Michael,
Thanks for the question.
Today we can identify descendants of the original population of the IOM (i.e. those men today possessing names from the list of those original Manx family names - defined by those names in the 1511 manorial rolls and documented and identified as Manx in the classic reference books written by AW Moore and JJ Kneen.)
We know from our history books that this Manx population consists of (inter alia) a mixture of:-
• Old Manx - ie inhabitants who came here during the first millennium - largely from Ireland
• Later migrants and travellers from neighbouring Ireland, Scotland, the Western Isles etc – displaced by war and economic hardship
• Invaders and travellers from Scandinavia and Northern Europe - direct or via Ireland (Ostmen, Gall-Ghaeil)
• Later – Normans, Scots and English
It is intended that at the end point of this study (say in 4-5 years’ time), we will be able to identify:-
• Which indigenous Manx family came from where (before they lived on the IOM) - and a likely timescale for their arrival.
• Which Manx families share a common genetic origin (and hence common philological origin) as Moore and Kneen sometimes postulate.
• How strong are the Viking genes in our population
• Which Scottish and Irish tribes share a common ancestry with which Manx families
This information, effectively a genetic picture of the Manx people, will then enable us to assess the validity of the old scholarly views of how our Manx family names originated. This is an area of research that Nigel Crowe is currently addressing separately - and his views and research will be brought together with the genetic analysis.
So far there are a few early and very preliminary results:
• Several families have shown Scandinavian and N European genetic origins. The level of interrelatedness observed between these families so far suggests that only a relatively small number of Viking settlers left their genes here.
• A number of Manx families are clearly identified as sharing ancestry with specific Irish and Scottish tribes - with general estimates of when that might have been.
More time, more data and more participants are still needed. Please take part!
Thanks
John