Participants in this subgroup should join The Ulster Heritage DNA Project and the R-P312 and Subclades Project at FTDNA.
This subclade is Northern Irish and associated with Niall of the Nine Hostages. "Niall Noigíallach, was a High King of Ireland, and the father of millions of descendants. He lived in the 5th century, and his estimated death date is 450/455 AD (Source). The Southern and Northern Uí Néill (meaning "descendants of Niall"; Uí pronounced 'Ee') dynasties produced the Irish High Kings for centuries and includes St. Columba, Niall's great-great grandson." [1]
Any participant with Family Tree DNA who is a direct descendent of Niall will have a Niall of the Nine Hostages banner on their personal page at the FTDNA website (click the banner for further information). If they have this banner, it means that they match others to who after doing the deep subclade test for R1b1b2 tested positive for the Niall SNP M222. FTDNA errs on the conservative side, so I am comfortable with their determination of a presumed match to M222+. Any participants with the banner can decide for themselves whether they want to verify it by ordering the subclade test.
Otherwise, if they are in the subclade but not a direct descendent of Niall, they can fairly be considered one of his distant cousins, sharing a common ancestor with him from before his time:
The man with the first R-M222 mutation is the haplogroup's founder, and all his male descendants have that mutation. Likewise, the founder's pattern of STRs are passed on to his male descendants; but as more and more generations go by, the STRs (which mutate more often than SNPs occur) would start to drift away from the founder's original STR pattern. By examining the diversity of STRs in men who share the same SNP, you can estimate how long ago that founder lived. The diversity of STRs among men who are R-M222 puts the founder back about 3,400 years ago, about twice as long ago as Niall of the Nine Hostages lived. So it's unlikely that everyone with the Trinity "Niall" pattern is descended from the high king. Because of the high degree of correlation between surnames associated with Uí Néill septs that the old histories declare descended from Niall and his family, it's very likely that Niall was a member of this R-M222 group and had a large part in its spread, even if he wasn't its founder. [2]
If a participant has the Niall of the Nine Hostages banner on his personal page, then his first 12 markers match those of Niall exactly. Some will not have the banner but will find from a deep subclade test that they are related as a decendant or distant cousin. Family Tree DNA explains the requirements needed to verify direct descendency from Niall:
Of note to Family Tree DNA customers, this signature is found in .6 of one percent of the entire family Tree DNA database. It is characterized by the following markers when our 12 marker test is applied:
A more detailed signature appears when we apply the Y-DNA 25 marker test and compare to the apparent Ui Neill signature. A listing of those values appears in the table below.
While the signature is typical for R1b European males in general, it is characterized by 11,13 at DYS 385a/b and 14 at DYS 392. Within our second panel of markers the most distinctive difference from the R1b Modal is the 15,16,16,17 at DYS 464. [3]
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1. "Famous DNA" at ISOGG.
2. "Are you descended from Irish High King Niall?"
3. "Matching Niall of the Nine Hostages." Family Tree DNA.