Carol:
I'm sure the more DNA savvy of us would really like more information on how you intend to genetically identify Vikings. Unfortunately, past studies have been conducted by specific university departments in England that lack depth, and tried to use 5 or 6 Y DNA STR markers to distinguish "invaders"; they actually didn't try to distinguish haplogroup I1 Norse from non-Norse at that level, though it's easy to do with more complex testing. To distinguish Norse DNA, you are actually better off testing some common SNPs that are known to be associated with Vikings.
How do you specifically intend to distinguish Viking from Saxon DNA, especially given that Saxon DNA is as common north of Denmark as anywhere else?
Also, are you looking just for those with reason to think they have Viking DNA, or also for people who suspect Norman ancestry? That's quite a difference. What is more, the only way I know that people think they're specifically of Norman ancestry is if they also think, usually wrongly, that their ancestors were Norman aristocrats.
My Scottish Smiths are such a family, now, if you're interested. They belong to a genetic cluster, one group within which insists that they are descended from a Flemish/ Norman knight whose line became the Earls of Whatever (immediately north of the Firth of Forth) Might be true, might not. The Y DNA is non-Norse I1. On the continent it has been found along the Rhine River, which doesn't rule out Vikings OR Normans, though I tend to think Allemans or Saxons. It actually turns up in a Jewish family of southeastern Netherlands who allegedly came from any of three towns on the Middle Rhine - now, haplogroup I1 ain't Jewish and God knows when the nonpaternity event occurred.
Let me know if you think my brother is a candidate, but we will want the specifics on your methodology, as frankly no intelligent genetic genealogical research has ever been done in Great Britain.
Yours,
Dora Smith
