The results of the study led by Professor Mark Jobling of Leicester University, Professor Stephen Harding and Professor Judith Jesch of Nottingham University, published in Molecular Biology and Evolution in February 2008, show that up to 50% of the blood of men in Wirral in Merseyside and West Lancashire is specifically linked to Scandinavian ancestry. This is about the same as modern Orkney, well known for its Viking links. From generation to generation, DNA of the male Y-chromosome is passed along the paternal ancestry; the team of researchers took advantage of the fact that surnames are also passed along the same lines. The method proved to be especially powerful being applied not to individuals but whole populations. Thus the group of volunteers had to be selected according to certain areas and specific surnames present in these areas at least prior to 1600. After their expulsion from Dublin in 902 AD, Vikings led by a chieftain named Ingimund landed along the north Wirral coastline between the lighthouse at Lingham (Old Norse lyng holmr), Meols (melr), West Kirby (kirkjubyr) and Thurstaston (Þórsteinns tún). They spread as far as south Chester and Mersey to populate South West Lancashire, where they met another large group of Vikings. Place names pointing to an area of intense Viking settlement played a major role in the study: for instance, Thingwall is a name of a Viking assembly, and the only two places with such name are in the North West, one in Liverpool and one in Wirral. Other Viking place names include Irby, Skelmersdale, Aighburth, Formby, Crosby, Toxteth and Croxteth. Even Tranmere (and, accordingly, Tranmere Rovers F. C.) is a Viking name: in Old Norse Trani-melr means Heron Sandbank. Then one had to select 100 volunteers who possessed a surname pointing to Viking links and whose male ancestors lived in the same area for as long as one could trace. To this end, the team of researchers used historical records that included tax lists dating to the time of Henry XIII, as well as a list of inhabitants who had promised to help pay for a priest in Ormskirk in 1366. The surnames included: Taylor, Forshaw, Rigby, Rimmer, Robinson, Oxton, Scarisbrick and Melling.
The gurus on Viking DNA from Leicester University have secured the funding to continue their study and see how far Norse Viking blood runs into Cumbria. More details on Wirral and West Lancashire 1100th Viking Anniversary Home Page by Professor Stephen Harding.
Photo courtesy Steve & Jemma Copley. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi,
My name “Ellal” comes from “Ellel,” a small town in Lancashire–and derived from “Elhale,” an Anglo-Saxon name. Probably Angle as I don’t think the Saxons settled Lancashire. But how can one determine if he has Viking blood–or Angle blood (from southern Denmark–proto-Vikings)?
hello there,
I was wondering where i would find out if i was related to the Vikings. I orignally come from Sheffield in South Yorkshire England. Would I need to take a DNA test? And I wondered if the name Oscaby is a Norweigan.
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards
beck is an old norse name i wud luv 2 knw whr we fit in old norse
I do have a slight problem with the whole study. Firstly R1a isn’t specific to Scandinavia, infact R1b and I1a is also found amongst Norweigans and Danes, infact 42% of Danes are R1b, so they would have brought R1b in there too. Secondly considering Britain was connected via Doggerland 6,000BC how do they know these groups didn’t get their earlier? Thirdly Tun and mere (as in Tranmere is also Old English, meaning ‘lake’) are also old English. There is evidence of Norse influence from pre-viking times and Swedish/Danish connections in Sutton Hoo and Beowulf (set entirely in Scandinavia). Norse archaeology has been found prior to the Vikings including wrist clasps from the 7th century. Infact there is new evidence of Germanic languages being spoken in Britain prior to the Anglo-Saxons including Germanic elements in Lancashire and Cumbrian Roman placenames. To rove whether any of these men are specifically Norse Viking in origin is quite impossible. Their surnames are not out of the general English surname norm. Infact three Yorkshire villages ending in -by found Anglian crosses in the churchyards and no scandinavian inscriptions showing that presuming a Viking origin considering the lack of evidence of placenames in the north and east of England, can be misleading. There is even some who believe their was a scandi form of Old English was spoken in the north hence words such as they which are difficult to change as they are pronouns.
How do they know these Scandinavian type names were not just adopted or were adopted even earlier?