The Whillans DNA Project welcomes all participants (particularly if you have a Whillans homonym such as Wealleans, Whillas, Willans, Whellens, Whillance).
These surnames derive from the Borders region of Scotland & England. Whillans comes from Roxburghshire, Whillas comes from Berwickshire just to its north-east, and Wealleans comes from just over the Borders in Northumberland.
Our project commenced in 2007, and its purpose has been to prove &/or disprove the suspected link between these surnames.
Participating is an opportunity to uncover information not provided in the paper records, which will help with your family history research.
The surnames in this DNA Project are also researched as part of the Whillans One-Name Study; brief information on this Study can be found at:
www.one-name.org/profiles/Whillans.html
The Y-DNA test tells you about your direct male line, which would be your father, his father, and back in time. If you are male and you have a surname which sounds like Whillans (eg Wealleans, Whillas, Willans, Whellens, Whillance, etc), you are most welcome to participate. If you are female, please find a male on your family line to participate.
We strongly encourage an order of a Y-DNA test for 37 markers, if possible. If you order less markers, you can upgrade later, though this costs a little more.
As far as we know at this stage, none of the above surnames are related to Williams (a common mis-spelling of our surname),
Willing (see http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Willing/default.aspx ), nor
Whalen (see http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Whalen/default.aspx ).