Surname Distributions, Origins, and their Association with Y-chromosome Markers in the Aleutian Archipelago

Abstract

This study is an examination of the geographic distribution and ethnic origins of surnames as well as their association with Y-chromosome haplogroups found in Native communities from the Aleutian Archipelago. The project's underlying hypothesis is that surnames and Y-chromosome haplogroups are correlated in the Aleutian Islands because both are paternally inherited markers. Using 732 surnames, Lasker's Coefficient of relationship through isonymy (Rib) was used to identify correlations between each community based on of surnames. A subsample of 143 surnames previously characterized using Y-chromosome markers were used to directly contrast the two markers using frequency distributions and tests. Overall, it was observed that the distribution of surnames in the Aleutian Archipelago is culturally driven, rather than one of paternal inheritance. Surnames follow a gradient from east to west, with high frequencies of Russian surnames found in western Aleut communities and high levels of non-Russian surnames found in eastern Aleut communities. A non-significant correlation (r = -0.0132; P = 0.436) was found between distance matrices based on NRY-haplogroups and surnames, although an association was found between non-Russian surnames and the predominantly non-Russian NRY-haplogroups (R1b, I1a, and I). This indicates that admixture between Natives and non-Russian European fur-traders and fishermen replaced dominant Russian surnames in the east, while Russian surnames in the west are the remnants of Russian colonization.