Welcome to the home page of the Treinfhir Y-DNA Initiative.
Some Treinfhir-specific information is provided and only available to registered users. To see the hidden parts, please log in below and then come back to this page. You will end up at your Dashboard, so click on the Treinfhir Clan link (upper left) to return to viewing the website.
Click this image to watch the June 12, 2022 Video
As many of you know, in May 2019 in Monaghan we launched an initiative to begin building a bridge between the Treinfhirs around the world. A description of the initiative follows:
The History of the Treinfhir Y-DNA Initiative
The Treinfhir clan’s fascinating history dates back over 4000 years in Ireland, back the time when the great pyramids were being built in Egypt. We are descended from ancient kings like MaineMor of the UiMaine, or High King Niall Noigallech, and Irish saints like Saint Macartan. But what do you know about your connection to the wider Treinfhir clan?
The Treinfhir DNA initiative uses “Y-DNA” which Treinfhirs inherited from their distant male Treinfhir ancestors and seeks to answer key questions like “What Treinfhirs and family groups am I connected to in Ireland?”, “How long ago did my ancestors branch away from other families?” and “How are the Treinfhir families in Ireland related to each other?”
In our Irish homeland, there were so many Treinfhir families that we used family “Nicknames” to tell one Treinfhir family clan from another. Nicknames give us a wonderful opportunity to connect Irish and Emigrant families together using ancestral DNA. By matching Y-DNA to family Nicknames, connections between long sundered families can be made. Irish families can understand how their family fits in the great map of the Treinfhir clan.
In May 2019 in Ireland, we had six names and a skinny little sapling. We committed to this project and said we hoped we could begin to map the tree and nicknames with 50 testers.
June 2024 Update
Today we have 42 completed Big-Y tests. Recently we added two clan members to the Aedh branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs: Eamon Treanor “Big Willie” and Niall Treanor “Nail”. Based on DNA evidence we now believe the “Big Willie”, “Yankee”, “Ned” and “Peter” families all descend from the same Treinfhir male born in the first half of the 18th century. We will need more testers to determine when the first “Nail” appeared, but the “Crush”, “Nail” and “Fagaharley” families appear to have branched from the rest of the Aedh Treinfhirs around 1500AD.
We have assigned proper names to the UiNeill A and UiNeill B branches: Loegaire (LEER-ee) and Muirdeach (MUR-dock). Loegaire and Muirdeach were Irish kings descended from Niall Noigiallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages).
The UiNeill and UiMaine Treinfhirs
Click on the image above for an updated map of the Treinfhirs in our old Irish homelands!
The Aedh Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Breandain Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Cormac Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Diarmuid Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Eanna Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Fionn Branch of the UiMaine Treinfhirs
The Loegaire Branch of the UiNeill Treinfhirs
The Muirdeach Branch of the UiNeill Treinfhirs
Stand by, more tests are on the way! But we need your help. With more DNA testing, we can provide a family tree for the entire Treinfhir clan. We need the Trenors of Spain to join the project, and the McCreanors, so that we can understand their branch in the tree.
Emigrants who don’t know their Irish family history can contribute to the initiative by taking a Family Tree DNA “Big Y” test, and by contributing to the family testing fund. Irish Treinfhirs who know their family history and family nicknames can contribute their Y-DNA and their known family history, like nicknames and townlands, to the project. Because this information is so valuable, Irish families who know their history may be subsidized.
Y-DNA changes minimally over several generations, so only one male within each family group (3rd or 4th cousins) need to be tested. Within that range, results will be virtually identical, so males within a family can split the cost and share the learning, making testing more affordable.
The test is simple. You swab your cheek with a plastic wand, put it into a plastic vial and send it away to Family Tree DNA. Your Y-DNA will be analyzed and added to the Family Tree DNA database.
Your results are provided to you online under a secure user ID and Password. More importantly, Family Tree DNA doesn’t share your information with any outside company, research organization or government agency, so your confidentiality is assured.
One “Big Y” test is usually priced at $449(US) but during the sale periods can be reduced to $379. Moreover, by sharing the cost between family members the per person cost can be substantially lower.
We are encouraging all Treinfhir males who haven’t had a close relative test to consider testing, and contributing to the Treinfhir testing fund which subsidizes special cases, but we are placing special priority for subsidies on disappearing or rare male family lines.
To purchase a Family Tree Big Y test on your own, go to https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Treinfhir
If you’d like to donate to the Treinfhir Initiative Fund, click here
For more information on Big Y testing, go here; https://www.familytreedna.com/products/y-dna or here: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/treinfhir/activity-feed
Note: We do not recommend Y-37, 67 or 111 tests. They do not yield adequately detailed results to match families.
For more info, Email Dan Traynor (datraynor@hotmail.com). Slainte!
Older videos about the Y-DNA project
Treinfhir Y-DNA Initiative January 2021 Update
Please post info on how to contribute. Well done.
Hi Karen! Here is a link that will take you to FTDNA where you can donate to the Treinfhir DNA Project.
https://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund-contribution.aspx?g=Treinfhir
Thank you for your interest in our work!