Haplogroup T-M184
T-M184 is a rare, widely scattered lineage of the Near East, Mediterranean and Horn of Africa — never a majority anywhere in Europe, but with striking local peaks. Explore the branch in the full Y-DNA haplotree — sub-branches, defining variants and where its testers live. Free, no account needed.
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Origin and distribution of T-M184
T-M184 is one of the rarest major haplogroups a European tester can draw — typically around one man in a hundred in Mediterranean Europe, and rarer north of the Alps. Its deep origin lies in the Near East, and it moved with the same Neolithic and maritime currents as J2 and E lineages: ancient DNA finds T in early farming contexts from the Levant and even among Neolithic villagers of central Germany.
What the lineage lacks in frequency it makes up in geography: local peaks among Somali and other Horn of Africa populations (where T1a2 reaches high frequencies), in southern Egypt, among Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jewish lineages, in Sardinia, southern Italy and Ibiza. A T result usually means a paternal line with an unusual, traceable story rather than a common regional one.
One line among many: your Y haplogroup traces a single paternal line — one ancestor per generation out of thousands — so it is a thread of deep ancestry, not an ethnicity and not a percentage of who you are. Two men in the same branch share a forefather, but the rest of their genomes can differ as much as any two strangers'.
Frequently asked questions
What is haplogroup T-M184?
T-M184 is a rare, widely scattered lineage of the Near East, Mediterranean and Horn of Africa — never a majority anywhere in Europe, but with striking local peaks. It is a branch of the Y-DNA tree: everyone in it inherits the same set of defining mutations from one shared forefather.
How do I find out if I belong to T-M184?
If you have already tested with a consumer DNA company, the free Y-DNA Clade Finder reads a raw DNA export (23andMe, AncestryDNA, MyHeritage or a VCF) and places you on the tree at the resolution your file supports — free, and the file is discarded after analysis. A dedicated Y-DNA sequencing test resolves deeper branches than a genotyping chip can.
Does belonging to T-M184 make me descend from one people?
No. A haplogroup follows a single paternal line — one ancestor per generation — while the rest of your ancestry doubles every generation back. It is a deep-time thread, not an ethnicity, and two members of the same branch can otherwise be as genetically different as any two strangers.
What does this page's tree data show?
The live browser below shows the branch inside the full Y-DNA haplotree of tested lineages — its sub-branches, the variants that define them, and the countries its testers report. Counts reflect people who have taken a Y-DNA test and shared an origin, so they describe the tested world, not ancient frequencies.
Keep exploring
Don't know your haplogroup yet? The free Y-DNA Clade Finder reads it from a raw DNA export. Or browse the whole tree in the Y-DNA Haplotree. Other major branches: