Bonaparte Surname: Y-DNA Haplogroup
Published genetics research or a documented case study links the surname Bonaparte to a specific Y-DNA paternal-line haplogroup.
E-M34 (E1b1b1c1*)
Clade E1b1b
Also spelled: Buonaparte, Napoleone Buonaparte
Y-DNA was extracted from follicular sheaths on preserved beard hairs attributed to Napoleon I and cross-checked against a living patrilineal descendant (Charles Napoléon), both yielding E1b1b1c1*/E-M34. This haplogroup is unusual in Western Europe (more frequent in the Near East and Horn of Africa), prompting discussion of a distant eastern Mediterranean origin for the Bonaparte line, which is of Corsican (originally Tuscan/Ligurian) extraction.
Source: Lucotte G, Thomasset T, Hrechdakian P. "Haplogroup of the Y Chromosome of Napoléon the First." Journal of Molecular Biology Research. 2011;1(1):12-19; and Lucotte G, et al. "New Advances Reconstructing the Y Chromosome Haplotype of Napoleon the First Based on Three of his Living Descendants." Journal of Molecular Biology Research (CCSE), 2013.
How to read this. A surname match means some people with that surname, in a specific study or family record, were found to share a haplogroup, most likely due to a shared patrilineal ancestor generations back. It is not proof that you personally carry that haplogroup: surnames change through adoption, remarriage, non-paternity events, and independent origin of the same name in different families. For your own confirmed haplogroup, test your DNA with our HaploAI Y-DNA/mtDNA predictor.
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