Genetic distance is a key clue for helping you understand what makes a good YDNA match. Read Ginny’s story to learn how the YDNA for Genealogy Course helped her better evaluate YDNA matches and know which ones are worth further attention.
YDNA can be a wonderful tool to help you better understand patrilineal family lines, but knowing what makes a good match is crucial. It’s important to look at the genetic distance with matches.
What is genetic distance?
Genetic distance measures exactly what it sounds like: how close (or distant) you are genetically from your YDNA matches. The closer the distance, with zero being the closest match, the better the match.
The genetic distance between you and your YDNA matches is the most important column in your YDNA match list. The values you’re looking for in that genetic distance column vary by how many markers are being compared between you and your match. Family Tree DNA currently offers YDNA tests at three different levels: 37 markers, 111 markers, and Big Y (700 markers). (If a close match has tested at a higher level, it may be worth upgrading your own test to a higher level.)
Here, Diahan Southard explains a little more about how YDNA works and the genetic distance information you’ll see on your YDNA match list:
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Evaluating genetic distance for YDNA matches
Going into the YDNA for Genealogy Course, Ginny Fields had two different matches she wanted to work on in the course: her maternal first cousin’s and her husband’s.
Her cousin had a match at 111 markers with the same surname, but there was a genetic distance of 10. That’s not typically very helpful. “My…cousin has a match with someone of the same name whose ancestors are from Scotland and apparently from the same area that [my ancestors], and my cousins’ [ancestors], are from,” Ginny says. “I am now having research done to see if we can nail this down more.”
Looking at her husband’s YDNA results, Ginny initially thought that he did not have any good matches, either. Her husband had a match at the 37 marker with a distance of three, but the surnames were different. It was through the YDNA for Genealogy Course that she learned that a distance of three at 37 and 67 markers is viable to work with.
After taking our YDNA for Genealogy Course, Ginny then did the genealogy to learn more about her husband’s match. She found that his match’s ancestors were connected to him through a marriage of her husband’s 2x great-granduncle (the brother of his 2x great-grandmother). Interestingly, the two families also lived in close proximity to one another. Ginny’s husband could not have inherited YDNA from his 2x great-grandmother (remember, YDNA is only inherited from genetic males), suggesting this was a secondary relationship he shared with his match.
Ginny is still working through the mystery of exactly how her husband and his match are related. Now, her next step will be to contact the son of her husband’s match to ask if he will upgrade his father’s test to see if the match “holds up” when they compare additional genetic markers.
“I probably would not have explored this match without taking the YDNA class,” she says.
Our YDNA for Genealogy Course covers YDNA matching, with topics including your YDNA match list, YDNA matches with no shared surname, next steps for YDNA matching, and more! This unique course gives you insight into little-understood aspects of YDNA testing and can empower you to unlock the answers already waiting in your relatives’ YDNA.
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