This one-name study is a project researching all occurrences of the closely associated Roddy and Ruddy surnames, as opposed to a particular pedigree or descendancy of only one extended family. In short it encompasses the research of all individuals with either of these surnames, or related variations, over the face of the earth and throughout recorded history.

While many of these individuals have some relationship, early DNA research indicates that there are at least two or three separate, unrelated families. One of the main goals of this study is to identify these families and attempt to determine the origin of the surname(s) and ancient family history.

Clearly this is a daunting task, even for an uncommon family name, and while the Roddy or Ruddy surname is not as common as Jones and Smith, it is also not extremely rare. It is estimated that there are approximately 10,000-20,000 individuals with these surnames living today. A rough estimate of all individuals recorded in history with either of these two names is on the order of 50,000-100,000 people total.

This study will never be completely done, and will always be a work in progress, but it is the intention of the author to post results as they are achieved, modifying them as additional information is discovered, analyzed, and re-analyzed.

The following graphic displays the current scope of the current study with locations of individuals for North America and the British Isles. Blue dots represent "Roddy" individuals, red dots represent "Ruddy" individuals. To see locations across the globe, click the image below (be warned that this is a large 3.5 MB image and may take some time to download, depending on your Internet connection speeds.

Most Wanted - I am looking for information about these ancestors. Can you help?

What's New - View the latest updates made to the site.

Roddy-Ruddy One-Name Study - Read the current DRAFT report as research in progress.

Roddy-Ruddy Surname Project - yDNA. - Explore the Roddy-Ruddy yDNA surname project and consider testing at FamilyTreeDNA.

Roddy-Ruddy One-Name Study Facebook Group - Connect with living Roddy and Roddy family members and relatives.

Guild of One-Name Studies Roddy-Ruddy Profile Page - Profile page of this study on the Guild of One-Name Studies web site.

The Guild of One-Name Studies defines a One-Name Study as "research into the genealogy and family history of all persons with the same surname and its variants." For more information on the Guild of One-Name Studies, including the ability to search for other surnames, click on the icon to the right.

Related Internet Links. - Useful or interesting links for researching Roddy and Ruddy genealogy, history, and associated information.