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• WFN has been providing DNA Information, Websites, and Administration to FTDNA Surname DNA Projects since 2004 (About Us).
• FTDNA and WFN have a long-standing relationship (Learn more).

Surname DNA testing is the newest tool available to genealogists!

• Surname tests allow genealogists to verify their father's father's...father's paternal ancestry.
• Surname DNA information can be very powerful when combined with traditional paper trails.

The following Surnames are currently included in this project:

[A] Families belonging to the Kongu Vellalar Gounder caste of Tamil Nadu, India use the following

spellings when the caste name is a surname in descending order of popularity:  Gounder, Kavundar, Kavunder, Kavuntar,  Kaundar (other possible).

Name frequency estimates from Public Profiler Worldnames www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/Default.aspx

Gounder 11.54 families per million (fpm) in India;  3.67 in Canada,  0.06 in the United States

Kaunder 4.3 families per million (fpm) in India;  Kavundar  0.54 fpm in India;  Kaundar 2.69 fpm in India

For more information on this group see the Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongu_Vellalar

Because Gounder is the title of the head in a system of decentralised panchayat administration used with various regional   variations by distinct castes in Tamil Nadu, India.  Other Tamil castes including the Kongu Vettuva Gounder group use the surname "Gounder" also.  However, statistically the majority of persons named "Gounder" will be Kongu Vellala simply because of the high proportion of Tamils in this caste.   Gounders of Tamil origin appear outside Tamil Nadu in Singapore, South Africa, Fiji, Australia, New Zealand, England, and in the 20th century Canada, and (especially starting in the 1980's) the United States.

[B] Families of German/Dutch origin (without connection to India). Alternate possible spellings for families in this category are Gounder, Gonder, Gunder, and Kaunder.

[C] Any and all other Gounder families, of all spelling variations, and from all locations.  
(If your surname is not included please contact the Project Administrator.)

RESOURCES:

[1] The article at this link jainology.blogspot.com/2009/12/history-of-gounder-community.html provides a history of the origins of the Gounder community of Tamil Nadu, India.

[2] Amazon.com offers the 88 page book "The Gounder Name in History"  ASIN: B000WDBCPC

http://www.amazon.com/Gounder-Name-History-Ancestry-com/dp/B000WDBCPC

The Gounder DNA Project is open to all Gounder families, of all spelling variations, and from all locations.  
(If your surname is not included please contact the Project Administrator.)

This Gounder Family Project was started to:

1. Help researchers from common or related families work together to find their shared heritage.
2. Identify how the participant's families are connected, both genetically and through paper trails.
3. Identify and confirm genetic Lineages of ancestral families.
4. Ultimately catalog pedigrees and genetic connections of all of the known project families.

Participating in a Surname DNA Project provides:

• The participant's genetic DNA, which is very close (and sometimes identical) to his earliest known ancestor.
• The participant's "deep" ancestry (Haplogroup), which identifies the paternal ancestor's prehistoric origins.
• A sense of camaraderie, which is particularly strong for those who share a genetic ancestry
• Stimulation to family research and renewed sharing of information
• A wider sense of identity and relationship, as we begin to realize how much we are a World Family.
• A chance to compare your genetic ancestry with those of your Surname and the spelling variations
• Your genetic matches who do not share your common surname
• The knowledge to understand our ancestors better - particularly where the records have been lost