What is the Y-DNA feature on MyHeritage?

MyHeritage's Y-DNA feature allows male DNA kit holders to explore their direct paternal lineage through Y-DNA haplogroup analysis. This feature is powered by a partnership with FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA), one of the world's leading DNA testing companies, and is fully integrated into the MyHeritage DNA experience.

Y-DNA is the genetic material found on the Y chromosome, which is passed down almost unchanged from father to son across generations. Because it follows the direct paternal line, Y-DNA can be used to trace your ancestry through your father, his father, his father's father, and so on — going back thousands of years.

Y-DNA is only present in biological males, which is why this feature is available exclusively for male DNA kits.

A haplogroup is a group of people who share a common paternal ancestor far back in history. Your haplogroup is identified by a code such as R-M269 or E-Y6940, and it places you within a specific branch of the human family tree.

Knowing your haplogroup helps you understand where your ancient paternal ancestors lived, how they migrated across the world over thousands of years, and which other people — both living and historical — share your paternal lineage.

Your Y haplogroup is calculated by analyzing the Y chromosome data from your existing DNA test. Using technology licensed from FamilyTreeDNA, your results are compared against a global Y-chromosome tree to find the branch where your DNA fits best — the calculation happens entirely within MyHeritage (see Your privacy, below, for more detail).

Please note that your standard Y-DNA results include a broad haplogroup — accurate at a high level, but not as detailed as results from a specialized test such as Big Y-700. Think of it as identifying your haplogroup family rather than your exact branch within it.

Once your Y-DNA results are ready, you'll be able to explore the following sections:

An overview of your haplogroup, including an AI-generated description of your haplogroup family, your position within the broader paternal lineage tree, a timeline showing when and where your haplogroup originated, and Haplogroup Badges that capture the key characteristics of your paternal line at a glance.

An interactive map tracing the migration route of your paternal ancestors from ancient times to the present day. All male lineages trace back to a single common ancestor who lived in Africa around 230,000 years ago, known as Y-Adam. The Migration Map shows the estimated path your haplogroup took from Y-Adam all the way through to your haplogroup today, including a timeline of each branching point along the way.

A list of historically notable individuals — from royalty and world leaders to pioneering scientists — who share a common paternal ancestor with you. These are not direct ancestors or close relatives — at some point in history your lineages diverged — but you are connected through a shared paternal line stretching back thousands of years. Each connection includes a biography, a diagram showing how the two lines are related, and a timeline placing the divergence point in historical context. Your standard Y-DNA results include two Notable Connections.

Connections to ancient individuals whose DNA has been recovered from archaeological sites around the world — including members of ancient civilisations such as the Vikings, Celts, and Roman soldiers. Each ancient connection shows the discovery location, date range, cultural group, and a timeline showing the relationship to your haplogroup. Your standard Y-DNA results include two Ancient Connections.

A breakdown showing how common your haplogroup is in different countries today, based on self-reported paternal origin data from hundreds of thousands of DNA users and participants in academic studies. Results are displayed as a ranked table by country, showing the number of testers with your haplogroup in each country and the haplogroup's frequency among all testers from that country.

A preview of where your haplogroup sits within the full human Y-DNA tree, shown as a locked, blurred section within your standard results. Upgrading to Big Y-700 unlocks the full Time Tree.

MyHeritage is committed to protecting your privacy. Your raw DNA data never leaves MyHeritage — only an anonymous haplogroup code is shared with FamilyTreeDNA to generate your results, with no name, gender, or any other identifying information attached.

All data is handled in full accordance with MyHeritage's privacy policy, and you can delete your DNA data from MyHeritage at any time.

As mentioned above, your standard Y-DNA results give you a broad-level haplogroup. For a deeper dive into your paternal line, you can upgrade to Big Y-700 as a separate kit purchase, through banners in your Y-DNA results.

Big Y-700 uses sequencing to examine a significantly higher number of locations on the Y chromosome — about 12 million base pairs — unlocking more detail: a higher-resolution haplogroup, more Notable Connections and Ancient Connections, a Time Tree, and more granular migration paths.

This upgrade can trace your paternal lineage into more recent history, often pinpointing common ancestors within the last few centuries. That's because the deeper sequencing identifies almost every mutation in the Y chromosome, allowing your haplogroup — which typically maps to the Middle Ages — to be fine-tuned into a higher-resolution haplogroup that's much more recent.

You can find out more and purchase at familytreedna.com/products/big-y.

To learn how to access your Y-DNA results: How do I access and use my Y-DNA results on MyHeritage?