The analysis of data from the Hodgson DNA Project confirms the Irish-Norse origins of the Hodgson surname and sheds more light on the history of the Irish-Norse ancestors of the Hodgsons in Ireland.

However, the sample population of 75 Hodgsons is quite small and any generalisations have to be made with caution. By using haplogroup and haplotype analysis, 67 Hodgsons were placed in twelve groups, each with a likely common ancestor.

The most striking outcome is the diversity of DNA results among this sample of Hodgsons. Such a degree of diversity must be exceptional among surnames. In most surname studies, a large proportion of the subjects have identical or very similar Y-line test results. This is not the case with the Hodgson sample. Although the use of DNA in surname studies is very new, no surname study has yet been encountered with such a diversity as that found among the Hodgsons. This remarkable feature requires an explanation. We find the answer in the history of the Irish-Norse in Ireland and England.

Although there are mixed DNA types, the Hodgson DNA evidence in our sample provides a good measure of Norse paternity. There are several methods of assessing ethnic origins, all of which are vulnerable to particular assumptions employed. There is no exact method.

Using several methods (outlined in the second edition of Hodgson Saga) Hodgson DNA is roughly one-third Norse and 5-10 per cent Danish, most of the remainder being similar to the indigenous British. The proportion of Norse blood among Hodgsons is much higher than in the British population as a whole. Stephen Oppenheimer (2006, p. 462) estimates that about 6 per cent of Y-DNA in the British Isles is of Norwegian Origin.

DNA data show that the proportion of inhabitants with Norse paternal ancestry from Shetland and Orkney are 42 and 37 per cent respectively, by the highest known estimates (Sykes 2006, p. 194). These islands are known to be areas of dense Norse settlement. The proportion of Hodgsons with Norse paternal ancestry is within reach of that found on Shetland and Orkney.

Two further remarkable comparisons are with Atkinson and Armstrong DNA. Other pages on this site show that Hodgson Y-DNA is much more Norse than either Atkinson or Armstrong Y-DNA, even though both Hodgsons and Atkinsons originate from Cumbria, and Armstrongs originate from Cumbria and Northumberland.

An Irish Problem?

But there seems to be a problem. There is strong evidence that the Hodgson surname is Norse, but more than half of male Hodgson Y-chromosome DNA is not of Norse origin. Instead, the distribution of types of DNA in our Hodgson sample can be best explained by a mixture of (in decreasing order of importance) Norse, Irish and Danish paternal ancestry.

This seems strange. If the Hodgson surname is truly of Norse origin then how do we explain that the majority are not of Norse paternal descent? Could this be explained by illegitimacy or adultery? Although some illegitimacy or adultery would have occurred, such non-paternity events are unlikely to explain such a substantial proportion of non-Norse blood in the Hodgson paternal lineages.

History helps us here. The significant Irish component in Hodgson DNA concurs with the historical evidence in the ancient Annals of Ireland (O’Donovan 1860) of adoption and interbreeding between the Irish and Norse in Ireland in the ninth century. Further historical evidence attests that the Vikings who invaded Cumberland and Lancashire in the tenth century were groups of mixed Norse, Irish and Danish ethnicity. In this mixture, Norse names and customs were dominant. It is also possible that the Irish-Norse settlers in Cumberland and Lancashire intermarried with the indigenous British-Celtic population, who were of similar genetic stock to the Irish.

We can thus explain why a large proportion of Hodgsons have DNA that is not of Norse paternal origin. Nevertheless, the relatively high proportion of Norse blood among the Hodgsons confirms the Norse etymological origins of the Hodgson surname.

Hodgson Groups

Analysis of the DNA sample makes it possible to cluster Hodgsons together in groups with similar DNA, as in the following table. DNA tests can thus indicate possible relatives and ancestral locations in the North of England. If you are male, then you are invited to add your Y-line data to the Hodgson Clan database. If your data match any existing Hodgson groups then you will be informed free of charge.

The date of the most recent common paternal ancestor for each Hodgson Group was estimated using a computer program that focuses on the diversity of genetic mutations in the sample. But estimates were not possible for some groups because of insufficiency of DNA data.