Explore the Family Name Bremer

Possible origins of the surname Bremer

Your DNA provides clues about where your recent ancestors may have lived. Having many distant relatives in the same location suggests that you may all share common ancestry there. Locations with many distant relatives can also be places where people have migrated recently, such as large cities. If a large number of individuals who share your surname have distant relatives in a specific area, it could indicate a connection between your surname and that location, stemming from either recent ancestral ties or migration.

Based on 23andMe data, people with last name Bremer have recent ancestry locations in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.

What Bremer haplogroups can tell you

Haplogroups are genetic population groups that share a common ancestor on either your paternal or maternal line. These paternal and maternal haplogroups shed light on your genetic ancestry and help tell the story of your family.

The top paternal haplogroup of people with the surname Bremer is I-M253, which is predominantly found among people with European ancestry. Haplogroup I-M253 is descended from haplogroup I-M170. Other common haplogroups include I-Z138 and R-P312, which are predominantly found among people with European and European ancestry. Other surnames with similar common haplogroups are: Meyer, Fischer, Koch, Schmidt, Werner, Day, Nagel, Wagner, Brandt, Schaefer.

The most common maternal haplogroups of people with Bremer surname are: H1, H3, H. These most commonly trace back to individuals of European ancestry.

Your paternal lineage may be linked to the people of Doggerland

One of the places that was repopulated as the Ice Age waned no longer exists. During the Ice Age and for some time afterward, lower sea levels exposed much of the area that is now covered by the North Sea. Known as "Doggerland," the region must have been occupied by men bearing haplogroup I, because today it is abundant in all of the countries surrounding the North Sea.As the meltwaters of the retreating Ice Age glaciers caused sea levels to rise, the low-lying forests and wetlands of Doggerland gradually became inundated. The inhabitants of Doggerland retreated to the higher ground that is now the North Sea coast. I-M253 is especially common today in Scandinavia — it reaches levels of 33% in Denmark and Sweden — and is somewhat common in England, Germany and the Netherlands, where it is found in about 15% of men.

Your maternal lineage may be linked to the nomadic Tuareg of the Sahara

Though haplogroup H1 rarely reaches high frequencies beyond western Europe, over 60% of eastern Tuareg in Libya belong to haplogroup H1. The Tuareg call themselves the Imazghan, meaning “free people.” They are an isolated, semi-nomadic people who inhabit the West-Central Sahara and are known today for a distinctive dark blue turban worn by the men, and for their long history as gatekeepers of the desert.How did women carrying H1 make it all the way from western Europe to this isolated community? They likely migrated from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar into Morocco after the Last Ice Age, where they were assimilated into the Berbers of the Mediterranean coast. Then, about 5,000 years ago, the Sahara shifted from a period of relative habitable conditions to its dramatically arid desert environment. This shift may have caused migrations throughout the Sahara, prompting the ancient Tuaregs to meet and mingle with the Berbers, bringing H1 lineages into their population.