My last name is Balkin. Your last name is not Balkin. This makes researching the surname Balkin very difficult.
These three sentences are all you need to know about the frustrations you will feel when you decide to research your surname.
There are admittedly a few Balkins around the world. For example, if you Google my name, you will find me. However, you will also find that I am an Australian entrepreneur who seems to be, at least on the internet, far more successful. My aunt has been inviting me every year to Passover dinner via email. She always wondered why I never showed up and I always wondered why she doesn't like me. This was the case until she realized she had been emailing Australian me the entire time. This is not part of the topic at all. I apologize.
When researching your surname, if your surname is not Balkin, then you're off to a really good start. So, go research!
DNA testing should be a supplement to your research. Y-DNA testing is recommended for possibly tracing your surname. Autosomal DNA can sometimes be used for tracing a surname (I'll get into that in a later post). mtDNA should NEVER be used for this purpose. mtDNA testing will frustrate you. I'm not just talking in terms of tracing a surname. I'm talking in terms of tracing anything ever. mtDNA is the genealogical equivalent of municipal traffic laws. It's super frustrating but sometimes necessary.
Back to Y-DNA. If you don't already know, you have to be male to test. This was not my decision. I had a caller once that yelled at me for about 25 minutes because we were being sexist by not letting her test. I was at a loss for words but I think I eventually blamed lawn gnomes this social injustice.
If you are not male, you will need a male paternal relative to test (ie. brother, father, father's brother, father's brother's son, etc.). If you are able to get a Y-DNA test and look at your results, your match list may (or may not) surprise you. This leads to another genetic genealogy misconception that needs to be corrected: Your Y-DNA matches will very likely not all share the same surname.
Simply because your matches have different surnames does not mean that tracing a surname is impossible. If your match list consists of a bunch of different surnames and you recognize none of them, look for patterns. Look to see if you can see, among the matches, a group that all share the same, or similar, surname. Once you have done this, click on Projects at the top and see if a project exists corresponding to this name. If so, join the project to see 1. if you fit among other members and 2. if you can email the project administrator(s) for more possible information.
Another important aspect is marker level. For example, 37 marker matches are more closely related than 12. Also, let's say you have a lot of similar surname matches at the 37 level. You likely descend from whatever surname this is within a closer amount of time than if you have a group of surname matches at the 12 marker level. This is especially true if this surname is different than the one at 37.
The principal reasons why your matches do not share your surnames can vary. A common reason is non-paternity events (ie. adoptions, illegitimate births, etc.) Another reason could be changed immigration records, changed birth records, and a variety of other possibilities. Finally, modern surnames have only been around for a few hundred years and your matches can potentially share common ancestry with you going back as many as about 600 years. This means that while surnames have only been around roughly 300 years or so (this can vary), the ancestry you share with these matches can go much deeper (up to 600 years). Because of this, your matches may have unrecognizable surnames.
If you do have a lot of matches with the same, or similar surname (whether it's your surname or not), this is great (hopefully)! Contact them. Respond to them if they contact you. This is genealogy! This is sharing information with family! This is the reason I'm currently employed!
I can appreciate your difficulty. My grandmother's maiden name is Zirkus. She is German, but the last name appears to be Jewish. My research has shown that it is definitely not of German origin despite it meaning "circus" in German. In Germany, there are only a handful of people with the last name of Zirkus and they live around the city of Cologne. It looks like the first settled in that area around 1809 which is when they first appear in the local records. Good luck in your search.
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