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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: Terri Smith on Thursday 26 April 18 01:58 BST (UK)
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Had my DNA tested with MyHeritage. 64% English (no surprises there), 19% Scottish,Irish or welsh (again no surprises) and 17% Scandinavian (big surprise).
Have researched my family way back on all sides and no Scandinavian influence anywhere. Unless I have it wrong of course.
I’m thinking that 17% is quite high and should be an ancestor not so far back? I have no idea really and am wondering if it is possible to estimate which generation it should appear.
Born in New Zealand with all English ancestors bar a few near the welsh border.
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
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Looking at my figures as an example
English 69.8% Irish, Scottish, and Welsh 13.9%
East European 8.4% Iberian 7.9%
These , as an Australian , seem to be accurate to the degree of English etc. The other European based on other analysis are more likely to follow the migration trail of 1000-2000 years ago.
I think the only thing to take from that 17% is you match the analysis of Scandinavian descent. That could be from the time of Harold or earlier.
Another option is to look at the history of your family. ie are they Northern England or Kentish etc that had a higher number of Norse settlers. As an example my Iberian could come from the settling of Ireland by the Spanish or it could be a stepping stone from the African continent.
Ethnicity percentages should only be used as a guide and never a definitive explanation of current ethinicity.
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Agreed. You don't necessarily have to have a Lindquist or Johansson in your tree to have Scandinavian ancestry. It has been estimated that a large percentage of the population in Britain has some Scandinavian ancestry.
Me? I have my great grandfather who jumped ship here in Australia from Sweden.
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Thanks for that info. A lot of my ancestors are from the north of England. So that solves that!
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I tested at Ancestry and got:
GB (Southern England) 35%
Europe West 25%
Ireland/Scotland/Wales 15%
Scandinavia 12%
Iberia 10%
I uploaded my data to MyHeritage and got:
Scandinavian 53.3%
English 47.7%
All my paper trail (so far) is Central Southern England, plus a bit of East Anglia and Cornwall.
As Guy Etchells has said on here -
“You could compile as accurate a result by laying a map of Europe out on the floor, closing your eyes and throwing 100 darts at it to discover where your ancestors originated.”
These ethnicity results are just a bit of fun – or a scam, depending how you look at it.
However, shared matches, looking at segments on chromosomes, etc is a different kettle of fish. I’m a convert to testing!
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Here is a very long article on ethnicity testing.
http://thednageek.com/myheritage-releases-ethnicity-estimates-for-dna-transfers/
Martin