Introduction

This website provides information concerning (1) approximate Y-DNA and mtDNA frequencies in the Ashkenazi population and (2) the most common Ashkenazi Y-DNA and mtDNA clusters. The data used for this website was compiled through a methodology using autosomal (Family Finder) match lists from Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) to identify the Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups for people who are likely to be of Ashkenazi descent. (Red text on this page identifies information added to this page in 2023 based upon information available through FTDNA's Discover Tool.)

The 2018 analysis of Y-DNA posted on this website has been refined based on information available through Family Tree DNA as of December 2022.  This page provides an analysis of the frequency by country of each of the 45 Ashkenazi ancestral Y-DNA clusters. This page and the pages linked therefrom provide an analysis of each of the 45 Ashkenazi ancestral Y-DNA clusters based on geographic frequency of each cluster in each country. The mtDNA analysis on this website has not been updated. The remainder of this Introduction refers to the analysis performed in 2018

The website posts approximate percentages for Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups in the Ashkenazi population, determined through data compliled from FTDNA match lists.  

The website identifies, based on the 2018 analysis, 47 Ashkenazi ancestral Y-DNA lines, providing trees for each of those lines that show SNP branching within those lines as derived from the FTDNA Y-DNA Haplotree and the YFull YTree, with information concerning upstream SNPs and the estimated ages of those lines. 

The website also identifies, based on the 2018 analysis, the mtDNA clades found within the Ashkenazi population. [In addition, as of December 2023, this website concerning an ongoing analysis of Ashkenazi mtDNA that has augmented, updated, and improved the analysis discussed on this page.]

Finally, the website explains the methodology that was used for purposes of the analyses in 2018 and sets forth the significant limitations inherent in such methodology.

The Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups commonly found in the Ashkenazi population, and their respective frequencies, were determined through an analysis in January 2019 of Family Finder matches as of December 20, 2018.  The Y-DNA SNP trees from the FTDNA Y-DNA Haplotree and the YFull YTree that are posted on this website are current as of December 26, 2019. The calculations of the age of Y-DNA clusters, taken from the YFull YTree and jewishdna.net, are current as of February 17, 2020.  References to ISOGG's Y-DNA cluster designations are to the ISOGG Haplogroup Tree 2019-2020 as of Febrary 17, 2020.