Estimation of inbreeding, kinship and genetic distances from surnames--coastal population of middle Dalmatia, Croatia.

This work was dedicated to the investigation of the population structure of the middle Dalmatia settlements: Jesenice, Mimice, Zivogosće and Zaostrog by surname distribution study and applying the isonymous method. The surnames of males and females in marital pairs were analyzed as well as of their first and second-generation ancestors on the sample of a total of 3,024 examinees. The analyses of surnames pointed to the rates of inbreeding, kinship and genetic distances of the populations. Although the values of the inbreeding coefficient are high in all the four settlements, the inbreeding coefficient is exceptionally high in Mimice. A total kinship coefficient for the four settlements speaks also in favor of the high rate of kinship in the examined settlements, i.e. of the high rate of the reproductive isolation of the whole region during the analyzed period. The reasons for such high coefficients are natural features of the examined region (the mountains of Mosor, Biokovo and Rilić), poor traffic connection of this region in the past, the patrilineal mode of inheritance and the demographic specifics of the population. The matrix of genetic distances between examined settlement pairs reveals that Mimice, a settlement with the highest share of isonymous marriages, shows the greatest distances in comparison to the other settlements. On the other hand, Jesenice, Zivogosće and Zaostrog are characterized by small genetic distances, which is the fact that speaks in favor of their genetic homogenization and "openness" toward interpopulational migrations, i.e. the gene flow.