Ethnicity estimates make great cocktail party conversation. Roberta , why is it that the Iberian peninsula hard to estimate. Where there is doubt, I have reflected that in my expected ethnicity. Not all vendors display below 1% where traces of minority admixture are sometimes found.

I see this all the time. Note the weasel wording here – “probably” – it’s here on purpose. Alternatively, the DNA tester’s parent might have inherited the 2% Norway DNA completely intact from their parent (the tester’s grandparent), meaning the parent only had 2% Norway DNA, too. Facebook Not from people back further than about 9 or 10 generations, at least not through DNA. I did my tests with Family Tree DNA, and I found out I am 27% Greek or Italian, 67% Eastern European, and 6% Armenian or Turkish.

By surprises, in this case, we’re assuming that all 64 of your GGGG-grandparents really ARE your GGGG-grandparents, or at least haven’t been proven otherwise. Thank you and good luck! We should all enjoy the results and utilize these estimates for their hints and clues. Originally “ethnicity” was seen as a more politically correct concept than “race” – race bring defined as a biological concept frequently used to discriminate between different people (think Nazis, apartheid). My proven Native/African is nearly elusive and my mystery Scandinavian/Greek/Italian is present in far greater percentages than it should be, based upon proven genealogy. Take a look at your matches and see if you recognize any people from either parent’s sides.

If you use the following sponsored link, you can get a two-week free trial on Ancestry – perfect for adding records and documents to your tree:  Ancestry Free Trial. Should I be curious about my true parents? I would suggest that there is a difference between “uncertain” and “unknown origin.” Unknown origin connotates that there is some evidence that the individual is NOT from the same background as their spouse, or they are from a highly mixed region, but we don’t know. Historically, it’s a fishing town. Marie . While having a high percentage that matches a DNA region can signify that a parent or grandparent was from that area of the world, it doesn’t always. I would expect my father to be at least 50% or close to 50% German considering his parents paper trail. A few more options for our 2% Norway DNA would be that the DNA tester’s parent had 15% Norway DNA and 85% Eastern Europe and Russia DNA, and when the randomly selected 50% of their DNA got passed down to their child, the child just happened to get more of the Eastern European and Russian DNA. The family did not speak English. I have no clue where the Italian comes from? If the results don’t make sense based on your known genealogical percentages, especially if your genealogy is well-researched and documented, understand the possibilities of why and when a healthy dose of skepticism is prudent. I fall into 3 regions, shown by the shadowy Circles on the map, below. LOL! To find out your range of likely percentages, click on the ethnicity in your results that you are interested in. To me, ethnicity reminds me of the Victorian palmreading machines one might have seen in old circuses or amusement arcades- fun to play with, but not to be taken seriously. A child inherits 50% of their DNA from each of their parents, but they only inherit 50% of each of their parent’s DNA. If it’s hard to tell if 8-12% Scandinavian is real, it’s almost impossible to tell whether less than 1% of anything is real. You certainly could, but you might have some other really interesting things too. My Cousins Geno 2,0 NG results ia exactly same with his FF – MyOrigines after i transferred his results from Geno 2,0 NG to FTDNA. I can’t pinpoint the exact generation in which that lineage was “full” and not admixed. The one annoying thing is my maternal grandfather – no one knows who is was or from where. 80+ personalized reports Ancestry percentages (to the 0.1%) I build family trees on Ancestry. In my case, because all of my uncertain lines are on my father’s colonial side, and I do know locations and something about their spouses and/or the population found in the areas where each ancestor is located, I am making an “educated speculation” that these individuals are from the British Isles. The moral of the story is that you (or anyone else) certainly shouldn’t go confront their mother in a rage, and ask her if she cheated. These are all proprietary estimates for the same person – and look at the differences – especially compared to what we do know about my genealogy. Create and utilize your ethnicity chart based on your known, proven genealogy which will provide a compass for unknown genealogy. When you get your ethnicity estimate, the first thing you look for are the region names and percentages, right? Remember when you got your ethnicity results? . This information is NOT a criticism of the vendors. So the names changed but the percentages didn’t. Quick question. Also, my mitochondrial DNA (the mother’s lineage) indicated Hungarian, which was also shocking to me, but I think it’s because Transylvania used to be Hungary until 99 years ago. Let’s look at how the vendors divide ethnicity and see what kind of comparisons we can make utilizing the ethnicity table we created that represents our known genealogy. Ethnicity estimates are not facts beyond very high percentages, 25% and above. He took a DNA test and showed 50% Filipino DNA. When I saw the difference from FTDNA, I downloaded the DNA and uploaded this to GEDMATCH and it was only tenths of a percent different than what I had Uploaded from Ancestry in 2014. No one can provide a specific interpretation. How can I have so much English if both of my parents were Dutch going generations back? The best gift is sharing what you are passionate about.

Basically, she inherited this DNA from many, many ancestors on all recent lines of her family. MyOrigins results at Family Tree DNA show my ethnicity as: I’ve reworked my ethnicity totals format to accommodate the vendor regions, creating the Ethnicity Totals Table, below. Your Dutch ancestry could also include some Scandinavian “blood”: (1) because of the Normans and their descendats later marriages; (2) because of Vikings like Rorik of Dorestad, who ruled what is now known as the Netherlands. AncestryDNA genetic ethnicity estimates go back hundreds to more than a thousand. If so, how many generations back could/would a Jewish relative possibly be considering I show such a high percentage of Jewish ancestry? I’ve seen more people chase that 2% middle eastern (or whatever) and never find it in their paper ancestry.

This phenomenon is only going to increase with the popularity of DNA testing and the number of people who test to discover their identity as a result of highly visible ad campaigns. Each SNP refers to a certain position in human DNA. Interestingly, I am French Canadian, and I have checked the results of other French Canadian DNA tests on the Internet. Furthermore, if that 1.56% is our elusive Native ancestor, but current technology can’t identify that ancestor’s DNA as Native, then our Native heritage melds into another category. These results say that AncestryDNA estimates that 99% of this customer’s DNA comes from Europe. Next, we’re going to group locations together. How does he have that much Japanese in him? Unexpected results are perplexing.

Your MyHeritage DNA test results include an Ethnicity Estimate: a percentage breakdown of your ancestral background, showing your ancestors’ origins from among 42 ethnicities, including Japanese, Irish, Italian, Jewish and I am exactly the case you have described. Now, on the face of it, I would say that a contribution this high would probably have to have been recent and probably one or maybe two generations back.

And did you know there’s a lot more to it than a pie chart and percentages? Some results may reflect the ancient history of the entire population, as indicated by the Genographic Project. What steps do you take or clues do you use to conclude that a 3x GG is of a certain ethnicity for the purposes of this exercise? So let me be very clear. being from Ireland? The anticipation, the excitement, the screen shot sent to friends and posted to Instagram?

– but 47.7% Scandinavian ..! When I got my Ancestry DNA results – they were pretty much what I thought ( with the research I have done and the beginnings of my Family Tree) – – with a few pleasant surprises ( I’n a Newfie via England) – however when I transferred those results to My Heritage – I got Ethnic percentages that seemed way off from Ancestry’s…….for example – Ancestry has me at 44% East European / Russia…..42% Ireland and Scotland ( specifically the Galway /Connemara regions – where my GM was born and I have DNA matches – a lot !) maybe but I doubt it. Where is my German heritage and wouldn’t it be more than 2%?

About 56% Southeast Asian and 44% Eastern Asian. I’ve seen a Canadian news report on that.

We all know that we inherit 50% of each of our parents’ DNA. In fact, I’ll just do it for you! Vendors, all vendors, struggle to separate ethnicity regions within continents, in particular, within Europe. The way we calculate the range will depend on the region and the value of the most likely estimate. However, the pieces of DNA that you inherited from this great-great-grandparent are random.

There is no way to tell what is real and what is not. I am British with pretty solid anglo saxon – with possible Irish links. Question: There are other possibilities that are nearly as likely. If your DNA reads TT, the opposite seems more likely. I used a spreadsheet, but you can use a table or simply do this on a tablet of paper. It’s an estimate of a concept that that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. The vendor that is the most accurate overall for me may not be the most accurate for you. Vikings ? (Considering that all of my G-Grandparents from Croatia were were reportedly born of the Catholic faith to Catholic parents – meaning only that their Jewish descent was unknown to them). There is a general rule of thumb that we can use to help us understand how far back in our family tree we might have to look in order to identify our “100% ancestor”. But it may well be that the Netherlands is just too much of a blur, between all them Vikings and Saxons , Thank you for writing this. In other words, if the entire German population is 30% Mediterranean, then your ancestors who descend from that population can be expected to be 30% Mediterranean too. Roberta explains to us how we can actually use DNA tests scientifically, and that involves taking the ethnicity percentages with a grain of salt. As a genealogist, you have a very powerful tool to use to figure out the percentages that your ethnicity SHOULD BE. AncestryDNA calculates your ethnicity estimate by comparing your DNA to a reference panel made up of thousands of people. Buyer beware, both in terms of purchasing DNA testing for ethnicity purposes to discover “who you are” and when internalizing and interpreting results. Nine and a half that were Dutch.