Why support The Doherty Y-DNA Project?

• The Doherty Y-DNA Project has been running since 2004, one of the longest-standing Irish surname DNA projects

• Big Y-700 is the gold standard: it examines millions of Y-chromosome positions for the finest available SNP detail

• Clann Association donations have already funded Big Y-700 testing for native Inishowen men, growing the list of Irish geographic anchors

• Results live at FamilyTreeDNA, home to the largest Y-DNA comparison database in the world

• The project is volunteer-run with no commercial agenda. Your data serves research, not profit

• Don't have a Y-DNA testing candidate in your family? Donations to the

• Clann Association help fund tests for Irish-based Doherty men whose results benefit the entire project

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For the Diaspora Tester: Personal Discovery

• Find out if your patriline carries the R-BY471 haplogroup most commonly linked to the historic Ó Dochartaigh clann

• Learn whether your Doherty name likely traces to a 9th-century Gaelic origin, or to one of the many unrelated families who ended up with the anglicized spelling

• Turn up genetic cousins you had no idea existed; men who share your direct paternal line across continents

• Get past the dead ends and combat bad genealogies. When the paper trail stops in the 1700s or 1800s, Y-DNA can point toward an Irish region your ancestors may have come from

• Make your results count for something bigger. Each test sharpens the picture for everyone in the project

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For Irish-Based Doherty Men: Anchoring the Map

• Put your branch on the genetic map. Native Irish patrilines are the reference points the whole project depends on

• Your family's deep roots in a specific parish or townland are exactly what makes your test so valuable

• Be part of documenting something that oral tradition alone can't preserve

• Help the project map how Ó Dochartaigh lines spread and branched across

• Ireland over the centuries

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For Both: Contributing to Clan History

• Every new tester adds detail. The more men who test, the more precisely branching events can be dated and ancestral geography inferred

• Results can support or challenge traditional genealogical narratives about clan origins in Inishowen and beyond

• Your results join a permanent, growing scientific record that future researchers can build on

• The project ties genetic findings back to historical records, oral tradition, and the territorial history of the Ó Dochartaigh in Co. Donegal

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Emotional / Heritage Resonance

• Your Y chromosome carries history your documents cannot

• A living connection to a name rooted in Co. Donegal since 800 CE

• Something shared by every Ó Dochartaigh, no matter where life took them

• A way to honor ancestors whose emigration erased the paper trail but not the genetic onebe a part of The Doherty y-DNA Studybe a part of The Doherty y-DNA Studybe a part of The Doherty y-DNA Study

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