About us
Welcome to the Roscoe / Rasco Family History Y-DNA Study for Roscoes of all different spelling variations.
Y-DNA testing measures specific characteristics on the male tester's Y-chromosome -- genealogical markers passed down on the direct paternal line from a father to his son, to his son, to his son, etc., with relatively few changes or mutations over the centuries. These markers usually (but not always) follow the surname back through the generations many hundreds of years ago to the time in history when surnames were first adopted, and then continue to follow the genetic profile back through the Middle Ages and beyond. The second test on each line is recommended to confirm and verify each line back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor and preclude a possible DNA sidetrack in the expected paternal line due to an unrecorded adoption, friendly neighbor, or research mistake.
The Y-DNA test kit for Roscoe-surname males, swabbing the inside of the cheek, is EASY and QUICK -- three swabs at 60 seconds each. No blood is involved, and no medical or other information is recorded or obtained. It comes in the mail to the tester's home. Female Roscoe descendants and male Roscoe descendants not having the Roscoe surname can readily participate and advance the study by encouraging their Roscoe-surname brothers, cousins or other relatives to submit a test representing their common Roscoe line. We use the leading testing company with the largest databank -- over 219,000 tests worldwide and over 42,000 British tests -- showing wide acceptance of Y-DNA testing in family history research. Privacy of test results and samples is protected by the strict protocols and guidelines followed by the testing company, as required by federal and state law. No one with our Roscoe study has any interest in the testing company or any related entity or receives any type of compensation in connection with the testing program.
OUR ROSCOE STUDY MAY BE ABLE TO SHARE THE TESTING COST FOR A ROSCOE LINE NOT PREVIOUSLY TESTED. Please inquire if the cost-sharing contribution is available for your line. Anyone who wishes to help advance our investigation in the British Isles, America, Europe and elsewhere may do so by contributing to future key tests through the General Fund. Most of all, you can learn a lot about your own Roscoe family history, and it's fascinating and enjoyable. When you find an important match with another tester centuries back into the past, it's like aiming back through your own DNA and hitting a bulls-eye on your ancestors' markers 200-400-600 years ago or more.
DERIVATION OF ROSCOE-VARIATION NAMES
The surname ROSCOE is -- (1) an English habitational name from a place in Lancashire called Roscoe, meaning in old Norse roe (deer) + coe (glen or wood) -- hence, deer wood; or (2) an Americanized spelling of the French name RACICOT. RASCOE, ROSCO, RASCO, ROSCOW, and RUSCOE are sometimes reported to be variations of Roscoe. (We have seen evidence of Ruscoes and Rascoes changing their names to Roscoe but as yet no Roscoes changing theirs to Ruscoe or Rascoe. We hope to learn through appropriate tests whether Ruscoes are genetically distinct from Roscoes, as we suspect, except for later name changes from Ruscoe to Roscoe.)
RUSCO -- Italian: possibly a topographic name from rusco ‘butcher’s broom’ (Latin ruscus), but the numerous derivatives of this name suggest it more likely comes from a personal name, Rusco, of Germanic origin. (The 1841 English census shows 16 Rusconis in Bolton le Moors and 3 in Manchester, Lancs.)
RASCOE family historian Harvey Dann believed the Huguenot Rascoes were of Flemish or Dutch-Flemish origin. French Huguenots named ROUSCOUE or RAUSCOUE migrated to England during the 1500's to avoid religious persecution. Early Rascoe names are said to have been John Rouscoue, alien, in Essex 1545, and John Rusco, married in Cheshire 1538. RASCO families have also been found in Italy and Spain, and RASCHAUS and RASCHKAUS lived in Prussia.
ROSKO -- Hungarian (Roskó): from a pet form of the personal name Roska, of Romanian origin Mark Antony Lower wrote in his early PATRONYMIC BRITANNICA, 1860, that Roscoe/Roscow was "certainly a Cornish name." Charles Wareing Bardsley doubted that statement in his DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES, 1901. He felt sure Roscoe was a Lancashire local or habitational surname, though he could not find the spot in Lancashire from which it derived. We understand there may once have been a Roscoe place in Lancashire near Leyland and Chorley.
*******************************************************************
Y-DNA testing measures specific characteristics on the male tester's Y-chromosome -- genealogical markers passed down on the direct paternal line from a father to his son, to his son, to his son, etc., with relatively few changes or mutations over the centuries. These markers usually (but not always) follow the surname back through the generations many hundreds of years ago to the time in history when surnames were first adopted, and then continue to follow the genetic profile back through the Middle Ages and beyond. The second test on each line is recommended to confirm and verify each line back to the Most Recent Common Ancestor and preclude a possible DNA sidetrack in the expected paternal line due to an unrecorded adoption, friendly neighbor, or research mistake.
The Y-DNA test kit for Roscoe-surname males, swabbing the inside of the cheek, is EASY and QUICK -- three swabs at 60 seconds each. No blood is involved, and no medical or other information is recorded or obtained. It comes in the mail to the tester's home. Female Roscoe descendants and male Roscoe descendants not having the Roscoe surname can readily participate and advance the study by encouraging their Roscoe-surname brothers, cousins or other relatives to submit a test representing their common Roscoe line. We use the leading testing company with the largest databank -- over 219,000 tests worldwide and over 42,000 British tests -- showing wide acceptance of Y-DNA testing in family history research. Privacy of test results and samples is protected by the strict protocols and guidelines followed by the testing company, as required by federal and state law. No one with our Roscoe study has any interest in the testing company or any related entity or receives any type of compensation in connection with the testing program.
OUR ROSCOE STUDY MAY BE ABLE TO SHARE THE TESTING COST FOR A ROSCOE LINE NOT PREVIOUSLY TESTED. Please inquire if the cost-sharing contribution is available for your line. Anyone who wishes to help advance our investigation in the British Isles, America, Europe and elsewhere may do so by contributing to future key tests through the General Fund. Most of all, you can learn a lot about your own Roscoe family history, and it's fascinating and enjoyable. When you find an important match with another tester centuries back into the past, it's like aiming back through your own DNA and hitting a bulls-eye on your ancestors' markers 200-400-600 years ago or more.
DERIVATION OF ROSCOE-VARIATION NAMES
The surname ROSCOE is -- (1) an English habitational name from a place in Lancashire called Roscoe, meaning in old Norse roe (deer) + coe (glen or wood) -- hence, deer wood; or (2) an Americanized spelling of the French name RACICOT. RASCOE, ROSCO, RASCO, ROSCOW, and RUSCOE are sometimes reported to be variations of Roscoe. (We have seen evidence of Ruscoes and Rascoes changing their names to Roscoe but as yet no Roscoes changing theirs to Ruscoe or Rascoe. We hope to learn through appropriate tests whether Ruscoes are genetically distinct from Roscoes, as we suspect, except for later name changes from Ruscoe to Roscoe.)
RUSCO -- Italian: possibly a topographic name from rusco ‘butcher’s broom’ (Latin ruscus), but the numerous derivatives of this name suggest it more likely comes from a personal name, Rusco, of Germanic origin. (The 1841 English census shows 16 Rusconis in Bolton le Moors and 3 in Manchester, Lancs.)
RASCOE family historian Harvey Dann believed the Huguenot Rascoes were of Flemish or Dutch-Flemish origin. French Huguenots named ROUSCOUE or RAUSCOUE migrated to England during the 1500's to avoid religious persecution. Early Rascoe names are said to have been John Rouscoue, alien, in Essex 1545, and John Rusco, married in Cheshire 1538. RASCO families have also been found in Italy and Spain, and RASCHAUS and RASCHKAUS lived in Prussia.
ROSKO -- Hungarian (Roskó): from a pet form of the personal name Roska, of Romanian origin Mark Antony Lower wrote in his early PATRONYMIC BRITANNICA, 1860, that Roscoe/Roscow was "certainly a Cornish name." Charles Wareing Bardsley doubted that statement in his DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH AND WELSH SURNAMES, 1901. He felt sure Roscoe was a Lancashire local or habitational surname, though he could not find the spot in Lancashire from which it derived. We understand there may once have been a Roscoe place in Lancashire near Leyland and Chorley.
*******************************************************************