How to Find A Real Viking Man

February 11, 2008

Take a trip to the North West of England. To be more precise, travel along the north Wirral coastline. Once there, look for those men whose surname is Forshaw, Rigby, Rimmer or Robinson and you'll have your Viking man.

You can’t go wrong, according to a new study by the University of Nottingham, the University of Leicester and University College London.

Published by Molecular Biology and Evolution, the study combined an investigation into ancient surnames and DNA testing on the male Y-chromosome, which is passed along the paternal line from generation to generation with very little change.

The researchers examined 100 male volunteers, whose surnames were chosen from tax lists dating back to the time of Henry XIII in 1545.

It emerged that the blood of the Norse Vikings is still coursing through the veins of 50 per cent of the men living in parts of northwest England.

They are the descendands of the Norsemen who, led by the Norwegian Viking Ingimund, landed on the northwest coast in 902 AD after they were expelled from Dublin.

In this region, place names still reflect the Viking past.  Aigburth, Formby, Crosby, Toxteth, Croxteth are all Viking names. Even the football team Tranmere is Viking.