Tony I find that a DNA project is a useful way to explore variant spellings. I include variants in my DNA project that are not included in my one-name study. A DNA project does not have to be a lot of work. You can just set up a project and run it on a passive basis. The Mingey/Mingay surnames do not appear to be that common so you would not expect to have that many participants. Susan Meates, the Guild's DNA Adviser, can do all the hard work for you and do the project set up. You can have a project with zero participants. You can contact Susan by e-mailing her at dna@one-name.org. Don't forget too that Guild members can buy 37-marker Y-DNA kits at the special sale price all year round: http://www.one-name.org/members/sales/DNAkits.html It's a good idea to at least get a DNA project set up, even if it's not something you want to work on for the moment. Family Tree DNA, like the Guild, only allow one project for each surname and for very good reasons. However, this means that if you don't grab your name while you have the chance you might well find that if you change your mind in a few years' time someone else will already have taken your name. A lot of Guild names get listed, sometimes inappropriately, as variant spellings in other DNA projects. It can then be very difficult to get control back of your surname, though again this is something that Susan can help with. It's far better to stake your claim from the outset. Best wishes Debbie Kennett http://cruwys.blogspot.co.uk http://one-name.org/name_profile/cruwys http://www.familytreedna.com/public/CruwysDNA

Tony, Debbie is absolutely right about this On 23 Nov 2014, at 16:49, Debbie Kennett via <goons@rootsweb.com> wrote: > > It's a good idea to at least get a DNA project set up, even if it's not > something you want to work on for the moment. Family Tree DNA, like the > Guild, only allow one project for each surname and for very good reasons. > However, this means that if you don't grab your name while you have the > chance you might well find that if you change your mind in a few years' time > someone else will already have taken your name. A lot of Guild names get > listed, sometimes inappropriately, as variant spellings in other DNA > projects. It can then be very difficult to get control back of your surname, > though again this is something that Susan can help with. It's far better to > stake your claim from the outset. > When I wanted to start my DNA project my study name and most of its variants were included an absolutely lunatic project (the sort that gives genetic genealogy a really bad name!), but thanks to Susan, they were extracted and my project is now bumbling happily along - I’m a *very* passive administrator. Like Debbie I accept some names that are not in my ONS variants list. Fiona — 5538 - Duignan & variants