Finding your Irish surnames origins

At the last FTDNA Administrators Conference, Dr Tyrone Bowes, PhD, gave a talk showing how one could find the origins of an Irish surname. It was a fascinating talk that he updated for Who DO You Think You Are. Links to both talks appear on this page. He has recently published a paper on it in the Surname DNA Journal:

Using Y Chromosome DNA Testing to Pinpoint a Genetic Homeland in Ireland

Abstract

Analytical techniques were developed combining the Surnames of Y-STR DNA matches, the 1911 Census of Ireland, and geographical place names to pinpoint the ‘Genetic Homeland’ of five (5) of eight (8) individuals used as test cases. Four (4) of the individuals were natives of Ireland and one (1) was a native of Scotland. The Genetic Homeland concept is based on the area where founding ancestors first adopted surnames and lived for hundreds or thousands of years. Although the surnames adopted may have been diverse and many or all descendants with a particular surname may have moved away from those areas, the geographical place names and other descendants from the same patriarch often remain in those geographies today.