This page and the pages linked from this page set forth information compiled using FTDNA's Discover Tool concerning the most distant known direct male ancestor reported by men in any of the Ashkenazi Y-DNA clusters identified through the analysis described elsewhere on this website. The information was compiled on July 3, 2025 by using the Discover Tool's Country Frequency page (in Table View) for each of the 45 Y-DNA haplogroups identified through the refined analysis performed on this website in December 2022.
This analysis builds on my 2023 analysis posted on this website. I performed this analysis because FTDNA's Discover Tool now includes, in its reports for particular haplogroups, not only men who have done Big Y testing but also men who received haplogroup designations based upon Family Finder testing. (FTDNA's Family Finder chips test for certain Y-DNA SNPs and mtDNA SNPs, in addition to the autosomal SNPs that FTDNA uses for purposes of matches and admixtures.)
As of July 2025, FTDNA had used three different versions of chips for Family Finder testing: (1) v.1, in use from 2010 through fall 2015; (2) v.2, in use from fall 2015 through spring 2019; and (3) v.3, in use from spring 2019 through the present. The three versions of the chip do not test for the same Y-DNA SNPs.
The v.1 chip tested only high-level Y-DNA SNPs; those results are immaterial to the analysis on this website. However, the v.2 chip tested for some mid-level SNPs, including those defining some of the Ashkenazi Y-DNA Levite branches identified on this website. The third version of the chip tests for additional mid-level SNPs, including SNPs that define additional Ashkenazi Y-DNA branches.
The v.3 chip tests for the SNPs that define 17 Ashkenazi Y-DNA branches identified through this website's analysis: (1) E-Y6940, (2) G-BY764, (3) G-L201, (4) I-Y11261, (5) I-BY424, (6) J-L816, (7) J-S12192, (8) J-L556, (9) J-Z30390, (10) J-FGC21083, (11) L-PAGES00116, (12) R-Y2619, (13) R-FGC20759, (14) R-L4, (15) R-L408, (16) R-FCG13211, and (17) T-PAGES00113.
The v.3 chip does not test for the SNPs that define the remaining 28 following Ashkenazi Y-DNA branches identified through this website's analysis: (1) E-Y14981, (2) E-Y36800, (3) E-BY7500, (4) E-Z17697, (5) E-BY11082, (6) G-FGC249, (7) I-Y23115, (8) J-BY101, (9) J-ZS2616, (10) J-ZS4297, (11) J-ZS10568, (12) J-FGC5215, (13) J-FGC17481, (14) J-FT69390, (15) J-Z38408, (16) J-Z43501, (17) Q-Y2198, (18) Q-YP1003, (19) R-BY33370, (20) R-YP1013, (21) R-A11711, (22) R-FGC8564, (23) R-Z18106, (24) R-S3251, (25) R-FGC21047, (26) R-FGC14600, (27) T-BY11520, and (28) T-Y105938.
This website posts a list of (1) the Ashkenazi Y-DNA branches and (2) the SNPs typically reported by FTDNA for men belonging to each of these clusters based on testing using the Family Finder v.3 chip or the Family Finder v.2 chip. (Note that FTDNA is inconsistent as to which SNPs it uses to report Y-DNA haplogroups based on the v.2 chip.)
FTDNA's inclusion on the Discover Tool of geographic information reported by men who have done Family Finder testing is beneficial for those Ashkenazi Y-DNA branches as to which the v.3 chip reports the SNPs defining an Ashkenazi Y-DNA branch. The inclusion of more men in a cluster decreases the margin of error that can result from a small sample size; such inclusion also ameliorates sampling errors that can result from, for example: (1) geographically focused Y-DNA studies that may skew the geographic proportions within the reported population; and (2) the fact that men identified as closely related through paper genealogy, surnames, and/or Y-DNA STR testing are more likely to do Big Y testing to try to confirm a relationship.
However, the inclusion of such information precludes certain analyses that are made in the 2022 analysis and the 2023 analysis posted on this website - those analyses that are based on the number of men in each of the Y-DNA clusters. Where the v.3 chip tests for a SNP that defines an Ashkenazi branch, the number of men reported by the Discover Tool as being in that cluster will include not only Big Y-tested men but also Family Finder-tested men; where the v.3 chip does not test for a SNP that defines an Ashkenazi branch, the number of men reported by the Discover Tool as being in that cluster will include only Big Y-tested men. (To compound matters, of the Ashkenazi-branch-defining SNPs that are tested by the v.3 chip, some of them are also tested by the v.2 chips but others are not.)
For this reason, the information provided by the Discover Tool no longer allows a comparison of the relative sizes of the Ashkenazi Y-DNA clusters, as is done in the 2022 analysis.
Beyond that, because the reported geographic origins of the various clusters differ on a cluster-by-cluster basis, it is no longer possible to determine the reported geographical description for the Ashkenazi population as a whole by adding the geographic information reported by the Discover Tool for each cluster, as is done in the 2023 analysis.
The 2023 analysis provides additional methodological notes and caveats that largely apply to this 2025 analysis. As discussed in that analysis, information concerning the geographic distribution of an Ashkenazi branch's parallel clusters will provide insight into the likely geographic origins of the direct male ancestor shared by the Ashkenazi branch and the parallel clusters (which in almost all circumstances will not be Ashkenazi, or Jewish).
As also discussed in that analysis, please note that the major Ashkenazi Y-DNA clusters have subclusters that often have different geographic distributions from one another. The geographic distributions of the subclusters within a cluster - not the geographic distribution within the cluster as a whole - will typically provide more insight into where that cluster likely started spreading than will that cluster's combined geographic distribution.
This website includes pages that post such information for the major Ashkenazi clusters within haplogroup E, haplogroup G, haplogroup I, haplogroup J1, haplogroup J2, haplogroup L, haplogroup Q, haplogroup R1a, haplogroup R1b, haplogroup R2, and haplogroup T.
Specifically, the website posts charts for the following Ashkenazi Y-DNA clusters (the link will take you directly to the chart for that cluster: (1) E-Y14891; (2) E-Y6940; (3) E-Y36800; (4) E-BY7500 (5) E-Z17697; (6) E-BY11082; (7) G-BY764; (8) G-FGC249; (9) G-L201; (10) I-Y11261; (11) I-Y23115; (12) I-BY424; (13) J1-L816; (14) J1-BY101; (15) J1-S12192; (16) J1-ZS2616; (17) J1-ZS4297; (18) J1-ZS10568; (19) J1-FGC5215; (20) J1-FGC17481; (22) J2-L556; (23) J2-Z30390; (24) J2-FT69390; (25) J2-Z38408; (26) J2-FGC21083; (27) J2-Z43501; (28) L-PAGES00116; (29) Q-Y2198; (30) Q-YP1003;(31) R1a-Y2619; (32) R1a-BY33370; (33) R1a-YP1013; (34) R1b-FGC20759; (35) R1b-A11711; (36) R1b-Y19862; (37) R1b-FGC8564; (38) R1b-L4; (39) R1b-Z18106; (40) R1b-FGC21047; (41) R1b-FGC14600; (42) R1b-L408; (42) R2-FGC13211; (43) T-BY11520 ; (44) T-PAGES00113; and (45) T-Y105938.
This chart shows the percentage of men with reported ancestral countries in each of the 10 largest Y-DNA clusters who reported ancestry in one of the five most-reported ancestral countries (Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, and Germany). That chart was compiled by reference to charts providing the same information as to each individual cluster.
E-Y14891 E-Y6940 G-BY764 J1-L816 J1-S12192
Poland 17.47% 19.53% 20.47% 22.06% 25.54%
Ukraine 19.28% 22.33% 16.08% 16.73% 12.41%
Lithuania 11.45% 16.74% 8.77% 5.34% 8.11%
Belarus 9.04% 17.67% 7.60% 10.32% 8.11%
Germany 11.45% 2.79% 8.19% 8.19% 8.35%
J2-L556 J2-Z30390 J2-FT69390 Q-Y2198 R1a-Y2619
Poland 19.20% 16.94% 16.22% 22.22% 19.37%
Ukraine 16.07% 19.76% 14.86% 16.67% 19.37%
Lithuania 8.48% 7.26% 10.81% 12.70% 6.15%
Belarus 10.71% 12.90% 25.68% 3.97% 6.33%
Germany 16.52% 9.27% -- 11.11% 7.45%
Haplogroups reported on FTDNA v.3 chip: E-Y6940, G-BY764, J-L816, J-S12192, J2-L556, J2-Z30390, R-Y2619
Haplogroups not reported on FTDNA v.3 chip: E-Y14891, J2-FT69390, Q-Y2198