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Author: rorycain1
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.cain/2443.2.1.1.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Surname spelling is nowhere as important as we used to think. If you look at other members
of the Cain DNA project, or even just at members of your own O'Cathain clan from north
Antrim, you will find that they bear a spread of Cain/Kane/Keane etc surnames. The
anglicisation of O'Cathain and other Irish surnames was totally random.Two Famine-era
Irish brothers who sought gold in Australia arrived as Cain and Kean respectively.
It's their Y-DNA that counts, not the surname,e spelling so you are wise to cast your
net wider as you are doing.
If your father is a male line O'Cathain (Cain, Kane, etc) then his DNA will do fine.
Meanwhile take a look at the Cain DNA project at
www.familytreedna.com/public/Cain-Caine.
The largest group in that project are the Kanes (etc) of Co Derry & north Antrim. The
McCloskey and McHenry surnames that you will also see are septs descended from Bloscaigh
O'Cathain and Henry O'Cathain respectively. The McHenrys were quite close to the
O'Cathain chiefly line.
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