Explore the Family Name Huff

Possible origins of the surname Huff

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 Huff have recent ancestry locations in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Ireland.

What Huff 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 Huff is Q-YP740, which is predominantly found among people with European ancestry. Haplogroup Q-YP740 is descended from haplogroup Q-M242. Other common haplogroups include I-P109 and R-CTS241, which are predominantly found among people with European and European ancestry. Other surnames with similar common haplogroups are: Hoff, Pearson, Harris, Nelson, Fox, Rush, Carter, Young, Nielsen, Peterson.

The most common maternal haplogroups of people with Huff surname are: H1, T2b, H. These most commonly trace back to individuals of European ancestry.

Your paternal lineage may be linked to the Marsh Arabs

One of the populations associated with haplogroup Q1b1 is the Marsh Arab population in the southern part of Mesopotamia. For thousands of years, this region has been a wetland due to its position between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq. Mesopotamia has had human occupants since shortly after they first migrated from Africa 60,000-80,000 years ago. The current inhabitants of Mesopotamia, the Marsh Arabs, have strong ties to the ancient Sumer, one of the world's first civilizations. Like their ancient forebears, Marsh Arab culture includes architecture based on arched reed buildings, subsistence strategies from grazing water buffalo, trapping birds, and spearing fish to cultivating rice, and the use of skinny boats called "Tarada" for transportation.

Your maternal lineage may be linked to Marie Antoinette

Because it is so dominant in the general European population, haplogroup H also appears quite frequently in the continent's royal houses. Marie Antoinette, an Austrian Hapsburg who married into the French royal family, inherited the haplogroup from her maternal ancestors. So did Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, whose recorded genealogy traces his female line to Bavaria. Scientists also discovered that famed 16th century astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus traced his maternal lineages to haplogroup H.