DNA test results query

[histbak]

I’ve got Norwegian and Swedish heritage on both sides of my parents found by Ancestry and My heritage DNA results - MyHeritage shows me many DNA matches from Sweden and Norway no closer than 3rd cousins - however in spite of all these matches I cannot see any connection to my extended Scandinavian family - MyHeritage suggests that the common ancestor of these matches would be 3rd Great Grandparent - but all branches have been explored and no link found - is there any other way to finally discover the links?

[melba_schmelba]

I’ve got Norwegian and Swedish heritage on both sides of my parents found by Ancestry and My heritage DNA results - MyHeritage shows me many DNA matches from Sweden and Norway no closer than 3rd cousins - however in spite of all these matches I cannot see any connection to my extended Scandinavian family - MyHeritage suggests that the common ancestor of these matches would be 3rd Great Grandparent - but all branches have been explored and no link found - is there any other way to finally discover the links?

Do you see the same closer Norwegian and Swedish matches on Ancestry? If not I'd say this is the known 'Scandinavia bug' on MyHeritage. For some reason for many Brits (or people of Brit descent), it shows fairly close Scandivanian relatives for most people, but these are likely false matches. Unfortunately a fairly high percentage of matches on MyHeritage are false say, under 60cM. Someone did a survey which I have mentioned here before, where they tested to see how many smaller matches did not match either of their parents - the number was quite shockingly high, I think about 40%, this is probably to do with the fact MyHeritage allows uploads from many companies which have all used different chips at various times, so they use basically a kind of algorithmical guesswork, which is unfortunately very often inaccurate . GEDMATCH has also very unreliable smaller matches, especially with GSA based kits (23andme 2017-, MyHeritage/FTDNA 2019-, LivingDNA -2019).

[histbak]

I’ve got Norwegian and Swedish heritage on both sides of my parents found by Ancestry and My heritage DNA results - MyHeritage shows me many DNA matches from Sweden and Norway no closer than 3rd cousins - however in spite of all these matches I cannot see any connection to my extended Scandinavian family - MyHeritage suggests that the common ancestor of these matches would be 3rd Great Grandparent - but all branches have been explored and no link found - is there any other way to finally discover the links?

Hello melba thankyou for your reply
I think I should have mentioned the differences I noticed in the matches between Ancestry and MyHeritage  in my first post, as I indeed have many Scandinavian DNA Matches on MyHeritage and exactly ZERO on Ancestry!,  both MyHeritage and Ancestry also differ in the percentage of Ethnicity they calculated - where MyHeritage suggests 15% more for us as Scandinavian V Ancestry.

Both Agree that both parents have Scandinavian Ancestors - thus I can only assume your right that MyHeritage Scandinavian DNA Matches cannot be relied upon, what a shame that is of course!  We know we have it in our genes, but from whence it came remains a mystery!

Noting: Ancestry DNA Matches, for us,  no matches from any countries other than UK, Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Canada - Whereas with MyHeritage the matches cover many more Countries.

I've worked out some of the MyHeritage DNA Matches links and so some matches proven correct, but none of the Scandinavian!

[Biggles50]

Tis the My Heritage Bug

I am 34% Scandinavian according to My Heritage and 10% according to Ancestry.

Yet Zero Matches that I have so far linked to have any significant Viking in them.

Even my mystery Matches have admixtures that do not indicated Norse origins.

[Romilly]

My Heritage seems to have lots of issues…

I had a couple of high cMs matches on there recently, all with massive segments on Chromosome 15. I couldn’t work them out, but when I asked on a FB DNA Forum, I found out that there’s an error on that chromosome on My Heritage! And so I’ve discounted those matches.

Romilly.

[histbak]

Both my Daughters MyHeritage results just came back! there is something very wrong with MyHeritage and their Scandinavian Algorithms! One daughter according to them is 40% Scandinavian and the other has come back with 80% Scandinavian!!! yes checked double checked - same parents lol.

So now I'm asking myself and the forum - Which DNA testing is the most accurate for Scandinavian Heritage?
We def have a fair amount of Scandinavian DNA - yet Ancestry gives us Zero DNA matches - is there a company that can give us both an accurate Ethnicity result and provide some accurate DNA matches ?

[Biggles50]

As I have written 34% from My Heritage yet only 10% from Ancestry.

Scrolling through 20 pages of DNA matches on My Heritage gives only one Norwegian with whom I share 43cM so they are in the 3C to 8C range or one that is very difficult to accurately ascertain without a fair bit of luck.

Ancestry is regarded as being the closest to actuals with their Admixture predictions.

Do note that if like me you tested with Ancestry some time ago then current predictions bear very little similarity to those offered at the time the test was take.

It may be worthwhile taking a 23&me DNA test and uploading Ancestry DNA Data to as many sites as possible.

Additionally yDNA and mtDNA tests may help especially with the haplogroup migration paths.  Do note that the Big Y test by ftDNA is quite expensive but it is the one that gives the most detail.

All the admixture predictions of the test companies are based on the data manipulation of their available “gene” pool (for want of a better way of describing it) and in reality these do vary from Country to Country.

Interestingly my trawl through my DNA matches on My Heritage does show a fair number as residing in or being of French origin and given the draconian DNA testing laws that seem to exist there it may be worthwhile looking at what laws for and against DNA testing of residents in the Scandinavian countries apply.  I simply do not know as I have not researched there.

[melba_schmelba]

Both my Daughters MyHeritage results just came back! there is something very wrong with MyHeritage and their Scandinavian Algorithms! One daughter according to them is 40% Scandinavian and the other has come back with 80% Scandinavian!!! yes checked double checked - same parents lol.

So now I'm asking myself and the forum - Which DNA testing is the most accurate for Scandinavian Heritage?
We def have a fair amount of Scandinavian DNA - yet Ancestry gives us Zero DNA matches - is there a company that can give us both an accurate Ethnicity result and provide some accurate DNA matches ?

Is that based on family knowledge i.e. a fairly recent Danish/Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish ancestor? Ancestry gives 5-15% Scandinavian DNA for many Brits, which is within the normal range. Being on the higher side may indicate ancestry from areas of higher Scandinavian settlement i.e. Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, particularly the coastal areas, and even more so Orkney and Shetland.

[histbak]

Both my Daughters MyHeritage results just came back! there is something very wrong with MyHeritage and their Scandinavian Algorithms! One daughter according to them is 40% Scandinavian and the other has come back with 80% Scandinavian!!! yes checked double checked - same parents lol.

So now I'm asking myself and the forum - Which DNA testing is the most accurate for Scandinavian Heritage?
We def have a fair amount of Scandinavian DNA - yet Ancestry gives us Zero DNA matches - is there a company that can give us both an accurate Ethnicity result and provide some accurate DNA matches ?

Is that based on family knowledge i.e. a fairly recent Danish/Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish ancestor? Ancestry gives 5-15% Scandinavian DNA for many Brits, which is within the normal range. Being on the higher side may indicate ancestry from areas of higher Scandinavian settlement i.e. Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, particularly the coastal areas, and even more so Orkney and Shetland.

Im 20% according to Ancestry - my daughters 40% and 80% according to MyHeritage. Have not found a direct link as yet to the 3 & 4th Scandinavian cousin matches that MyHeritage provided. Thanks for your insight into the higher Scandinavian concentration settlements that existed in the British Isles, I believe that could go to helping understand this.