How far back would 3% Norwegian be?

[rubymelia]

Hi,

I have recently done my DNA ethnicity test via Ancestry.com which came out with 75& Irish/Scottish and 22% English/Wales (which is what I was expecting), however I have 3% Norwegian which covers Norway and Iceland however I have not come across any indication of having Norwegian ancestors?

I know that I have black ancestry (5th ggf) which showed up on my mothers DNA ancestry as ~1%, so I am assuming that Norwegian ancestors would have been fairly recent? Does anyone have any ideas of how far back 3% would represent?

Any answers/help are welcomed, thank you!

[Craclyn]

Many folks in the UK have around 2 or 3% Scandinavian in their ethnicity estimates. In many cases it comes from too far back to be able to identify the ancestors that contributed it.

[rubymelia]

Many folks in the UK have around 2 or 3% Scandinavian in their ethnicity estimates. In many cases it comes from too far back to be able to identify the ancestors that contributed it.

Thank you for your reply, do you have any idea why this would show up and not the black ancestry that showed up in my mother's DNA results? Thanks

[Mike in Cumbria]

Many folks in the UK have around 2 or 3% Scandinavian in their ethnicity estimates. In many cases it comes from too far back to be able to identify the ancestors that contributed it.

Thank you for your reply, do you have any idea why this would show up and not the black ancestry that showed up in my mother's DNA results? Thanks

Don't forget, you only get on average 50% of your DNA from each parent, so presumably your figures for black ancestry are just too small to be picked up on the ancestry test. Your 2-3% Scandinavian genes are probably from your father.
Having said that, the ethnicity aspect of the tests is quite questionable anyway and not something to take very seriously.

[Vance Mead]

Wouldn't 3% be 1/32? That would be your great great great grandparents.

[Mike in Cumbria]

Wouldn't 3% be 1/32? That would be your great great great grandparents.

But that doesn't imply a Norwegian great great great grandparent. It just means that this part of your DNA heritage  comes from a part of the country where these genes are in wide circulation, such as Yorkshire or Cumbria.

[guest189040]

I have 2% Sweden/Denmark.

I have traced my Ancestors back to Normandy and beyond but as you can assume it was many many generations ago.

[Gadget]

According to Ancestry, I have 3% Scandinavian ancestry with a range of 0 to 5% .   So far I've not found any ancestor who might give me this amount. I have Scottish (west coast), North Wales and NW Midlands ancestry and possibly some Irish way back, which might add up.

I still take Ancestry's ethnicity estimates with a big pinch of salt, although they might be getting better.

Other sites give  a different  ethnicity  estimate. All depend on the reference population that they sample.

Gadget

[Craclyn]

Wouldn't 3% be 1/32? That would be your great great great grandparents.

Not if it is a cumulation of smaller amounts from many more distant ancestors. Scandinavian DNA in the ethnicity estimates is often identifiable in areas which were settled by Viking raiders.