Haplogroup N1a

What is Maternal Haplogroup N1a?

Haplogroup N1a is a genealogical group of lineages defined by unique genetic markers present in your mitochondrial DNA, which is transmitted from your mother. Your maternal haplogroup paints a picture of your ancient origins and the migrations of your ancestors. Although your maternal haplogroup reflects just one of your many ancestral lineages, it carries information about that lineage over tens of thousands of years.

Haplogroup N1a is descended from haplogroup N. Among 23andMe research participants, haplogroup N1a is commonly found among populations in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

It's important to note that your haplogroup doesn't define your current ethnic identity; rather, it provides an insight into your deep ancestry on the maternal side.

Maternal Haplogroup Origins N

Top Surnames with Haplogroup N1a

For surnames with sufficient representation in the data, these percentages represent the frequency with which each surname is found in individuals exhibiting this genetic marker.

Last Name	Frequency
smith	1.50%
johnson	1.00%
jones	0.70%
williams	0.70%
anderson	0.70%
miller	0.60%
brown	0.50%
davis	0.50%
taylor	0.50%
white	0.50%
wilson	0.40%
moore	0.40%
thompson	0.40%
clark	0.40%
young	0.30%
nelson	0.30%
martin	0.30%
allen	0.30%
hall	0.30%
cook	0.30%

Haplogroup N1a is linked to early Eastern European farmers

Even though farming appears to have spread through Europe at a breakneck pace, reaching France within 500 years of arriving in Hungary, it seems farmers themselves did not. If numerous women bearing the N1a haplogroup had migrated deep into Europe, they would have left a significant number of descendants in the population today. But N1a is barely detectable in today's populations. That suggests local populations learned farming from their eastern neighbors, then passed only the the idea westward without actually moving themselves. That would have caused local populations to grow as agriculture boosted their food supply, increasing the proportion of pre-existing haplogroups in the overall European population and swamping out newcomers such as N1a.

The spread of agriculture completely transformed the way of life in Europe.