Coming Soon: Y-DNA Haplogroups for Family Finder

[rmstevens2]

I understand they will go at least as far as 23andMe currently does. My impression of that is that some guys will get farther up the Y-DNA tree from the root than others. For example, and I've mentioned this before, 23andMe has me as R-Z18021, which is the same thing as what FTDNA calls R-BY166. That's not too bad: P312>Z290>L21>S552>DF13>Z39589>
DF41>FGC5572>BY168>BY166.

That's just a few steps upstream of my Big Y-700 terminal SNP: BY166>FT92330>FT83585>FGC36974>
FGC36982>FGC36981.

Z18021/BY166 is rare enough that I can be pretty sure any of my FF matches with my surname who get that are related to me on the Y-DNA line.

On the other hand, I have seen some Y haplogroup assignments at 23andMe that aren't all that far up the tree.

I was right that some guys get better Y-DNA resolution than others, at least at 23andMe. I just randomly took a look at one of my matches at 23andMe. His Y-DNA haplogroup is reported as R-CTS241, but that's just DF13 (see my own tree in what I quoted above).

That's much better than a mere M269, but it's not too exciting or revealing.

Update: Out of curiosity I took a look at another random 23andMe match. His Y-DNA haplogroup is listed as I-Z58. That's just two steps downstream from I-M253 and doesn't strike me as all that informative, but some I-M253 guys might know better on that score. 

Guess I got pretty lucky with what I got from 23andMe.