Jewish Ancestry of 76 Spanish Gypsies

The way the world works is truly strange. When I was working with the Anglo-Romany family, I was going through their DNA matches. One of their DNA matches was Lisardo Cano. It turns out Sr.Cano had spent 40 years studying the Jewish origins of the Spanish Gypsies. He is literally the worlds leading expert on the subject, having written 12 books on the subject. 

In conjunction with Lisardo Cano, we decided to test 76 Spanish Gypsies(Gitanos,Cale)from 15 provinces in Spain,  to learn if they all had Jewish ancestry, what kind of Jewish ancestry, and so on. You can read about the study in a HaLapid article below. 

The study is done now. Below the Halapid article you will find the study. I have provided the short form in different languages. If you are still interested, you can read the full article, in English or Spanish at the very end. 

We have now extended the study to French Manouche, German Sinti, and Slovakian Gypsies. Stay tuned. It turns out the Gypsies we have tested are in fact a forgotten branch of the Crypto-Jewish family tree. 

This study investigates the genetic, historical, and linguistic origins of the Spanish Gypsies (Gitanos, Calé), challenging the conventional narrative that situates their ancestry primarily in northern India. Genetic analysis of 76 individuals from across Spain reveals consistent and pervasive markers of Jewish ancestry, spanning virtually all branches of the Jewish Diaspora: Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrahi, North African, Caucasian, Central and South Asian Jewish groups. The participants also exhibit clear genetic ties to ancient Levantine and Canaanite populations, as well as DNA matches with medieval Jewish remains from Norwich, England and Erfurt, Germany. Complementary forensic DNA evidence identifies Jewish-specific STR markers in all tested individuals, while haplogroup analysis highlights paternal and maternal lineages common among Jewish populations. Historical sources, including surname data from the 1749 “Great Gitano Round-up” and the 1783–1785 census, further demonstrate significant overlap between Gitano and Converso families, confirming genealogical continuity with Sephardic Jews. Linguistic evidence adds another layer, with Caló—the Gitano dialect—preserving a notable substratum of Hebrew vocabulary. Together, these findings suggest the Spanish Gypsies are not descendants of a purely Indian migrant population but rather constitute a unique Crypto-Jewish community whose ancestry reflects a wide spectrum of Jewish diasporic lineages. This multidisciplinary evidence calls for a reassessment of Gitano ethnogenesis and emphasizes their place within the broader history of the Jewish Diaspora.