Fox Surname: Y-DNA Haplogroup
Published genetics research or a documented case study links the surname Fox to a specific Y-DNA paternal-line haplogroup.
R1b-L47
Clade R1b (R1b-U106 subclade)
Also spelled: Foxe (lineage-specific: Henry Fox 1st & Anne West descendants of Colonial Virginia)
STR/SNP triangulation across six generations of documented descendants of Henry Fox 1st (1650-1714) and Anne West confirmed a single R1b-L47 paternal lineage and resolved a century-old paternity dispute over Henry Fox 2nd. Other Colonial-Virginia men bearing the Fox surname were shown by the same project to belong to entirely unrelated haplogroups (R1b-L1/S26, R1b-L21, R1b-DF13), demonstrating that "Fox" is not a single genetic lineage - only this specific documented branch carries R1b-L47.
Source: Fox JM III, Fox DE. "Y-DNA Testing of a Paper Trail - The Fox Surname Project." Journal of Genetic Genealogy 8(1):7-20, 2016.
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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