Levy Surname: Documented Y-DNA Haplogroup

R1a1 (R-M17), the "Ashkenazi Levite Modal Haplotype"

Clade R

Medium-High confidence 📍 Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish communities

Also spelled: Levi, Levine, Levinsky, Levit, Loewy/Löwy, HaLevi (Ashkenazi branch specifically)

Approximately 52% of self-identified Ashkenazi Levites sampled carry a tightly clustered R1a1 haplotype with an estimated common ancestor within roughly the last 2,000 years -- essentially absent in Sephardi/Mizrahi Levites and in Jewish non-Levites, and distinct from the Near-Eastern J-lineage Cohen Modal Haplotype. Michael Hammer is a co-author. Authors note the founder may reflect either a European convert or, speculatively, a Khazar-era origin, rather than direct patrilineal descent from the Biblical tribe of Levi.

Source: Behar DM, Thomas MG, Skorecki K, Hammer MF, Bulygina E, Rosengarten D, Jones AL, Held K, Moses V, Goldstein D, Bradman N, Weale ME. "Multiple origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y chromosome evidence for both Near Eastern and European ancestries." Am J Hum Genet. 2003;73(4):768-779.

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.

Search another surname Submit a surname

Carry the Levy name? Find out if you share this paternal line FamilyTreeDNA lineage tests

Surnames follow the paternal line, and so does the Y chromosome. A FamilyTreeDNA Y-DNA test compares you with other men who carry your surname, inside its free surname projects, and tells you whether you descend from the same ancestor.

Paternal line · entry

Y-DNA37

37 Y-STR markers: enough to see whether you match a surname group and to join its project.

View on FamilyTreeDNA → Paternal line · genealogy

Y-DNA111

111 markers: separates close branches of the same family and sharpens the timing of a shared ancestor.

View on FamilyTreeDNA → Paternal line · deep ancestry

Big Y-700

The most complete Y-chromosome test: your exact paternal haplogroup on the finest branch of the Y tree, back to prehistory.

View on FamilyTreeDNA →

Y-DNA tests follow the direct father-to-son line, so they are for men. Women can ask their father, a brother or a paternal uncle to test.

Affiliate links: if you order a FamilyTreeDNA test through these links, Explore Your DNA earns a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Confirm your real haplogroup from your raw DNA

A surname link is a hint, not a certainty. Upload your raw DNA file and our HaploAI engine predicts your actual Y-DNA and mtDNA haplogroups directly from your genome.

Explore our ancestry reports

Levy Surname: Y-DNA Haplogroup

Carry the Levy name? Find out if you share this paternal line FamilyTreeDNA lineage tests

Y-DNA37

Y-DNA111

Big Y-700

How to Download Your Raw DNA Data

Downloading from 23andMe

Downloading from AncestryDNA

Downloading from FamilyTreeDNA

Downloading from MyHeritage

Downloading from LivingDNA