Brenor Brophy

Based upon these very limited initial results we have started to answer our first research question - Are there distinct Brophy lineages that we can identify? It appears that there are, so far we have three distinct Brophy lineages that split from each other in the early bronze age (4,500 years ago). This is long before the advent of surnames and so it looks likely that there were multiple families that adopted the surname who were not closely related. An alternative explanation is that some of these lineages have non-parental events in the last 1000 years where a non-Brophy male adopted the Brophy surname for some reason. As more Brophys join the project and more results come in we may be able to start adding detail to the story and identify what makes the lineages distinct. For now, I have tentatively created 3 groups based upon the bronze age split. Here is what we know about each group so far.

This group has a clear association with the Fitzpatrick surname. This is important in the sense that the Fitzpatrick's were the ruling sept of the Kingdom of Ossory (modern County Kilkenny) and the annals mention the Brophy sept as one of their clients.

Currently, just myself and my 3rd cousin with a common ancestor from South Kilkenny born about 1825.

This was a set of older (pre-relaunch) results, only one of which was Big Y-700. But strong similarity in the STR results prompted me to create the group. Interestingly, the ZZ10_1 haplogroup is the branch that contains the Dál gCais clan and the famous O'Brien family, though our members split from that lineage in the bronze age.