House of Bishop Y DNA

There were several lines of people who came into the British Isles at different times that already had or would later take the surname Bishop. This began with what we know today as the Anglo Saxon (Visigoth) invasions of the Jutes, Angles, Saxons and Frisians in the early 5th century and ended with the Norman Invasion of 1066.

Our House of Bishop male (Y) DNA shows to be consistently part of the Western Atlantic Modal Haplotype R1b and part of the subclade U106 (S21). This DNA is consistent with and recognized as DNA found in areas occupied by the Germanic tribes of Europe. In particular, our deep subclade(s) are consistent with the being predominant in areas along the North Sea Coast, from what is today: the Southwest coasts of modern day Norway and Sweden down the coasts of modern day Denmark, Holland and Belgium. This DNA is also predominate in modern day Germany and all across the British Isles.

Due to Germanic (Barbarian) tribal migrations and later Norman achievement, our DNA can be found in many interesting and unexpected locations. We encourage all male members of the House of Bishop to participate in the Family Tree DNA Bishop Y project, or other DNA platform to determine your Bishop Y DNA. Our female House of Bishop members can get this DNA from a father or brother completing the test if possible. Completing an autosomal (both Y and MT/female DNA) on sites such as Ancestry.com, will give each House of Bishop member an breakdown of their complete Y DNA specific to their male Bishop ancestry and MT DNA specific to their particular female lineages.

Please remember, DNA is not a place, it is a family. We currently know that certain branches of the Bishop family share our specific Y DNA in multiple countries. We also share a common male ancestor with some families not surnamed Bishop, prior to the adoption of surnames.