My grandpa is over 50% Italian. And we all know this before anyone took a DNA test. I took one. And I had no Italian at all. Which is was actually feeling like maybe I wasn't related. Like there was a secret nobody told me. Then, this morning I got a notification that my DNA has been updated. Now I'm 18% Southern Italian. I was so happy when I seen that
@AnjelLee-f8c people are paranoid about taking a DNA test. But the thing is. If they have your close relatives DNA, especially your grandparents, parents, or siblings. Then they already have everything they need. It's not like you don't exist until you take a DNA test. If they wanted to manipulate your DNA some how. They would. It's not that hard to do.
@@mtauren1 I don't think the tests can pick up on individual tribes. To gain Cherokee citizenship, you need to have an ancestor listed on the final Dawes Rolls.
For all forty-something years of my life, I believed I was part Cherokee. Mom said Dad was about 25%. Well, I discovered that "Dad" isn't even dad.😅 we shared 0% DNA. Then I discovered that my cousin is also my brother because we have the same father. His mom is my mom's little sister. I was born out of wedlock and was a "dirty secret" that never came out until they were both deceased. I gained 2 brothers, and lost 3 sisters 😅 my aunt is my stepmom, my cousin is my brother and I'm still confused. 😅
Happens a lot more than people realise. I spent 39 years wondering why I didn't look at all like any other Polish people I was aware of. My mum was almost entirely Welsh, but my dad apparently was a combo of English and Irish.
Genetics does not mean as much as people think it does. I don't mean genomics tests are not factual. I mean those facts don't matter in your life. You didn't "lose" or "gain" any siblings. They have the same role in your life as they ever did.
My brother found out he was my half brother before my mom died, then he did a test to confirm. We both have different father’s. You’ve got to wonder how many family trees this DNA analysis has affected. People just swept things under the rug or honestly weren’t sure cuz they had no tests years ago.
When someone shows me a detailed family tree I always wonder how many illegitimate births it contains and how all it takes is just one to bring the whole charade down.
I knew both sides of my family came from Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. Took the Ancestry test just to see what it would say. They nailed it. The test zeroed in on Friesland, with the farther flung ancestry including England, Scandinavia, and Iceland, probably due to the influence of marauding bands of Vikings a thousand years ago.
Care must be taken in regard to interpreting these “ancestor” locations on Ancestry and on 23andMe. The results do not necessarily reflect where your “ancestors” FROM. They only reflect where your distant COUSINS ENDED UP. In a “Melting Pot” like the USA, genetics from a certain ethnic group can soon wash out. In rural Europe, however, the same genetics intermarried in Friesland for many centuries, invaded what is now Anglia in England during the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and then intermarried in Anglia for centuries. So, even after so many centuries, these populations CROSSMATCH on these tests. On 23andMe, all testers in the Republic of Ireland, whose ancestors never left Ireland, will be told that they has “Recent Ancestry”” from every English and Scottish city that was an industrial center in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Why? Because a huge number of the siblings and cousins of their own Irish ancestors immigrated OUT of Ireland to Manchester and Liverpool and London, etc. to find works, several generations ago. Likewise, because of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the genetic link between Anglia, England and the Netherlands is so strong the Englishmen with 200 years of genealogy limited to Anglia will be told on 23andMe that they have “Recent Ancestors” in the Netherlands. On the flip side, the testers in the Netherlands will be told they have a huge percentage of “ancestry” FROM England, when they are matching the Frisian genetics of the Anglo-Saxons invaders of what is now Anglia. Those Anglo-Saxon invaders were not the “ancestors” of the modern Frisians. The Anglo-Saxon invaders of Anglia were the siblings and cousins of those who STAYED in what is today the Netherlands.
I was never confused because I recognise what the word estimate means and I took the time to understand their processes. My estimates have changed many times. Each time it's become more accurate, These days it directly reflects what my social and genetic research tells me about my ancestry.
Question for you,: Does Ancestry update your results automatically as their data bases improve, or do you need to retake the test to get the most recent analysis?
@@ickster23 It just updates as they publish their new findings. You can't roll back or view earlier predictions but I don't really care because I see a consistent trend towards improvement.
I sent my DNA to one of those ancestry/ heritage sites. I found out that I'm from mixed European descent. The results came back 40 % German shepherd 25 % English bulldog 20 % Irish setter 15 % French poodle I may have sent it to the wrong place.
Unfortunately the companies (not just Ancestry) sell there kits on the phrase "where you're from", which is very, very misleading. These calculators are *similarity calculators* , they do NOT tell one "where you're from." Also, unfortunately very few people bother to look at the uncertainty in their result. Customers all too often do not click through to see their range bars and try to understand them.
With this last Ancestry update, I'm throwing all my ethnicity estimates out the window. It's been all over the place with new regions coming and going with each update. This last update though was like I'm a totally different individual. I understand variation and I watched this video, but I have still come away that that as of now these ethnicity estimates mean nothing. at least in my case.
True! Don't focus on percentages. They're false. Build your family tree and follow the documents to find out where your family is from. Keep searching & good luck. 💪🏾
Thank you! (Speaking of cleaning headstones, I've been so tempted to make a reaction video about the woman who is using what looks like pink oven cleaner... but I'm not sure my blood pressure can take it!)
I have never cleaned a headstone. My parents have a metal marker in a lawn cemetery. The thing to remember is it's an estimate, and you don't inherit dna from all your ancestors.
A few years ago, a reporter for the CBC in Toronto and her identical twin sister took some of this type of test. It turned out they had different ethnic backgrounds! So much for the accuracy.
23andMe seems to be most accurate so far. Based on my family tree, about 85% of my family comes from Germany in the 1700's/1800's, and 23andMe states I'm 93% German from Baden-Wuerttemberg, which seems pretty accurate. Ancestry has me at 57% Germanic europe, 31% England, 9% Ireland, and 3% Spain, with the Germanic Europe having increased over 10% since last I checked. I anticipate the numbers will further normalize to a higher percentage of Germanic Europe.
My late wife, was a white, fair haired woman with blue eyes and suspected Irish ancestry. At age 17, already pregnant, she married her first husband. He was a white, fair haired, blue eyed Irishman. Their first child had darkish skin, black hair and Brown eyes. Until and including her death, some 65 years later, no one could explain this anomaly. Just after her death, I got an update on her DNA analysis which showed she was 30% native north American. Problem solved ? Let's hope so. Mark born 09/02/1966, please note.
It is interesting that the parents had recessive genes and that was their phenotype but they had a child with dominant genetic traits like black hair and brown eyes. I suppose it's possible but it must be very rare.
Must have been quite a surprise. It is not impossible for people you describe to have children of differing coloring to themselves. I once saw a picture of a Mexican couple of Mestizo origin and their six children. He was skinny, and pink skinned, she, rather fat and yellow skinned. The children, the two eldest were black skinned, the two middle were yellowish skinned and the two youngest pink skinned, and light haired. I am male, I been married twice, I have four children, 3 from one wife, 1 from the other, all red haired. I am Southern European, both parents dark haired, I am dark haired, and four red headed children. Dna test, I find I am a carrier for red hair, no one in the family knows of any red heads.
@@Ponto-zv9vf It is not unusual or strange for two dark haired parents to have redheads or blonds because they can carry the recessive genes and dominant genes will mask that you carry those traits. What is more difficult to explain is people with recessive traits having children with dark hair and dark eyes. The reason being to have recessive traits like blue eyes and blond hair or red hair you only have the recessive traits so you don't carry the dominant traits. I know people will say it happens and is possible but I have my doubts. I guess anything is possible but I'd be inclined to suspect something else.
Clear explanation for deciphering one’s DNA results which continually frustrate me due to my ethnicity forever changing, so much so I don’t know what I am. And I certainly have no idea what/which part of me I have inherited from my mother and father.The last time I checked on Ancestry and asked, they responded saying they haven’t broken our results down yet as to which parent contributed what. All of this has confused and frustrated me. New subscriber. Thank you.
Certainly if you are relying on genealogical companies, like Ancestry or My Heritage, where people cut and paste bits from each other's trees into their own trees, without checking if they are accurate.
That’s just not true. Mine revealed a whole new branch of my ancestry (by an extra-marital birth) that was, and would always have remained, invisible in any official paper records.. I followed it up and eventually all was revealed. The results are not pinpoint accurate but it is unrealistic and naive to expect that. My own results also raised questions about another branch. It’s a very good guide.
My Mom's Dad's line came straight from Norway. Her Mom's German side came over in the early 1700's. My Dad's English/Irish heritage (mid-1800's). The best they could do for me was I am from the entirety of Northwest Europe, including the Shetlands & Orkney's.
My first estimate was the closest to family history then went further away during new updates. However they nailed where my grandfather's family is from, down to the right village.
One "ethnicity estimate" factor that has less to do with sample size is migration. In my case, I expected to see more French in the mix. The same goes for my British Isles background. Remember all of the places that the Vikings invaded? Many of my French ancestors came from Normandy...so that might pump up my Norwegian percentage.
That’s been the tricky thing with ancestral lines in the British Isles - what is “British” and what is “Viking invaders.” That has gotten better over the years.
@@MichaelTheophilus906 If you are from old, Northern landed families, your DNA may stick more -narrower circle for permitted marriage. In our case, massive Norman % and a little Iberian -and no German/French/Irish/Scottish in spite of being on the soil since 1069.
My husband was born & raised in Slovenia. He's never been to Russia. His Ancestry DNA was 99% Russian. Why? Because centuries ago, a group of Russian Slavs migrated south to the Adriatic area. History & DNA results go hand in hand.
I never considered my ethnicity estimates to be much more than entertainment. My matches and shared matches have been the real valuable information for confirming research.
I think it is more important for adoptees, and people who don't know their actual ancestry. Many Australians know they have British and Irish ancestry but are not sure, and other groups have immigrated to Australia like German speakers from Germany itself or places once controlled by Germany. They don't really know. All my matches are of my ethnic group either fully, or partly.
@@Ponto-zv9vf I can agree sort of agree with that. I have a friend who’s adopted and she had exhausted all attempts to find out about her heritage so she tried a DNA test. It did give her a good idea of her ethnic background but it was still communication with her strongest shared matches that got her closest to her actual parentage. She wasn’t able to nail it down to her actual parents but now she knows that half of her background is Croatian on her father’s side. She still has no info on her Mother.
I did Ancestry and 23&Me. I have genealogy records back to the 1500’s on all 4 grandparents so it was easy for me to check. They were both very close although they gave me less French than I thought I would have. What I liked was they kept sending me updates as their testing was refined and got my French up to where records showed it to be. What totally blew me away was they were able to tell me the exact 3 areas of North America that my ancestors settled in from Europe and that told me that the tests were legit! Because of my records, I didn’t do the tests to find out what I was, I did it to find relatives that are 3rd and 4th cousins where our linkage was back about 100years. I think it’s a great service especially for linking with family and for adoptees who would like to know their ethnicity and find birth relatives.
in 23 & me i'm 100 inbreed my heritage too , ftdna i'm 87 iberius , 13 % British isles ancestry i'm spanish portugues basque , galizian , catalunia , aquitania , skotia , ha ha ha i no longer inbreed
@@BunnyWatson-k1wLots of trade links between Ireland, the West Country of England, and the Iberian Peninsula, so no surprise there. These islands have had international trade and invaders for millennia, we are a hotchpotch of everything from Vikings to Phoenicians, and further afield too.
Well done! Folks need to have at least a basic understanding of statistics (sample size, probability, confidence level, etc) before getting too focused on these results. You did a great job explaining that, especially how confidence increases with increasing sample size ("n"). Over the 10 years or so that I've been observing my results, the "origin" estimates have become more and more aligned with my known pedigree. In the latest set of results my "ancestral origins" estimate is 86% Scotland and N. Ireland; nearly all of my people came to America from what is now N.I. and considered themselves "Scots-Irish" and the few who didn't come from there married someone who did.
Another great video! 🤗 I'm curious if Ancestry will do a DNA update this year? I know they never announce them ahead of time, but it's always fun to see how our percentages have changed from the previous one.. 🌎 (Like you said.. sometimes they change a LOT.. 😆)
So cool how much mine changed. Def matches my ancestors tho in my family tree. My sister had just done hers a few months back and hers changed a lot also with the update. She now only has three regions for hers while mine and our other sister has 5. Technically hers shows 4 but the French shows less than 1% when I look on my chromebook, but when on the app on my phone it shows France as 0% but includes it because it's still a tiny amount, and not completely zero. She asked why it changed so much, and I explained the more ppl who get the test, the larger the database gets, and the more precise they can make the regions. So cool hearing this explanation and that I was basically right. I didn't know for sure why the amounts changed, but guessed based on logic and getting actual clinical DNA testing done due to the genetic disorder I have. That's how they explained my variants. I have a variant of uncertain significance for the dchs1 gene and it's only been seen in .0009% of their databases. I have yet to find any literature on my specific variant at all and I am really good at researching.
I took an Ancestry DNA test about eight years ago, and the results came back with a 50% Scots, 50% Irish background, and this was entirely consistent with what I already knew about my ancestry. Then the reference panel got updated, and the results changed to 73% Scots, 12% Irish and 14% English, and 1% Norwegian. Since then, a new reference panel shows my ancestry as 49% Scots, 28% English/Welsh, and 16% Irish, with the remaining smaller percentages coming from Cornwall and elsewhere, with 1% being central European. The Cornish ancestry itself is confirmed by a Y-DNA test I took via Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) that showed a large number of matches to men with Cornish surnames. So, given these changes, there is no way any ancestry DNA-type test can tell you precisely where you're from, only indicate general probabilities. I've always wondered why my English results are as high as they are, particularly on my paternal side. One of my maternal great-grandmothers had American ancestry that came by way of England, and on my paternal side, I have no known English ancestors in paper records. A clue came to me when I remembered that my paternal grandmother's mother's maiden surname was Hewitt. She was born in Ireland, but so far as I can tell, Hewitt is a surname that is not native to Ireland. It is much more commonly found in England and sometimes in Scotland. It appears to be derived from the old Norman surname Huot, which is derived from the personal pet name for 'Hugh'. It's more than likely that this ancestor was descended from Hewitts who may have migrated from England to Ireland about 400 years ago (along with many, many other English families) and settled in the Dublin region before branching out to what is now Northern Ireland and other parts of Ireland itself.
The trouble is the Hewitt’s were Norman settlers to England, and the Normans themselves were Norse Viking settlers in France so genetically they would have been Scandinavian 🤔
@@roboparks The haplomarkers are taken from local samples, in Scotland you could be of Germanic descent if you were from the south east( Anglo/ Saxon Northumbria) , from the north east you could be of Pictish descent , the north west coast and islands you be of Gaelic Irish or Nordic Vilking decent, from Dumbarton down to the borders Brythonic Briton descent, add into the mix the Flemish , and the Normans who settled in Scotland, with all these variables it really begs the question…. What is it to be “genetically Scottish” ?
My DNA shows a small percentage of Scadinavian/Danish ancestry. I assumed it was from the so called Vikings who had descendants throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland where the great majority of my ancestors came from. However, I discovered, on Ancestry, a branch of my family going back to Norman English who in turn were descended from Vikings who settled in Normandy and then conquered England in 1066.
It could be. The Normans were of Scandinavian origins and settled in France, but over time, some Normans could of had zero Scandinavian and 100% French ancestry, and any range in between.
I have always felt British and was proved correct when my DNA showed a good percentage of Celt, Viking and Saxon which apparently are the DNA building blocks of Britain. My DNA also had a good percentage of Northern England which fits with my research as my surname is old English/viking and comes from Cumbria/Northumberland. Cumbria was where my traceable ancestors lived. An example where my DNA profile fitted to my expectations though I was hoping for some surprises.
New iteration has greatly simplified my estimates-now only Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Cornwall. All sorts of other regions have come and gone, and disparities between me and my sister are largely gone also. The new estimates are now basically what we thought we were before doing the test. 😂
Great video again,they're always interesting and very informative. Here in the UK,my ethnicity has just changed.England and Northern Europe has gone up 6% to 80%.Wales down 11% to 2%,Scotland down 3 to 5%,Germanic Europe up from 0 to 5% and Sweden/Denmark down from 2 to 0%. Look forward to watching your videos again.
Hello to the UK from the US. I manage my grandmother’s AncestryDNA account, and the update brought her English percentage up 19% to 68%, her Scottish percentage down 26% to 13%, her Irish percentage up 3% to 9%, her Danish percentage up from 0% to 5%, her “Germanic Europe” percentage up 4% to 5%, her Baltic percentage down 3% to 0%, and her Welsh percentage down 2% to 0%.
My dna from my mom is from the British Isles. My dad's is Dutch, German , Swiss with a little English and Scot. I've charted my tree back to the 3rd and 4th century. Both sides are descended from Royalty, which makes it easy. My mom is decended from James I/VI of Scotland and England, and my dad from James V of Scotland. The lines actually meet a second time with James II. One is descended from Alexander and the other through James III.
Mine is the opposite my dad's side is British Isles Scotland Ireland and France . My mom's side is Dutch Germanic ancestry from the Netherlands and Switzerland. I knew this before I ever took the test . I took Living DNA for the mother line and it did in fact trace the Germanic to my mother's side of the family. I went from 3 regions to 5 with some Danish in there too in the recent update.
Ignore those. Most geneticists who don’t work for the popular DNA companies say they ignore everything below about 10-15%. There are several reasons for this. They also never speak of ethnicities; only locations. And even then, they say accuracy is basically regional, and most accurately, continental. Anything more focused than that is guesswork, at this point. For some of the reasons mentioned in the video. Also, current “ethnicity” testing fails to account for travel, which is a big flaw in the whole system. People have always migrated, voluntarily or not, in the big picture. But currently, only Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA take migration into account, or can be compared to more ancient DNA samples taken from skeletal remains. But the general tests don’t test for those. You have to test at FamilyTree DNA or a couple of other companies that offer those tests. (Autosomal DNA, which most companies like Ancestry test, taken only from cell nuclei, don’t last very long so don’t survive in ancient bones; also, autosomal DNA recombines in every person, so after just a few generations their origin can’t be pinpointed.) That’s why, when the document trail runs out in family research, autosomal tests aren’t very helpful. And ethnicity isn’t genetic at all. Ethnicity is socio-cultural.
@@annehersey9895 I think "we" means European and north African, Middle Eastern... maybe West Asian too. Not sub-Sahara Africa, far east Asia, South Asia, Australia or the Americas.
@@CitizenTurtleIsland I have 1.4 % Neanderthal and I’m from the US so it appears to be everyone. Since we emerged from Africa long ago common ancestors must have mated with Neanderthal-too complicated for me. I try to keep up with research but so much going on today to worry too much about thousands of millennia ago! 😀😀😀
Statistically, the bigger the sample size, the more accurate the sample. When my nephew sent me the sample kit years ago. It had Scandinavia, several countries combined under Western Europe, and Ireland with Wales. Now it has individual countries broken down even further.
I have been working with someone born in England who found roughly 25% of his admixture was from native American and/or Spanish origins. He matched my father, so I knew he was Mexican, which was a total surprise to him! We believe we have been able to figure out who his paternal grandfather was using his shared matches and traditional genealogy.
I check my Ancestry account. It was updated 3 times in the last few years. Now when I check after not being on for months. It as updated again. As usually things, get higher or lower, added , or some things get dropped off. Which was confusing sometimes. The new update list some of the tribes, people the DNA test came from, which you share DNA with.
@ @ it does not use the word Blk or whit*. Now to answer the question no have not have a huge changes. For example I was about 9% Mali ancestry, it is now is 4%.
@@DoubleBeezy exactly my percentage was much higher, higher for Mali, when I first did my Dna test 10 years ago. Other things got lower or higher. Another example is my Netherlands ancestry got higher. Original my first test it was Scandinavian. My Irish also got higher. Original I was 1% Senegal, that got dropped off the last updated, things got added . These are just some of the examples. I went to find the very original test chart could not find it. As you had me thinking.
Ms. Johnson that always made sense to me. I.E my dad was born in Stoke on Trent to an American soldier and Welsh mom. But he had English too and we all know that Danes intermarried heavily so if Dane shows up in my DNA i understand where it likely came from. And I have Scottish ancestry from the Orkneys which was ruled and inhabited by Norway. So I no doubt have Norwegian through my Scottish side and I even say it like that to folks . The Scottish family name is even Norwegian " Lichliter"
I have a question about the veracity of My Heritage DNA regions as compared to that of Ancestry. My DNA was first tested via Ancestry. The matches have changed slightly but still put me in the same regions. England, Germanic Europe and Scandinavia (the latter alternating from time to time between Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands). Nothing else. I downloaded the data and uploaded to My Heritage. This then matched me with the same regions but also matched me at 0.9% with the Middle East. From the same data! I then uploaded to My True Ancestry, which does a match with ancient DNA from archaeological sites. It bore out the Ancestry regions. I am Celt, Viking, Saxon. So, the question is, where's the rogue 0.9% Middle Eastern on My Heritage coming from?
@@AmyJohnsonCrowi am Italian and that's the Japanese version of southern Italian lol Mario bros.Im in the North here we are more Germanic North: The Austrian region of North Tyrol East: The Austrian region of Salzburg
@xh4r744 I’m not sure if you’re referring to the mustache. If so, that was my “impersonation” of what someone said in a workshop, not what I thought Italians are like.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow yes read my comment but it’s incorrect stereotype.We are multiethnic country.Ignorance makes people believe we’re a specific race or a single ethnicity.Every region is a like a different country and dialect
Good video; I did that test (it was based on a saliva sample) when they first started this service. Have they changed the way they get the sample? Mine showed I was 0 % Irish, although it was assumed my mom’s paternal side was Irish. My wife’s showed she was 0% American Indian which in her family tradition she was like 1/8 Cherokee.
Mine changed somewhat but the regions stayed the same. My understanding of history is key to understanding how modern borders are meaningless for dna accuracy. My ancestors came from the Baltic coastal area edging towards Denmark. We always considered them German. Ancestry said so until it changed from German to Danish/Swedish. How could this be? Sweden and Denmark once held that territory for long periods so the people there would reflect that. So, my family was German in culture but dna something else.
This is something very, very common everywhere in Europe and has been for centuries. Europeans don't take DNA tests. For good reasons, they identify with their language or its specific dialect they have grown up with, and this also allocates them a region to call home.
I already know I'm Irish, English and Polish because of my family history. Ancestry DNA gives a percentage. Their estimates are broad, but the research I did through tracing my families from public records and family members gave me pretty accurate info. You have to be willing to put the time into searching.
From 2018 to 2022, my Ancestry estimated results were consistent with England, Ireland, Scots, Denmark, Sweden and Norway percentages. In 2023, they threw in some Welsh. 2024, They estimated England, Ireland and Scotland, everything else gone. This is a problem for people testing from the U.K. like myself and the other 2 companies do exactly the same thing. I've downgraded my membership from All Access to Basic and I'm very tempted to downgrade it further to Preserve My Tree at this point, as I have no appetite to continue researching with this company.
Do the results really go back 1000 years or more? I understood 1000 years to be the max with 500 years being more likely. Going back that far would narrow the results showing we are much more closely related being simply eastern European or western European for example.
Knowing the history of various regions can be very helpful. It's not actually surprising, for example, that someone with an ancestry estimate primarily from the British Isles would have some small percentage from Italy and Greece. Rome occupied England for some 400 years. And some of their soldiers and servants were of Greek descent. It would be a bit more than credulous to think that there was never any "mixing" with the local populations in 400 years of history.
I took Ancestry and 23 and Me mainly to compare the results and see if they were the same or much different. Luckily I have genealogists in the family and for 3/4 grandparents I have back to late 1500’s n early 1600’s and the 4th to late 1800’s. I did the tests to try n find more about that 4th grandparent who was French Canadian. When I first got the test results, everything was expected except the French was much lower than it should have been and half as much as my half sister who has the same grandparent. So I was really happy when I kept getting those updates and each time I was more and more French and now I’m right where my genealogy history says I should be. What I loved most about 23 n Me that blew my mind was they showed 3 areas of North America where my family settled when they came-New England, Ohio River Valley and St, Lawrence River Valley and those are EXACTLY where they settled. For the depth of information, I really preferred 23 n Me to Ancestry and I’m sad to hear they aren’t doing well.
wow very interesting. I took a DNA test this July. I was told by my father his parents were all Swedish and spoke Swedish but were born and grew up in Kronoby Finland. to my surprise my test came back 47 percent Finnish ! my grandparents were indeed Finnish not Swedish. I was also 7 percent swedish { 5 percent from my mom!} 2 percent Norweigan, 22 percent enlgish, 10 percent Irish, 8 percent Scottish, and 4 percent French. my estimates just changed last week. 48 percent Finnish, 2 percent swedish , 33 percent English, 4 percent Irish, 4 percent Scottish, and 3 percent Netherlands.
My partner is more Finnish than Norwegian too despite being able to trace back some 3-400 yrs in Norway. Turns out the border was blurred somewhat and many people crossed rivers etc which were deemed as borders hence the mix. With Finnish Sami in the mix it makes sense.
My test came up with a region in Central Europe stretching east to a tiny town which was mentioned by name. That happened to be my mother’s home town. Strange, although she was born there, neither of her parents were from there. The only relatives I have in that town are two cousins. I wonder if one of both of them had a DNA test, linking our pattern to that town. Otherwise we are known to hail from much further east, but all the family have migrated, so any tests would not be linked to that geographical region. My test has produced more questions than answers.
@@gaynor1721I did as well, it finally found the small amount of Spanish 23andme had reflected for years. My German-Scandinavian went way up but since my UK history is Eastern in areas with heavy Viking/Germanic invasions it’s consistent with what I know. My sister and Moms dna shifted along with and matches.
Generally, AncestryDNA seems to be the best at splitting out UK vs Scandinavian, and they do have the largest number of reference panels. Honestly, though, the ethnicity estimate isn't the most informative part of a DNA test. You get better information from the matches and from AncestryDNA's DNA communities (now called "DNA journeys.")
What a great video and what a great host. I really appreciate this information. I was hoping you can help me with something. I kind of saddens me actually the problem I have is I want to find the test that shows with the percentages like you pointed out 45% Scotland, etc. and I’ve understood what you’ve mentioned regarding how it could change or almost evolve in a sense, just because changing and what not but I had two questions first of all. Does your test does ancestry help to show the migration pattern is there one that does that and when I take the test is my DNA much more useful than my last name because my father passed away before I was born, and my mother didn’t think she could give me his last name. My mother and father were not married and so, I have her legal married name from my last name I go about getting those accurate Findings Thank you David
I have questions like these I’m pretty much British if I add everything together I’m coming up with 92% British But how about Germanic is that Anglo Saxon? I have questions like these and French could that be the colony of William the conquest Normandy in France?
I got my DNA sequence through 23AndMe when I participated in a study. It's largely remained the same but it has slightly changed on the margins. One thing people struggle to understand is that there's plenty of diversity within populations, and on average more depending on how you group a population. You don't need conscious interbreeding for this and people wouldn't have seen the world in that way before the 19th century anyway. I'm fortunate that both my grandparents on my maternal side have extensive and well-researched genealogies.
YEP!!! Bingo. I am so glad you are reporting on this. My Bio Dad remarried a Vietnamese women and had Kids with her...and after he had his children DNA Tested and added to the database, my results then changed me to being part Vietnamese. That's when I deleted my account and knew it was no longer accurate. I had a friend write in to Ancestry explaining there was no way they were German she knew from her great grandmother they with polish. So Ancestry took her word and changed the family results.
They would never change their results based on someone's claims alone. I'm sorry but it's not that arbitrary. Estimates for ethnicity not specific to Europe will need a lot more refinement I'd think.
Something is not right regarding your test. No way could you be part Vietnamese if your mother and father or past relatives do not carry a Vietnamese gene. Or you parenthood needs to be questioned. Or you misunderstand your DNA matches.
Good video. Explains it concisely and clearly. With respect to myself, my ethnicity match 68% Scottish, 42% Irish) is more or less what I expected, what with being Scots-born of some Irish extraction, and even some of the latter will actually be Ulster Scots and therefore actually Scottish.
It will also be because of the constant exchange of people back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for thousands of years. Before the advent of modern fuel-powered transportation, water was the fastest and easiest way to get almost anywhere. This meant the sea created close ties instead of being a barrier.
My mom, both sides of her family could trace her ancestry back to Germany for about 6 generations all since coming from Germany and a couple generations before coming to the US. (she was born in 1942) and it had her 50% English…
@@AmyJohnsonCrow Thanks for letting me know that. I don't have a membership with them even though I keep getting their emails. I would have had one but they changed my credit card for that without my permission and that really infuriated me even though I got them to reverse the change.
Yes, an estimate is just an estimate but considering the lack of scientific understanding, confusion arises here and in many other areas too. If there were extensive contributions to the data pool from a certain area, then more accuracy would obtain. Ancestry correctly called the exact county in Ireland whence my wife's maternal family came.
I took ancestry this month. Berber and Arab father and mother respectively. I have African grandmothers from Sudan and Chad. I am assigned based on autosomal DNA 28 % Nilotic and 13% Ethiopia. My grandfathers DNA contributed to 19 % Arabic peninsula and 9% North Africa Morocco. It is helpful that I know a head of time where grandmothers are from. Otherwise I would be so confused.
For anyone reading, and maybe this clarifies, maybe this doesn't, but when you take a DNA test, it is absolutely required to refrain from analyzing your results from a modern, "the world as we currently know it" perspective. Do not look at the map and say, "Oh! I have ancestors from X country!" Rather, look at the map as having different regions. Its also an absolute MUST to understand borders, migration, history, trade routes, immigration and how people moved from land to land, not nessessarily from country to country. For example, You may have the regions of Australia and/or New Zealand highlighted in your results. That COULD mean you have connections to Aboriginal, Celt, Anglo Saxon, or Norse cultures/ancestors. When the British Empire gained control of Australia/New Zealand, they used that land to send thousands of their criminals, defects and those banished out of the British Isles. Another example...If "Jewish" shows up in your DNA, it would NOT nessessarily mean your ancestors are from Israel/Middle East. That data could also mean that your ancestors are from Central Europe. If that is the case, youd want to start looking into WWII history and the Holocaust to see if you have any connections to those victims. Norse Viking ties? You may very well also have Anglo Saxon, Pict or Celt connections. Another example... I knew that my results would come back with Swiss German, French and maybe a few other European regions. However what really surprised me was the Scots Irish and Native Durangan (Mexican) connections. With more digging, historical records, historical timelines and countless hours of diving into Ancestry, FindAGrave, Google, obituary records, newspapers and world history, ships records and other sources, I finally tracked down the family I was looking for. I hope maybe this all helps someone else. Stay open minded!
I’ve done my dna with two different companies and had slightly different results. Using DNA, my family tree search and my matches, I’ve been able to piece together somewhat better than just my DNA alone.
Many people of Italian descent reside in Switzerland and have for many generations speaking an Italian dialect... which is one of Switzerland's 3 official languages.. .. Nothing unusual about someone who comes up with Italian ancestry, claiming they are from Switzerland ......
They are not really Italians, they are Swiss people who have similar ancestry to people in Northern Italy, and speak a variety of Romance similar to Northern Italian languages. Italian Swiss are a minor ethnic group compared to Swiss Germans and Swiss French.
@@Ponto-zv9vf so..... People in Northern Italy are not Italians????There are approximately 3 different dialects spoken in Southern Italy, and a different dialect in Northern Italy... That is like saying that the people who speak "low German" instead of "high German" are not really German at all...They might disagree...
The strange thing is that with the technology advancement and refinement of reference panels, I expected the result to be more fragmented. I thought that new regions would appear, that is, the picture would be more colorful. But in fact, there was regions consolidation and merging
This most recent update is a little closer to my actual known genealogy...which is significant. For the 1st time, I'm 10% Germanic Europe...and my Shrum/Schramm line came from Bavaria prior to the Revolutionary War. My 5th great-grandfather--well known in German ancestry groups--took an oath of naturalization via sacrament at 14 years old prior to the Revolutionary War. I lost "some" Irish percentage. My 4th great-grandfather came from Antrum, Ireland also prior to the Revolutionary War, so I had shown a bit more...but I'll take the reduction in favor of the correction to my Germanic ancestry.
Lately 23andme decided my Norwegian ancestry was from Finnmark, above the Arctic Circle. Maybe that's why I turn down the thermostat. Or why I crave herding reindeer.
Ancestry’s support page states up to 1000 years. The 100-400 year range would be more what Ancestry calls “Ancestral Journeys” (used to be “DNA Communities.”)
Going by total ethnicity is ok, but it is the segment DNA ethnicity that is far more important. Finding the lineage history of a segment requires knowledge of the ethnicity, geography, nationality, etc. Gedmatch is a great tool to determine the ethnicity of a segment, and when you combine it with AncestryDNA maps, trees, shared matches, etc, the brick walls can be brought down.
I've been wondering. My direct ancestors are German, English, Irish, Scotch & Welsh. Ancestry says I'm like 35% Scotch. I have one Great Grandmother from Scotland. (I knew her.) My family tree says a surprising number of my ancestors, from both sides of my family, come from Wurttemberg Germany. (My Father's side is the main German line, salted with Scotch & Irish. My mother's side is mostly English & German.) BTW: How reliable are the "traces" through history? One trace up my mother's paternal grand-father's line leads to a sister of Katheryn Howard, one of the wives of Henry VIII. (Should I write "cousin" Charlie a polite note and tell him to get off my chair?) I've wondered how reliable that "trace" is and how I could "proof read" it.
When I did my first DNA with Ancestry I got Scandinavian which is so off base. I am mostly Irish-Italian with a small percentage of Scottish. I like seeing the dna changes but I am not holding out any hope for MyHeritage.
Ancestry does a strange thing to prioritize some of the estimates. For instance mine shows i have a higher "Scottish" percentage than "French." 16 percent and 10 percent respectively. But if i click on Scottish it tells me my actual range is from 0 to 30% while my French is 0 to 34%. I'm of Acadian heritage from one grandmother, my dad shows up as 44% French and 12% "scottish." It seems like they should prioritize the French as I'm also connected to the Digby Acadian community in the community section. And then as to that whole Scottish result being higher than my father's- well my mother's estimate shows 4% Scottish - ok so 12 plus 4 is 16. The issue here is that according to the parental breakdown for my mothers DNA, she inherited this 4% from her mother, whose ancestors all were Germans from the Danube going back to the 1600s.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow good to know. I'll also say most people who buy these kits don't use the most important feature imo - looking at who they match w and comparing it to their family tree. I learned my maternal grandfather was not who everyone thought it was. Through sleuthing I was able to find who it likely was. Told my mom, none of our surviving family had any clue. But it made total sense in hindsight!
You're misinterpreting the error bars. They run these tests repeatedly. They will end up with something like a bell chart with upper and lower limits of, say 0% to 34%, with results clustered round a point which almost certainly isn't half way between and falling away towards the limits. They report that point of concentration, it's nothing about "prioritising" anything..
@@andyleighton6969 well in that case, they are misrepresenting the data as presented, since that cluster is not visible to me. Another issue is it says I inherited all my "Scottish" from my father's side, but I have more than my father. So I suppose according to this information about how they cluster the data that's just a matter of a margin of error.
@@caballero_del_arboles They don't show you the clustering, but if you read the bumph that's clearly what they do. All this stuff is good for a laugh, and it's cleared a couple of logjams for me, but it's not to be taken seriously. My favourite is the "traits" thing. On "leadership" I score as low as you go. In the meanwhile, my Queens Commission as an infantry officer is in a frame upstairs, and I retired from the police as an Inspector. Definitely not a leadership bone in my body.😉 I think some of it they just make up.
Picture it … Austria WW2 … my grandmother has a liaison with a French soldier mid 1942 … which produces my dad who is now 81 years old. He never knew his biological father. It would be interesting to see what pops up on our dna tests and any French family we may have !! Fascinating stuff.
For years my DNA results from Ancestry showed that I was Scot, Irish, English, Welsh, Norwegian and Swedish. Now, suddenly in July it pops up that I am 1% from Cameroon and Congo. What on earth can explain that?
Mine now 53% Welsh, but my Irish part shrunk to near nothing. Great Britain odd as Scotland & Wales above it are parts of GB...Another forum has me 9% East Europe and a big chunk Iberian...
My dad did ancestry DNA. He has black curly hair, olive skin, just like the rest of the family on his side. His DNA results came back is 70% Irish, the rest English. I have my doubts that this is accurate. can someone explain this to me?
Ethnicity estimates really don't say much about how a person looks. It's like the old myth of "great-grandma had to be Cherokee because she had dark hair and high cheekbones." People all around the world have dark hair and high cheekbones.
I've wondered that myself having done mine on Ancestry. I've seen some go up while some go down. I was once 47 % Scot and now I am 36 % Scottish and 24% Irish. Some others have changed as well.
I’ve always wondered why my percentages keep changing with every update. My family is pretty straightforward. My mother’s side is all Irish and my father’s is Irish and German. I did my DNA with Ancestry and 23andme and the last few updates, suddenly a very small percentage of Finnish is showing up and also a bit of southern European. A bit of a mystery since I know none of my ancestors are from those areas.
The Finnish ancestry might be a stray Viking, although most Finns struck east; Ireland's 9th century Viking invasions were mostly from Norway I think? (Dublin was a Viking city). Romans and Germans have banged heads since antiquity, trading and sometimes fighting across the Danube. After the Roman Empire fell apart in Europe for several hundred years, it was rebooted in present-day France and Germany by Charlemagne with the backing of Pope Leo who crowned him at St Peter's. This "Holy Roman Empire" split up with France going its own way, but the German side retained that name and maintained intermittent political, economic, religious and social ties with the Vatican and northern Italy in one way or another for centuries- right up to the alliance between Mussolini and Hitler. (Incidentally, that's why you have a flourishing of Dutch painters lije Renbrandt towards the end of the Italian Renaissance; Peter Paul Rubens a generation or so earlier had gone to Italy to study art, as was common for the "Romanist" painters of German-speaking areas at the time. Rubens' father had also gone to Italy to study law. Some sort of story like that may explain the Italian). TL;DR: There have always been merchants, artisans, members of the elite, clergy and scholars who have traveled around - a smsll minority of whom wind up settling in or marrying someone from their home away from hime. modern borders are really a modern invention!
Well, most people cannot trace their family back that far, and you never know how accurate the couplings were. There is always doubt. I don't really have that problem because I was born in a small island country, which isn't all that significant for foreign travelers. I haven't found any foreign ancestry at least on paper.
@@ellenbryn Were Finns Vikings? They are not Scandinavian. That is a fact. A lot of Swedes have Finnish DNA matches and vice versa. I have north German ancestry and match a lot of Finns who are for the most part related to each other and sometimes a Swede here and there. It's intriguing and I think it goes back a few centuries. Those north European seas were like a waterway for my DNA. I can also see that with my Frisian mtDNA (T2b5). Most of my matches, into Russia with that mitochondrial DNA... distributed like that, geographically. Women must have been on some of those ships, through the centuries!
I had my DNA done by 23 and Me, but it was at such variance with my family trees that I had it redone with Ancestry. Ancestry was MUCH better. The Ancestry version has undergone a number of changes since then, but I do feel that it is becoming more accurate.
My grandpa is over 50% Italian. And we all know this before anyone took a DNA test. I took one. And I had no Italian at all. Which is was actually feeling like maybe I wasn't related. Like there was a secret nobody told me. Then, this morning I got a notification that my DNA has been updated. Now I'm 18% Southern Italian. I was so happy when I seen that
Great. I would like to get a DNA update as well. I am going for Cherokee. Where can I get it?
@@mtauren1 ancestry is where I got mine
You Mr first mistake was to do that test.
@AnjelLee-f8c people are paranoid about taking a DNA test. But the thing is. If they have your close relatives DNA, especially your grandparents, parents, or siblings. Then they already have everything they need. It's not like you don't exist until you take a DNA test. If they wanted to manipulate your DNA some how. They would. It's not that hard to do.
@@mtauren1 I don't think the tests can pick up on individual tribes. To gain Cherokee citizenship, you need to have an ancestor listed on the final Dawes Rolls.
For all forty-something years of my life, I believed I was part Cherokee. Mom said Dad was about 25%. Well, I discovered that "Dad" isn't even dad.😅 we shared 0% DNA. Then I discovered that my cousin is also my brother because we have the same father. His mom is my mom's little sister. I was born out of wedlock and was a "dirty secret" that never came out until they were both deceased.
I gained 2 brothers, and lost 3 sisters 😅 my aunt is my stepmom, my cousin is my brother and I'm still confused. 😅
Happens a lot more than people realise. I spent 39 years wondering why I didn't look at all like any other Polish people I was aware of. My mum was almost entirely Welsh, but my dad apparently was a combo of English and Irish.
Haha Beverly hillbillies
Genetics does not mean as much as people think it does. I don't mean genomics tests are not factual. I mean those facts don't matter in your life. You didn't "lose" or "gain" any siblings. They have the same role in your life as they ever did.
My brother found out he was my half brother before my mom died, then he did a test to confirm. We both have different father’s.
You’ve got to wonder how many family trees this DNA analysis has affected. People just swept things under the rug or honestly weren’t sure cuz they had no tests years ago.
When someone shows me a detailed family tree I always wonder how many illegitimate births it contains and how all it takes is just one to bring the whole charade down.
I knew both sides of my family came from Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. Took the Ancestry test just to see what it would say. They nailed it. The test zeroed in on Friesland, with the farther flung ancestry including England, Scandinavia, and Iceland, probably due to the influence of marauding bands of Vikings a thousand years ago.
Care must be taken in regard to interpreting these “ancestor” locations on Ancestry and on 23andMe. The results do not necessarily reflect where your “ancestors” FROM. They only reflect where your distant COUSINS ENDED UP. In a “Melting Pot” like the USA, genetics from a certain ethnic group can soon wash out. In rural Europe, however, the same genetics intermarried in Friesland for many centuries, invaded what is now Anglia in England during the Anglo-Saxon invasions, and then intermarried in Anglia for centuries. So, even after so many centuries, these populations CROSSMATCH on these tests. On 23andMe, all testers in the Republic of Ireland, whose ancestors never left Ireland, will be told that they has “Recent Ancestry”” from every English and Scottish city that was an industrial center in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Why? Because a huge number of the siblings and cousins of their own Irish ancestors immigrated OUT of Ireland to Manchester and Liverpool and London, etc. to find works, several generations ago. Likewise, because of the Anglo-Saxon invasions, the genetic link between Anglia, England and the Netherlands is so strong the Englishmen with 200 years of genealogy limited to Anglia will be told on 23andMe that they have “Recent Ancestors” in the Netherlands. On the flip side, the testers in the Netherlands will be told they have a huge percentage of “ancestry” FROM England, when they are matching the Frisian genetics of the Anglo-Saxons invaders of what is now Anglia. Those Anglo-Saxon invaders were not the “ancestors” of the modern Frisians. The Anglo-Saxon invaders of Anglia were the siblings and cousins of those who STAYED in what is today the Netherlands.
I was never confused because I recognise what the word estimate means and I took the time to understand their processes. My estimates have changed many times. Each time it's become more accurate, These days it directly reflects what my social and genetic research tells me about my ancestry.
Question for you,: Does Ancestry update your results automatically as their data bases improve, or do you need to retake the test to get the most recent analysis?
@ickster23 It is automatically updated. You don’t need to retest.
@@ickster23 It just updates as they publish their new findings. You can't roll back or view earlier predictions but I don't really care because I see a consistent trend towards improvement.
You can view one version back.
@@gavanwhatever8196 I very much wish they would allow you to view previous estimates.
I sent my DNA to one of those ancestry/ heritage sites. I found out that I'm from mixed European descent. The results came back
40 % German shepherd
25 % English bulldog
20 % Irish setter
15 % French poodle
I may have sent it to the wrong place.
Hilarious! Thanks for the laugh! 🤣
I really needed this laugh. Thank you very much!😂😅
😂
LOL!
got to watch those French poodles!
I really like your map comparison for the change in ethnicity estimates as they gather more data! Great video!
Thank you! I'm so glad you like it!
It's easy to tell that you're an expert in the field and an expert in teaching through your way of speaking. Top notch video
Unfortunately the companies (not just Ancestry) sell there kits on the phrase "where you're from", which is very, very misleading. These calculators are *similarity calculators* , they do NOT tell one "where you're from." Also, unfortunately very few people bother to look at the uncertainty in their result. Customers all too often do not click through to see their range bars and try to understand them.
AncestryDNA says I am 100% from the country I was born in, the range being 99 to 100%. Now, does that mean to you, it's accurate?
What's it to you anyway? Deal with your own insecurities, never mind others'.
With this last Ancestry update, I'm throwing all my ethnicity estimates out the window. It's been all over the place with new regions coming and going with each update. This last update though was like I'm a totally different individual. I understand variation and I watched this video, but I have still come away that that as of now these ethnicity estimates mean nothing. at least in my case.
True! Don't focus on percentages. They're false.
Build your family tree and follow the documents to find out where your family is from. Keep searching & good luck. 💪🏾
Mind you, Ancestry recently told me I had a "strong" connection to the Channel Islands, before they deleted that completely.
I went to Ancestry. I “discovered” my background added up to some 150%, which I first found odd, but then decided I must simply be extraordinary.
@@sheilah4525 😆 Love this
Well done. This is such a touchy subject for people who don’t understand the science. (2nd only to how to properly clean a headstone)
Thank you! (Speaking of cleaning headstones, I've been so tempted to make a reaction video about the woman who is using what looks like pink oven cleaner... but I'm not sure my blood pressure can take it!)
I have never cleaned a headstone. My parents have a metal marker in a lawn cemetery. The thing to remember is it's an estimate, and you don't inherit dna from all your ancestors.
dnland , says i'm inbreed 100% the most accurate reading , saying people in Canada share my DNA , its misleading , because it is not Canada origin
I have watched a number of youtube videos on that subject , is there one you could recommend?
@@Ponto-zv9vf think again , about it how you inherited 2% of Neanderthals DNA ? how does it reach today in your gene ?
A few years ago, a reporter for the CBC in Toronto and her identical twin sister took some of this type of test. It turned out they had different ethnic backgrounds! So much for the accuracy.
23andMe seems to be most accurate so far. Based on my family tree, about 85% of my family comes from Germany in the 1700's/1800's, and 23andMe states I'm 93% German from Baden-Wuerttemberg, which seems pretty accurate. Ancestry has me at 57% Germanic europe, 31% England, 9% Ireland, and 3% Spain, with the Germanic Europe having increased over 10% since last I checked. I anticipate the numbers will further normalize to a higher percentage of Germanic Europe.
My late wife, was a white, fair haired woman with blue eyes and suspected Irish ancestry. At age 17, already pregnant, she married her first husband. He was a white, fair haired, blue eyed Irishman. Their first child had darkish skin, black hair and Brown eyes. Until and including her death, some 65 years later, no one could explain this anomaly. Just after her death, I got an update on her DNA analysis which showed she was 30% native north American. Problem solved ? Let's hope so. Mark born 09/02/1966, please note.
It is interesting that the parents had recessive genes and that was their phenotype but they had a child with dominant genetic traits like black hair and brown eyes. I suppose it's possible but it must be very rare.
Must have been quite a surprise. It is not impossible for people you describe to have children of differing coloring to themselves. I once saw a picture of a Mexican couple of Mestizo origin and their six children. He was skinny, and pink skinned, she, rather fat and yellow skinned. The children, the two eldest were black skinned, the two middle were yellowish skinned and the two youngest pink skinned, and light haired. I am male, I been married twice, I have four children, 3 from one wife, 1 from the other, all red haired. I am Southern European, both parents dark haired, I am dark haired, and four red headed children. Dna test, I find I am a carrier for red hair, no one in the family knows of any red heads.
@@Ponto-zv9vfthnx for the info, esp abt the Mestizo family. It's strange & fascinating how all the genes mix and appear!
I can think of a very obvious reason.....
@@Ponto-zv9vf It is not unusual or strange for two dark haired parents to have redheads or blonds because they can carry the recessive genes and dominant genes will mask that you carry those traits. What is more difficult to explain is people with recessive traits having children with dark hair and dark eyes. The reason being to have recessive traits like blue eyes and blond hair or red hair you only have the recessive traits so you don't carry the dominant traits. I know people will say it happens and is possible but I have my doubts. I guess anything is possible but I'd be inclined to suspect something else.
Clear explanation for deciphering one’s DNA results which continually frustrate me due to my ethnicity forever changing, so much so I don’t know what I am. And I certainly have no idea what/which part of me I have inherited from my mother and father.The last time I checked on Ancestry and asked, they responded saying they haven’t broken our results down yet as to which parent contributed what. All of this has confused and frustrated me. New subscriber. Thank you.
I'd been researching both sides of my family decades prior to having my DNA identified via ancestry. I found the results to reflect my research.
Increasingly, these ancestry dna tests are sounding as reliable at unveiling your past as a fortune cookie is your future.
Certainly if you are relying on genealogical companies, like Ancestry or My Heritage, where people cut and paste bits from each other's trees into their own trees, without checking if they are accurate.
That’s just not true. Mine revealed a whole new branch of my ancestry (by an extra-marital birth) that was, and would always have remained, invisible in any official paper records.. I followed it up and eventually all was revealed. The results are not pinpoint accurate but it is unrealistic and naive to expect that. My own results also raised questions about another branch. It’s a very good guide.
Sometimes they are just plain wrong!
@@claymor8241 "The results are not pinpoint accurate..." That's something people should consider before they cut and paste.
About as reliable as performing 40 cycles with PCR!
This is an EXCELLENT description of Ethnicity Estimates and why it keeps changing- the comparison to map making is simple and effective.
My Mom's Dad's line came straight from Norway. Her Mom's German side came over in the early 1700's. My Dad's English/Irish heritage (mid-1800's). The best they could do for me was I am from the entirety of Northwest Europe, including the Shetlands & Orkney's.
Ha, I am one quarter Norwegian, Irish, Scottish, German.
Same basically
Norwegian, Scottish, English, French German. No polish. Lol
1.52: Ireland/Scotland/Wales are a separate category from Great Britain which consists of Scotland, Wales and England?
When I first took the test, the region in the ethnicity estimate was "Ireland/Scotland/Wales." Now it's been split into separate regions.
My DNA estimates changed wildly. Fortunately my family has many records & family photos & legal documents so the DNA is icing for me. Love it.
My first estimate was the closest to family history then went further away during new updates. However they nailed where my grandfather's family is from, down to the right village.
One "ethnicity estimate" factor that has less to do with sample size is migration. In my case, I expected to see more French in the mix. The same goes for my British Isles background. Remember all of the places that the Vikings invaded? Many of my French ancestors came from Normandy...so that might pump up my Norwegian percentage.
That’s been the tricky thing with ancestral lines in the British Isles - what is “British” and what is “Viking invaders.” That has gotten better over the years.
The French are not a single people. They are like Joseph's coat of many colors. I think that's the point, no nationality is homogeneous ethnically.
@@MichaelTheophilus906 If you are from old, Northern landed families, your DNA may stick more -narrower circle for permitted marriage. In our case, massive Norman % and a little Iberian -and no German/French/Irish/Scottish in spite of being on the soil since 1069.
My husband was born & raised in Slovenia. He's never been to Russia. His Ancestry DNA was 99% Russian. Why? Because centuries ago, a group of Russian Slavs migrated south to the Adriatic area. History & DNA results go hand in hand.
I never considered my ethnicity estimates to be much more than entertainment. My matches and shared matches have been the real valuable information for confirming research.
Yes - the ethnicity estimate is pretty much the least useful part.
I think it is more important for adoptees, and people who don't know their actual ancestry. Many Australians know they have British and Irish ancestry but are not sure, and other groups have immigrated to Australia like German speakers from Germany itself or places once controlled by Germany. They don't really know.
All my matches are of my ethnic group either fully, or partly.
@@Ponto-zv9vf I can agree sort of agree with that. I have a friend who’s adopted and she had exhausted all attempts to find out about her heritage so she tried a DNA test. It did give her a good idea of her ethnic background but it was still communication with her strongest shared matches that got her closest to her actual parentage. She wasn’t able to nail it down to her actual parents but now she knows that half of her background is Croatian on her father’s side. She still has no info on her Mother.
Smart.
True😂
Your voice is so calming
I did Ancestry and 23&Me. I have genealogy records back to the 1500’s on all 4 grandparents so it was easy for me to check. They were both very close although they gave me less French than I thought I would have. What I liked was they kept sending me updates as their testing was refined and got my French up to where records showed it to be. What totally blew me away was they were able to tell me the exact 3 areas of North America that my ancestors settled in from Europe and that told me that the tests were legit! Because of my records, I didn’t do the tests to find out what I was, I did it to find relatives that are 3rd and 4th cousins where our linkage was back about 100years. I think it’s a great service especially for linking with family and for adoptees who would like to know their ethnicity and find birth relatives.
Yes, I have done dna tests to prove my family tree, I knew my ethnic background, and as for relatives I am related to everyone of my ethnic group.
Yup the few regions they showed for journeys was exactly where my ancestors came over to in the americas
in 23 & me i'm 100 inbreed my heritage too , ftdna i'm 87 iberius , 13 % British isles ancestry i'm spanish portugues basque , galizian , catalunia , aquitania , skotia , ha ha ha i no longer inbreed
My sister tested for 2% Iberian (Spanish), yet both Dad in from English/Irish and Mom is from Scottish ancestry.
@@BunnyWatson-k1wLots of trade links between Ireland, the West Country of England, and the Iberian Peninsula, so no surprise there. These islands have had international trade and invaders for millennia, we are a hotchpotch of everything from Vikings to Phoenicians, and further afield too.
That was a great video! You are well spoken. ❤❤❤
Well done! Folks need to have at least a basic understanding of statistics (sample size, probability, confidence level, etc) before getting too focused on these results. You did a great job explaining that, especially how confidence increases with increasing sample size ("n"). Over the 10 years or so that I've been observing my results, the "origin" estimates have become more and more aligned with my known pedigree. In the latest set of results my "ancestral origins" estimate is 86% Scotland and N. Ireland; nearly all of my people came to America from what is now N.I. and considered themselves "Scots-Irish" and the few who didn't come from there married someone who did.
Another great video! 🤗 I'm curious if Ancestry will do a DNA update this year? I know they never announce them ahead of time, but it's always fun to see how our percentages have changed from the previous one.. 🌎 (Like you said.. sometimes they change a LOT.. 😆)
I wouldn't be surprised. My last update was a year ago.
I got my update today - 10th October 2024.
@@gaynor1721 You're right.. They updated it. Looks different! 😲
They just did. It's different..and is puzzling a bit.
So cool how much mine changed. Def matches my ancestors tho in my family tree. My sister had just done hers a few months back and hers changed a lot also with the update. She now only has three regions for hers while mine and our other sister has 5. Technically hers shows 4 but the French shows less than 1% when I look on my chromebook, but when on the app on my phone it shows France as 0% but includes it because it's still a tiny amount, and not completely zero. She asked why it changed so much, and I explained the more ppl who get the test, the larger the database gets, and the more precise they can make the regions. So cool hearing this explanation and that I was basically right. I didn't know for sure why the amounts changed, but guessed based on logic and getting actual clinical DNA testing done due to the genetic disorder I have. That's how they explained my variants. I have a variant of uncertain significance for the dchs1 gene and it's only been seen in .0009% of their databases. I have yet to find any literature on my specific variant at all and I am really good at researching.
I took an Ancestry DNA test about eight years ago, and the results came back with a 50% Scots, 50% Irish background, and this was entirely consistent with what I already knew about my ancestry. Then the reference panel got updated, and the results changed to 73% Scots, 12% Irish and 14% English, and 1% Norwegian. Since then, a new reference panel shows my ancestry as 49% Scots, 28% English/Welsh, and 16% Irish, with the remaining smaller percentages coming from Cornwall and elsewhere, with 1% being central European. The Cornish ancestry itself is confirmed by a Y-DNA test I took via Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) that showed a large number of matches to men with Cornish surnames.
So, given these changes, there is no way any ancestry DNA-type test can tell you precisely where you're from, only indicate general probabilities.
I've always wondered why my English results are as high as they are, particularly on my paternal side. One of my maternal great-grandmothers had American ancestry that came by way of England, and on my paternal side, I have no known English ancestors in paper records.
A clue came to me when I remembered that my paternal grandmother's mother's maiden surname was Hewitt. She was born in Ireland, but so far as I can tell, Hewitt is a surname that is not native to Ireland. It is much more commonly found in England and sometimes in Scotland. It appears to be derived from the old Norman surname Huot, which is derived from the personal pet name for 'Hugh'.
It's more than likely that this ancestor was descended from Hewitts who may have migrated from England to Ireland about 400 years ago (along with many, many other English families) and settled in the Dublin region before branching out to what is now Northern Ireland and other parts of Ireland itself.
The trouble is the Hewitt’s were Norman settlers to England, and the Normans themselves were Norse Viking settlers in France so genetically they would have been Scandinavian 🤔
The percentages aren't Important. What's matters is what haplomarkers actually match.
@@roboparks The haplomarkers are taken from local samples, in Scotland you could be of Germanic descent if you were from the south east( Anglo/ Saxon Northumbria) , from the north east you could be of Pictish descent , the north west coast and islands you be of Gaelic Irish or Nordic Vilking decent, from Dumbarton down to the borders Brythonic Briton descent, add into the mix the Flemish , and the Normans who settled in Scotland, with all these variables it really begs the question…. What is it to be “genetically Scottish” ?
@@MichaelTheophilus906 Great to know people just appear out of thin air….. and here’s us thinking it was the stork all along
Interesting. I knew a fellow who was about a fifth Scotch.
My DNA shows a small percentage of Scadinavian/Danish ancestry. I assumed it was from the so called Vikings who had descendants throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland where the great majority of my ancestors came from. However, I discovered, on Ancestry, a branch of my family going back to Norman English who in turn were descended from Vikings who settled in Normandy and then conquered England in 1066.
If you found that from someone’s tree on Ancestry, you’ll want to go back and verify it. Once you get back that far, it’s mostly wishful thinking.
It could be. The Normans were of Scandinavian origins and settled in France, but over time, some Normans could of had zero Scandinavian and 100% French ancestry, and any range in between.
I'm confused I lost my Scottish DNA and it turned into Denmark
I have always felt British and was proved correct when my DNA showed a good percentage of Celt, Viking and Saxon which apparently are the DNA building blocks of Britain.
My DNA also had a good percentage of Northern England which fits with my research as my surname is old English/viking and comes from Cumbria/Northumberland.
Cumbria was where my traceable ancestors lived.
An example where my DNA profile fitted to my expectations though I was hoping for some surprises.
New iteration has greatly simplified my estimates-now only Ireland, Italy, Scotland, Cornwall. All sorts of other regions have come and gone, and disparities between me and my sister are largely gone also. The new estimates are now basically what we thought we were before doing the test. 😂
Great video again,they're always interesting and very informative.
Here in the UK,my ethnicity has just changed.England and Northern Europe has gone up 6% to 80%.Wales down 11% to 2%,Scotland down 3 to 5%,Germanic Europe up from 0 to 5% and Sweden/Denmark down from 2 to 0%. Look forward to watching your videos again.
nearly the same as mine. But also my Norwegian and Scottish has gone. now its saying Northern Ireland. Quite sad, its messing with my head a little.
Hello to the UK from the US. I manage my grandmother’s AncestryDNA account, and the update brought her English percentage up 19% to 68%, her Scottish percentage down 26% to 13%, her Irish percentage up 3% to 9%, her Danish percentage up from 0% to 5%, her “Germanic Europe” percentage up 4% to 5%, her Baltic percentage down 3% to 0%, and her Welsh percentage down 2% to 0%.
Yes, after doing ancestry DNA years
ago, I too noticed the changed over
time, and no longer particpate in it. 😊
My dna from my mom is from the British Isles. My dad's is Dutch, German , Swiss with a little English and Scot. I've charted my tree back to the 3rd and 4th century. Both sides are descended from Royalty, which makes it easy. My mom is decended from James I/VI of Scotland and England, and my dad from James V of Scotland. The lines actually meet a second time with James II. One is descended from Alexander and the other through James III.
Mine is the opposite my dad's side is British Isles Scotland Ireland and France . My mom's side is Dutch Germanic ancestry from the Netherlands and Switzerland. I knew this before I ever took the test .
I took Living DNA for the mother line and it did in fact trace the Germanic to my mother's side of the family.
I went from 3 regions to 5 with some Danish in there too in the recent update.
What do you think when your test shows .1% and .2%?
Ignore those. Most geneticists who don’t work for the popular DNA companies say they ignore everything below about 10-15%. There are several reasons for this. They also never speak of ethnicities; only locations. And even then, they say accuracy is basically regional, and most accurately, continental. Anything more focused than that is guesswork, at this point. For some of the reasons mentioned in the video.
Also, current “ethnicity” testing fails to account for travel, which is a big flaw in the whole system. People have always migrated, voluntarily or not, in the big picture. But currently, only Y-chromosome DNA and mitochondrial DNA take migration into account, or can be compared to more ancient DNA samples taken from skeletal remains. But the general tests don’t test for those. You have to test at FamilyTree DNA or a couple of other companies that offer those tests. (Autosomal DNA, which most companies like Ancestry test, taken only from cell nuclei, don’t last very long so don’t survive in ancient bones; also, autosomal DNA recombines in every person, so after just a few generations their origin can’t be pinpointed.) That’s why, when the document trail runs out in family research, autosomal tests aren’t very helpful. And ethnicity isn’t genetic at all. Ethnicity is socio-cultural.
@@Historian212 Thank you for getting back to me.
what about my 2% Neanderthal ? where is the sample population for that?
There in museums, and dna libraries. There are quite a few Neanderthal remains, and many of those have been dna tested.
@@GrimmJaw496 It’s recently been shown we all have some Neanderthal in us-usually 1-3% so you are good!
@@annehersey9895 I think "we" means European and north African, Middle Eastern... maybe West Asian too. Not sub-Sahara Africa, far east Asia, South Asia, Australia or the Americas.
@@CitizenTurtleIsland I have 1.4 % Neanderthal and I’m from the US so it appears to be everyone. Since we emerged from Africa long ago common ancestors must have mated with Neanderthal-too complicated for me. I try to keep up with research but so much going on today to worry too much about thousands of millennia ago! 😀😀😀
Statistically, the bigger the sample size, the more accurate the sample. When my nephew sent me the sample kit years ago. It had Scandinavia, several countries combined under Western Europe, and Ireland with Wales. Now it has individual countries broken down even further.
I have been working with someone born in England who found roughly 25% of his admixture was from native American and/or Spanish origins. He matched my father, so I knew he was Mexican, which was a total surprise to him! We believe we have been able to figure out who his paternal grandfather was using his shared matches and traditional genealogy.
What do you think about linking to Genomelink? I'm with ancestry now
Who should we use to examine DNA?
This feels like an ancestry ad, are you connected with them? Appreciate your explanations.
I used to work for them, but I am not affiliated with them now.
I check my Ancestry account. It was updated 3 times in the last few years. Now when I check after not being on for months. It as updated again. As usually things, get higher or lower, added , or some things get dropped off. Which was confusing sometimes. The new update list some of the tribes, people the DNA test came from, which you share DNA with.
Have you ever had huge percentage changes?
For example you 85% blk and end up 96% blk and 18% Nigerian and end up 35% nigerian
@ @ it does not use the word Blk or whit*. Now to answer the question no have not have a huge changes. For example I was about 9% Mali ancestry, it is now is 4%.
@@DoubleBeezy exactly my percentage was much higher, higher for Mali, when I first did my Dna test 10 years ago. Other things got lower or higher. Another example is my Netherlands ancestry got higher. Original my first test it was Scandinavian. My Irish also got higher. Original I was 1% Senegal, that got dropped off the last updated, things got added . These are just some of the examples. I went to find the very original test chart could not find it. As you had me thinking.
Ms. Johnson that always made sense to me. I.E my dad was born in Stoke on Trent to an American soldier and Welsh mom. But he had English too and we all know that Danes intermarried heavily so if Dane shows up in my DNA i understand where it likely came from. And I have Scottish ancestry from the Orkneys which was ruled and inhabited by Norway. So I no doubt have Norwegian through my Scottish side and I even say it like that to folks . The Scottish family name is even Norwegian " Lichliter"
I have a question about the veracity of My Heritage DNA regions as compared to that of Ancestry. My DNA was first tested via Ancestry. The matches have changed slightly but still put me in the same regions. England, Germanic Europe and Scandinavia (the latter alternating from time to time between Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands). Nothing else.
I downloaded the data and uploaded to My Heritage. This then matched me with the same regions but also matched me at 0.9% with the Middle East. From the same data!
I then uploaded to My True Ancestry, which does a match with ancient DNA from archaeological sites. It bore out the Ancestry regions. I am Celt, Viking, Saxon.
So, the question is, where's the rogue 0.9% Middle Eastern on My Heritage coming from?
Bahahah the mustache, you’re hilarious Amy 😂
I have admit, I had fun with that 😂
@@AmyJohnsonCrow I feel compelled to find a place for a mustache in one of my videos now😂
@@AmyJohnsonCrowi am Italian and that's the Japanese version of southern Italian lol Mario bros.Im in the North here we are more Germanic North: The Austrian region of North Tyrol
East: The Austrian region of Salzburg
@xh4r744 I’m not sure if you’re referring to the mustache. If so, that was my “impersonation” of what someone said in a workshop, not what I thought Italians are like.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow yes read my comment but it’s incorrect stereotype.We are multiethnic country.Ignorance makes people believe we’re a specific race or a single ethnicity.Every region is a like a different country and dialect
Very interesting, thank you. I was curious why my ethnicity was changing.
Good video; I did that test (it was based on a saliva sample) when they first started this service. Have they changed the way they get the sample? Mine showed I was 0 % Irish, although it was assumed my mom’s paternal side was Irish. My wife’s showed she was 0% American Indian which in her family tradition she was like 1/8 Cherokee.
AncestryDNA still uses a saliva sample.
Mine changed somewhat but the regions stayed the same. My understanding of history is key to understanding how modern borders are meaningless for dna accuracy. My ancestors came from the Baltic coastal area edging towards Denmark. We always considered them German. Ancestry said so until it changed from German to Danish/Swedish. How could this be? Sweden and Denmark once held that territory for long periods so the people there would reflect that. So, my family was German in culture but dna something else.
This is something very, very common everywhere in Europe and has been for centuries. Europeans don't take DNA tests. For good reasons, they identify with their language or its specific dialect they have grown up with, and this also allocates them a region to call home.
I already know I'm Irish, English and Polish because of my family history. Ancestry DNA gives a percentage. Their estimates are broad, but the research I did through tracing my families from public records and family members gave me pretty accurate info. You have to be willing to put the time into searching.
I have a question! As a woman, do I need a male relative from my father’s side to compete my ancestry tree? I’m not in touch with him
If you’re talking about an AncestryDNA test, no. It’s what is called an autosomal DNA test, which includes DNA from both of your parents.
From 2018 to 2022, my Ancestry estimated results were consistent with England, Ireland, Scots, Denmark, Sweden and Norway percentages. In 2023, they threw in some Welsh. 2024, They estimated England, Ireland and Scotland, everything else gone. This is a problem for people testing from the U.K. like myself and the other 2 companies do exactly the same thing. I've downgraded my membership from All Access to Basic and I'm very tempted to downgrade it further to Preserve My Tree at this point, as I have no appetite to continue researching with this company.
Do the results really go back 1000 years or more? I understood 1000 years to be the max with 500 years being more likely. Going back that far would narrow the results showing we are much more closely related being simply eastern European or western European for example.
Knowing the history of various regions can be very helpful. It's not actually surprising, for example, that someone with an ancestry estimate primarily from the British Isles would have some small percentage from Italy and Greece. Rome occupied England for some 400 years. And some of their soldiers and servants were of Greek descent. It would be a bit more than credulous to think that there was never any "mixing" with the local populations in 400 years of history.
What about the percentages that are under 5% let's say? Do we even take those into consideration?
I took Ancestry and 23 and Me mainly to compare the results and see if they were the same or much different. Luckily I have genealogists in the family and for 3/4 grandparents I have back to late 1500’s n early 1600’s and the 4th to late 1800’s. I did the tests to try n find more about that 4th grandparent who was French Canadian. When I first got the test results, everything was expected except the French was much lower than it should have been and half as much as my half sister who has the same grandparent. So I was really happy when I kept getting those updates and each time I was more and more French and now I’m right where my genealogy history says I should be. What I loved most about 23 n Me that blew my mind was they showed 3 areas of North America where my family settled when they came-New England, Ohio River Valley and St, Lawrence River Valley and those are EXACTLY where they settled. For the depth of information, I really preferred 23 n Me to Ancestry and I’m sad to hear they aren’t doing well.
wow very interesting. I took a DNA test this July. I was told by my father his parents were all Swedish and spoke Swedish but were born and grew up in Kronoby Finland. to my surprise my test came back 47 percent Finnish ! my grandparents were indeed Finnish not Swedish. I was also 7 percent swedish { 5 percent from my mom!} 2 percent Norweigan, 22 percent enlgish, 10 percent Irish, 8 percent Scottish, and 4 percent French. my estimates just changed last week. 48 percent Finnish, 2 percent swedish , 33 percent English, 4 percent Irish, 4 percent Scottish, and 3 percent Netherlands.
My partner is more Finnish than Norwegian too despite being able to trace back some 3-400 yrs in Norway. Turns out the border was blurred somewhat and many people crossed rivers etc which were deemed as borders hence the mix. With Finnish Sami in the mix it makes sense.
@PatsyStone73 interesting. Yes my family goes back hundreds of years in Kronoby. I have cousins there. Those vikings got around lol 😆
My test came up with a region in Central Europe stretching east to a tiny town which was mentioned by name. That happened to be my mother’s home town. Strange, although she was born there, neither of her parents were from there. The only relatives I have in that town are two cousins. I wonder if one of both of them had a DNA test, linking our pattern to that town. Otherwise we are known to hail from much further east, but all the family have migrated, so any tests would not be linked to that geographical region. My test has produced more questions than answers.
I wish they’d do an update, nothing has been refined in over a year.
I got my update today - 10th October 2024.
@@gaynor1721I did as well, it finally found the small amount of Spanish 23andme had reflected for years. My German-Scandinavian went way up but since my UK history is Eastern in areas with heavy Viking/Germanic invasions it’s consistent with what I know. My sister and Moms dna shifted along with and matches.
Thanks for the great, easy to understand explanation. It will help a lot of people!
I know my yDNA to a specific area of Ireland thanks to Trinity College Dublin, and my male line back to the 1500s. Doesn't turn up on Ancestry DNA.
So which would you suggest is best for ethnicity?
Generally, AncestryDNA seems to be the best at splitting out UK vs Scandinavian, and they do have the largest number of reference panels. Honestly, though, the ethnicity estimate isn't the most informative part of a DNA test. You get better information from the matches and from AncestryDNA's DNA communities (now called "DNA journeys.")
@@AmyJohnsonCrow Thankyou
What a great video and what a great host. I really appreciate this information. I was hoping you can help me with something. I kind of saddens me actually the problem I have is I want to find the test that shows with the percentages like you pointed out 45% Scotland, etc. and I’ve understood what you’ve mentioned regarding how it could change or almost evolve in a sense, just because changing and what not but I had two questions first of all. Does your test does ancestry help to show the migration pattern is there one that does that and when I take the test is my DNA much more useful than my last name because my father passed away before I was born, and my mother didn’t think she could give me his last name. My mother and father were not married and so, I have her legal married name from my last name I go about getting those accurate Findings
Thank you
David
I have questions like these I’m pretty much British if I add everything together I’m coming up with 92% British
But how about Germanic is that Anglo Saxon? I have questions like these and French could that be the colony of William the conquest Normandy in France?
I got my DNA sequence through 23AndMe when I participated in a study. It's largely remained the same but it has slightly changed on the margins. One thing people struggle to understand is that there's plenty of diversity within populations, and on average more depending on how you group a population. You don't need conscious interbreeding for this and people wouldn't have seen the world in that way before the 19th century anyway. I'm fortunate that both my grandparents on my maternal side have extensive and well-researched genealogies.
YEP!!! Bingo. I am so glad you are reporting on this. My Bio Dad remarried a Vietnamese women and had Kids with her...and after he had his children DNA Tested and added to the database, my results then changed me to being part Vietnamese. That's when I deleted my account and knew it was no longer accurate. I had a friend write in to Ancestry explaining there was no way they were German she knew from her great grandmother they with polish. So Ancestry took her word and changed the family results.
They would never change their results based on someone's claims alone. I'm sorry but it's not that arbitrary. Estimates for ethnicity not specific to Europe will need a lot more refinement I'd think.
Something is not right regarding your test. No way could you be part Vietnamese if your mother and father or past relatives do not carry a Vietnamese gene. Or you parenthood needs to be questioned. Or you misunderstand your DNA matches.
How does your DNA look on genomelink?
Good video. Explains it concisely and clearly.
With respect to myself, my ethnicity match 68% Scottish, 42% Irish) is more or less what I expected, what with being Scots-born of some Irish extraction, and even some of the latter will actually be Ulster Scots and therefore actually Scottish.
I'm glad you liked the video!
It will also be because of the constant exchange of people back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for thousands of years. Before the advent of modern fuel-powered transportation, water was the fastest and easiest way to get almost anywhere. This meant the sea created close ties instead of being a barrier.
@@soccerchamp0511 Yeah, to a degree. The story of my y-DNA haplogroup is basically of going back and forth between the Hebrides and Ulster.
My mom, both sides of her family could trace her ancestry back to Germany for about 6 generations all since coming from Germany and a couple generations before coming to the US. (she was born in 1942) and it had her 50% English…
4.50 to 5.10 is very delicately put, good advice.
Thanks for this information. I did a DNA test with them two years ago Maybe I need to have it checked again. 🤔
You don’t need to test again. They’ll update the test you already did.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow Thanks for letting me know that. I don't have a membership with them even though I keep getting their emails. I would have had one but they changed my credit card for that without my permission and that really infuriated me even though I got them to reverse the change.
Don't worry about the ethnicity thing, you should still visit Italy. You'll love it.
Yes, an estimate is just an estimate but considering the lack of scientific understanding, confusion arises here and in many other areas too. If there were extensive contributions to the data pool from a certain area, then more accuracy would obtain. Ancestry correctly called the exact county in Ireland whence my wife's maternal family came.
I took ancestry this month. Berber and Arab father and mother respectively. I have African grandmothers from Sudan and Chad. I am assigned based on autosomal DNA 28 % Nilotic and 13% Ethiopia. My grandfathers DNA contributed to 19 % Arabic peninsula and 9% North Africa Morocco. It is helpful that I know a head of time where grandmothers are from. Otherwise I would be so confused.
For anyone reading, and maybe this clarifies, maybe this doesn't, but when you take a DNA test, it is absolutely required to refrain from analyzing your results from a modern, "the world as we currently know it" perspective. Do not look at the map and say, "Oh! I have ancestors from X country!" Rather, look at the map as having different regions. Its also an absolute MUST to understand borders, migration, history, trade routes, immigration and how people moved from land to land, not nessessarily from country to country.
For example, You may have the regions of Australia and/or New Zealand highlighted in your results. That COULD mean you have connections to Aboriginal, Celt, Anglo Saxon, or Norse cultures/ancestors. When the British Empire gained control of Australia/New Zealand, they used that land to send thousands of their criminals, defects and those banished out of the British Isles.
Another example...If "Jewish" shows up in your DNA, it would NOT nessessarily mean your ancestors are from Israel/Middle East. That data could also mean that your ancestors are from Central Europe. If that is the case, youd want to start looking into WWII history and the Holocaust to see if you have any connections to those victims.
Norse Viking ties? You may very well also have Anglo Saxon, Pict or Celt connections.
Another example...
I knew that my results would come back with Swiss German, French and maybe a few other European regions. However what really surprised me was the Scots Irish and Native Durangan (Mexican) connections. With more digging, historical records, historical timelines and countless hours of diving into Ancestry, FindAGrave, Google, obituary records, newspapers and world history, ships records and other sources, I finally tracked down the family I was looking for.
I hope maybe this all helps someone else. Stay open minded!
I’ve done my dna with two different companies and had slightly different results. Using DNA, my family tree search and my matches, I’ve been able to piece together somewhat better than just my DNA alone.
Many people of Italian descent reside in Switzerland and have for many generations speaking an Italian dialect... which is one of Switzerland's 3 official languages.. .. Nothing unusual about someone who comes up with Italian ancestry, claiming they are from Switzerland ......
Or Brazilians that has, or Americans, or Argentinians as many immigrated elsewhere.
They are not really Italians, they are Swiss people who have similar ancestry to people in Northern Italy, and speak a variety of Romance similar to Northern Italian languages. Italian Swiss are a minor ethnic group compared to Swiss Germans and Swiss French.
@@Ponto-zv9vf so..... People in Northern Italy are not Italians????There are approximately 3 different dialects spoken in Southern Italy, and a different dialect in Northern Italy... That is like saying that the people who speak "low German" instead of "high German" are not really German at all...They might disagree...
don't forget Romansh . .. another official language of CH.
Thank you for exposing this. I'll definitely not fall for DNA tests.
The strange thing is that with the technology advancement and refinement of reference panels, I expected the result to be more fragmented. I thought that new regions would appear, that is, the picture would be more colorful. But in fact, there was regions consolidation and merging
This most recent update is a little closer to my actual known genealogy...which is significant. For the 1st time, I'm 10% Germanic Europe...and my Shrum/Schramm line came from Bavaria prior to the Revolutionary War. My 5th great-grandfather--well known in German ancestry groups--took an oath of naturalization via sacrament at 14 years old prior to the Revolutionary War.
I lost "some" Irish percentage. My 4th great-grandfather came from Antrum, Ireland also prior to the Revolutionary War, so I had shown a bit more...but I'll take the reduction in favor of the correction to my Germanic ancestry.
Thanks for the explanation, as I often wondered why my data changed. I lost Norwegian and gained Wales and Luxembourg.
otzi the bad boy went sneaking everywhere i suppose ha ha ha
Lately 23andme decided my Norwegian ancestry was from Finnmark, above the Arctic Circle. Maybe that's why I turn down the thermostat. Or why I crave herding reindeer.
I don’t think any major testing companies go back 1000 years or more?
I thought it was generally 100-400 years?
Ancestry’s support page states up to 1000 years. The 100-400 year range would be more what Ancestry calls “Ancestral Journeys” (used to be “DNA Communities.”)
Sounds more like an AncestryDNA commercial than any intention to disseminate information.
Nope. Not an AncestryDNA commercial or sponsored in any way.
Going by total ethnicity is ok, but it is the segment DNA ethnicity that is far more important. Finding the lineage history of a segment requires knowledge of the ethnicity, geography, nationality, etc. Gedmatch is a great tool to determine the ethnicity of a segment, and when you combine it with AncestryDNA maps, trees, shared matches, etc, the brick walls can be brought down.
i have like 17 regions in mine so its always changing, but it's kind of cool to see it change!
I've been wondering. My direct ancestors are German, English, Irish, Scotch & Welsh. Ancestry says I'm like 35% Scotch. I have one Great Grandmother from Scotland. (I knew her.) My family tree says a surprising number of my ancestors, from both sides of my family, come from Wurttemberg Germany. (My Father's side is the main German line, salted with Scotch & Irish. My mother's side is mostly English & German.)
BTW: How reliable are the "traces" through history? One trace up my mother's paternal grand-father's line leads to a sister of Katheryn Howard, one of the wives of Henry VIII. (Should I write "cousin" Charlie a polite note and tell him to get off my chair?) I've wondered how reliable that "trace" is and how I could "proof read" it.
Greetings from The cliffs of mother ❤ County Clare Ireland, you have a poster of the cliffs on your video ❤❤❤
When I did my first DNA with Ancestry I got Scandinavian which is so off base. I am mostly Irish-Italian with a small percentage of Scottish. I like seeing the dna changes but I am not holding out any hope for MyHeritage.
Vikings invaded Ireland. That could explain Scandinavian heritage.
@@woodruffashbourne8372 It was a trace region I was surprised by and it went aways after the first update.
Thank you for sharing this info. It can be so confusing 🤦🏼♀️
Ancestry does a strange thing to prioritize some of the estimates. For instance mine shows i have a higher "Scottish" percentage than "French." 16 percent and 10 percent respectively. But if i click on Scottish it tells me my actual range is from 0 to 30% while my French is 0 to 34%. I'm of Acadian heritage from one grandmother, my dad shows up as 44% French and 12% "scottish." It seems like they should prioritize the French as I'm also connected to the Digby Acadian community in the community section.
And then as to that whole Scottish result being higher than my father's- well my mother's estimate shows 4% Scottish - ok so 12 plus 4 is 16. The issue here is that according to the parental breakdown for my mothers DNA, she inherited this 4% from her mother, whose ancestors all were Germans from the Danube going back to the 1600s.
I’ve heard others say that their Scottish percentage got more out of whack in the last update.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow good to know. I'll also say most people who buy these kits don't use the most important feature imo - looking at who they match w and comparing it to their family tree. I learned my maternal grandfather was not who everyone thought it was. Through sleuthing I was able to find who it likely was. Told my mom, none of our surviving family had any clue. But it made total sense in hindsight!
You're misinterpreting the error bars.
They run these tests repeatedly.
They will end up with something like a bell chart with upper and lower limits of, say 0% to 34%, with results clustered round a point which almost certainly isn't half way between and falling away towards the limits. They report that point of concentration, it's nothing about "prioritising" anything..
@@andyleighton6969 well in that case, they are misrepresenting the data as presented, since that cluster is not visible to me. Another issue is it says I inherited all my "Scottish" from my father's side, but I have more than my father. So I suppose according to this information about how they cluster the data that's just a matter of a margin of error.
@@caballero_del_arboles They don't show you the clustering, but if you read the bumph that's clearly what they do.
All this stuff is good for a laugh, and it's cleared a couple of logjams for me, but it's not to be taken seriously.
My favourite is the "traits" thing.
On "leadership" I score as low as you go.
In the meanwhile, my Queens Commission as an infantry officer is in a frame upstairs, and I retired from the police as an Inspector.
Definitely not a leadership bone in my body.😉
I think some of it they just make up.
Picture it … Austria WW2 … my grandmother has a liaison with a French soldier mid 1942 … which produces my dad who is now 81 years old. He never knew his biological father. It would be interesting to see what pops up on our dna tests and any French family we may have !! Fascinating stuff.
For years my DNA results from Ancestry showed that I was Scot, Irish, English, Welsh, Norwegian and Swedish. Now, suddenly in July it pops up that I am 1% from Cameroon and Congo. What on earth can explain that?
Mine now 53% Welsh, but my Irish part shrunk to near nothing. Great Britain odd as Scotland & Wales above it are parts of GB...Another forum has me 9% East Europe and a big chunk Iberian...
My dad did ancestry DNA. He has black curly hair, olive skin, just like the rest of the family on his side. His DNA results came back is 70% Irish, the rest English. I have my doubts that this is accurate. can someone explain this to me?
Ethnicity estimates really don't say much about how a person looks. It's like the old myth of "great-grandma had to be Cherokee because she had dark hair and high cheekbones." People all around the world have dark hair and high cheekbones.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow when ancestry updated is it possible for different ethnicities to pop up?
@jackcooper3370 Yes. As they refine things, different ethnicities/regions can show up.
I've wondered that myself having done mine on Ancestry. I've seen some go up while some go down. I was once 47 % Scot and now I am 36 % Scottish and 24% Irish. Some others have changed as well.
I have considered doing a DNA test but I'm hesitant because I don't know their accuracy. Which are the top 3 in order of least to most accurate?
I’ve always wondered why my percentages keep changing with every update. My family is pretty straightforward. My mother’s side is all Irish and my father’s is Irish and German. I did my DNA with Ancestry and 23andme and the last few updates, suddenly a very small percentage of Finnish is showing up and also a bit of southern European. A bit of a mystery since I know none of my ancestors are from those areas.
The Finnish ancestry might be a stray Viking, although most Finns struck east; Ireland's 9th century Viking invasions were mostly from Norway I think? (Dublin was a Viking city).
Romans and Germans have banged heads since antiquity, trading and sometimes fighting across the Danube. After the Roman Empire fell apart in Europe for several hundred years, it was rebooted in present-day France and Germany by Charlemagne with the backing of Pope Leo who crowned him at St Peter's. This "Holy Roman Empire" split up with France going its own way, but the German side retained that name and maintained intermittent political, economic, religious and social ties with the Vatican and northern Italy in one way or another for centuries- right up to the alliance between Mussolini and Hitler.
(Incidentally, that's why you have a flourishing of Dutch painters lije Renbrandt towards the end of the Italian Renaissance; Peter Paul Rubens a generation or so earlier had gone to Italy to study art, as was common for the "Romanist" painters of German-speaking areas at the time. Rubens' father had also gone to Italy to study law. Some sort of story like that may explain the Italian).
TL;DR: There have always been merchants, artisans, members of the elite, clergy and scholars who have traveled around - a smsll minority of whom wind up settling in or marrying someone from their home away from hime. modern borders are really a modern invention!
@@ellenbryn Thanks!! I kind of like the idea of a “stray Viking”.
Well, most people cannot trace their family back that far, and you never know how accurate the couplings were. There is always doubt. I don't really have that problem because I was born in a small island country, which isn't all that significant for foreign travelers. I haven't found any foreign ancestry at least on paper.
@@Ponto-zv9vf I can trace back 4 generations in most of my lines and 5 generations in 2 lines.
@@ellenbryn Were Finns Vikings? They are not Scandinavian. That is a fact. A lot of Swedes have Finnish DNA matches and vice versa. I have north German ancestry and match a lot of Finns who are for the most part related to each other and sometimes a Swede here and there. It's intriguing and I think it goes back a few centuries. Those north European seas were like a waterway for my DNA. I can also see that with my Frisian mtDNA (T2b5). Most of my matches, into Russia with that mitochondrial DNA... distributed like that, geographically. Women must have been on some of those ships, through the centuries!
Great explanation!
Thank you! I hope it was helpful!
I had my DNA done by 23 and Me, but it was at such variance with my family trees that I had it redone with Ancestry. Ancestry was MUCH better. The Ancestry version has undergone a number of changes since then, but I do feel that it is becoming more accurate.