The purpose of the Swinbank y-DNA project is to try to establish whether these family names (Swinbank, Swithenbank, Swidenbank, Swainbank) have a common origin. The paper trail for my own family tree dates back to the marriage in 1685 of John Swithenbancke and Isabell Allan in Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales in northern England; but with some heroic assumptions my line can be pushed back to the late 16th Century in Sedbergh or Ravenstonedale. A John Swinbancke was vicar of Kirkby Stephen at the beginning of the 17th Century; and other Swinbanks are to be found in the historical records elsewhere in England’s northern counties. Although my family’s name has usually been recorded as Swinbank we have also appeared as Swithenbank (as in 1685), Swidenbank, and Swainbank, on occasion. Although far from common, these family names can now be found in North America and Australasia as well as in the UK.