Y-DNA

English (of Norman origin), French, and North German: from Giselbert, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements gisil ‘pledge’, ‘hostage’, ‘noble youth’ (see Giesel) + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’. This personal name enjoyed considerable popularity in England during the Middle Ages, partly as a result of the fame of St. Gilbert of Sempringham (1085–1189), the founder of the only native English monastic order.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

About the Project

The Gilbert Y-DNA Project was started on Jan. 15, 2005 and is open to anyone who can contribute DNA from a male carrying the Gilbert name or paternity. You can join the project with a specific goal in mind such as connecting with one of the currently tested lines, or just to have your results available for a possible future match. As project administrator, I will be here to assist with interpreting results.

Recently there have been several instances where people have been hesitant to join the project because their Gilbert line came about as the result of an illegitimacy or adoption. Even if these lines don't have deep roots with the Gilbert surname, they represent a Gilbert line nonetheless and are welcome to join. This also holds true for any African American Gilbert lines or family lines that became Gilbert after a name change.

To be a member of this project, I do require that you send me information on your Gilbert line prior to joining. It doesn't matter how much or how little information you, just something to help identify your line. Please see the Lineage FAQ for more information.

Note that as project administrator I DO NOT VERIFY the lineages sent to me. Their accuracy is the responsibility of the researcher. Please consider lineages you see on this website to be the same as all unsourced family information you may find on the Internet. It may or may not be accurate...no matter how many places you see it. If the DNA results support or contradict the lineage, I will note that on the lineage page.

Unfortunately this project does get involved with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which can be contributed by a male or female donor. As mtDNA follows a straight maternal line, it has no bearing on surnames. That is, even though a woman's maiden name may have been Gilbert, she received her mtDNA from her mother who hadn't a different maiden name, who got it from her mother who had yet another maiden name, etc... mtDNA also doesn't mutate nearly as readily as Y-DNA, so even a high resolution match just means you share a common maternal ancestor sometime in the past few thousand years. It's of relatively little use from a genealogy standpoint except in the most specific of circumstances.

What Does Testing Involve and How Much Does It Cost?

DNA is contributed by the donor scraping the inside of their mouth with either a swab or small brush as provided by the test lab. It does not hurt, and there is no blood involved. If the donor is not the person paying for the test, they can be completely anonymous to the test lab if desired.

The cost of the testing varies based on the test lab you use and the number of markers you request. The more markers, the better, but of course this means greater cost. Please see the Testing Labs page for more information on costs, labs and how many markers to order.

Mailing List

Join the Rootsweb Gilbert-DNA mailing list to monitor project activity by sending an e-mail with the word "subscribe" in the body of the message to GILBERT-DNA-L-request@rootsweb.com . This is a very low volume list, and you can remove yourself at any time.

Please E-mail me if you have questions or want more information about the project.