The McGowan Family Project seeks to find common heritage through sharing of information and DNA testing. This project limits Y-DNA participation only to those males with the McGowan or variant surnames. It is a study to determine potential relatedness of those with direct paternal ancestry of the McGowan surname or one of the variants. Current surnames allowed to join the project is Goin, Going, Goins, Gow, Gowan, Gowen, Gowin, Gowing, McGowan, McGowen, McGowin, O'Gowan, O'Gowen, O'Gowin, Smith, or Smythe. If your surname is different than any of these and you have information regarding a non-paternal event (NPE), please provide that information within your join request and a decision will be made as to whether your DNA is included within the project.