Uí Néill Dynasty
GM
You
The spread of haplogroup R-M269 in northern Ireland and Scotland was likely aided by men like Niall of the Nine Hostages. Perhaps more myth than man, Niall of the Nine Hostages is said to have been a King of Tara in northwestern Ireland in the late 4th century C.E. His name comes from a tale of nine hostages that he held from the regions he ruled over. Though the legendary stories of his life may have been invented hundreds of years after he died, genetic evidence suggests that the Uí Néill dynasty, whose name means “descendants of Niall,” did in fact trace back to just one man who bore a branch of haplogroup R-M269.
The Uí Néill ruled to various degrees as kings of Ireland from the 7th to the 11th century C.E. In the highly patriarchal society of medieval Ireland, their status allowed them to have outsized numbers of children and spread their paternal lineage each generation. In fact, researchers have estimated that between 2 and 3 million men with roots in north-west Ireland are paternal-line descendants of Niall.
M 222 does not descend from Niall and he does not have 3 million descendants. This us ridiculous test kit marketing nonsense that violates every tenet of ethical science generally and DNA research particularly. It is an exceedingly silly facsimile of a science paper, and those responsible should lose their tenure, I am sure they were paid well enough for their trouble.
23andMe says I am a descendant on my father’s side to UI Neilll Dynasty and don’t know how I am a descendant. I am descendant through DNA. I don’t know they were my ancestors. I am thinking it is through the Burke side. I am think that it is through my 3rd great grandfather Patrick Burke who came to the U.S. who married my 3rd great grandmother Bridget Brier. I am think it might be through his mother who was an O’Neil Mary O’Neil who married Patrick Burke. It only goes back to Mary O’Neil in Irelan.
I recently received notification that i am related to Ui Niell dynasty. I am an Africal American with 26% European genitics. I REALLY want to know what’s going on..
I also received notification action about being a descendant of this king, and I’m also african American. I don’t know how this is even possible ,I would also like to know any I for regarding this. I had discovered he had the nickname black knee..unless this king was actually black and was white washed over time. Like so many British kings during the dark ages…after all, all dna comes out of Africa
I come from long lines of male born O’Leary that come from Niall I have O’Neil O’Neal steely chiefly line and cadet Line of Buchanan royal Stewart dynasty . I have confirmed my father dna with royal clan Stewart society. . My resources for me personal information is . The royal descendants of 900 immigrants by Gary Boyd roberts . Pg245 . Prerogative court files from Pennsylvania agusta county and York county. The act of parliament 1707. The partition of Lennox. Work by George Buchanan the historian born 1506 . He’s my15th great grandfather as well . My lineages are 100% reliable.
Im african american and 23&me says I am a DIRECT descendant of Niall of the 9 hostages, through my male Paternal line. (father) I always figured so, my siblings and I have traces of res and blonde hairs, green eyes and such. This is quite interesting. I live in atlanta but im from San Diego.
I am also african American, my family being from fla, an other parts of the south. I don’t know how this is even possible. I don’t have green eyes,blond high lights,etc..
I would be curious to know from those descendants of R-M269 how does your paternal haplogroup change after that? My haplogroup after R-M269 then later evolves into R-L1335. <10,000 years ago.
I have the exact same haplogroup as you. Having looked into it some more, according to data on genetichomeland.com our haplogroup is most common in Scotland. I’m 100% Irish according to 23 & me
this will sound crazy but 23&me told me Niall Noigiallach is my fourth century ancestor and im nothing but Mexican how the hell do i have Irish roots none of my family is irish all mexican natives i dont understand