Dear Bill: I'm not sure how you are counting "matches". I just looked at our rate on the Scottish Clans Project. We basically accept anyone that claims to have a Scottish Heritage. Althouth this may narrow the randomness a bit ... but not much We have received 395 members as of tonight ( Sept 4 2006). There are 405 notices of matches from Family Tree. Obviously there were a number of families and Clan members that joined together and had their DNA tested here. I was somewhat surprised by the number of "close matches"..... even on 37 markers. Most were of the 33,34,35,36,37 .. therefore a 99.% probability Best Regards John A Hansen Scottish Clans admin www.beintouch.com www.brigadoon.net From: "Lowe DNA" < bbailey.lowedna@baileyconnection.com> Subject: [DNA] PERCENTAGE MATCH SUCCESS RATES FOR SURNAME PROJECTS ? Date: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 19:40:33 -0500 List... I am interested in the match success rate of SURNAME PROJECTS that have close matches at 23 or more markers on 25; or, 33 or more markers on 37. We coordinate three projects and these are our matches rates as of today.. Lowe (we require 25 markers to enroll) ....25 matches out of 53 men which is a ....42% match rate. Stephens-Stevens (we require 25 markers to enroll) ....27 matches out of 57 men which is a ....47.4% match rate. Bailey ...24 matches out of 49 men which is a ...49% match rate. I would like to hear from other list members who are project coordinators to find out if the 42-50% match rate is standard at 25 and 37 markers with FTDNA, and other, testing companies. As always, thanks Bill