What haplogroups were originally found in the Franks? I have come across a dutch family with links to the Merovingians, ydna testing found them to be L21. The Walloon franco-phone regions have elevated R1b-U152. The region of Poitou and Saintonage may hold some clues as they have long been associated with the Franks and are surrounded by other communities. If we assume for a moment that the Franks had limited amounts of R1b-U106 and I1, could they have been predominantly R1b-U152 Northern 'Celtic' peoples who remained in the North and formed a loose confederation of smaller tribes? The names Lotharingia, Merovingia and others have a distinct Northern quality to them, perhaps even Scandinavian or Norse if I may venture into the realm of fantasy.
It is real posibility Franks had a lot Celtic blood , maybe even lot more than Germanic.
From Wikipedia :
The ethnonym
Frank has sometimes been traced to the Germanic word for "
javelin" (cf.
Old English franca,
Old Norse frakka), as opposed to
Latin francisca "throwing axe", which was named after the tribe. A weapon-based tribal name would be comparable to that of the
Saxons. Others tie the name to a word for "bold, fierce" (cf.
Middle Dutch vrac, Old English
frǣc,
Old Norwegian frakkr). The name's origin remains disputed.
[4]
Modern scholars of the
Migration Period are in agreement that the Frankish identity emerged at the first half of the 3rd century out of various earlier, smaller
Germanic groups, including the
Salii,
Sicambri,
Chamavi,
Bructeri,
Chatti,
Chattuarii,
Ampsivarii,
Tencteri,
Ubii,
Batavi and the
Tungri. These tribes inhabited the lower and middle Rhine valley between the
Zuyder Zee and the river
Lahn and extended eastwards as far as the
Weser, but were the most densely settled around the
IJssel and between the
Lippe and the
Sieg. The Frankish confederation probably began to coalesce in the 210s around the area Romans called
Germania inferior.
Abouth Lotharingia it is named after Lothar one of sons that shared Charles empire .
Merovingians were named after Merovech father of Childerich , who was father of Chlodovech / Clovis/ Ludwig I conqueror of the Gaul.
To me Merovech sound somehow Latin more than Germanic, maybe conected with Marius ?
