Anyone see any changes in their DNA origins in Ancestry's recent updates?

Question

For the past few years I've seen little change in Ancestry's annual DNA Origins updates for me.  They think I'm a bit English, (26 %) a bit Swedish, (24 %) a bit Eastern European, (17%), bit German, (15%), a bit Baltic (11%) and a bit Scottish (7%).  So I can locate lots of Ancestors from England, Eastern Europe, Germany, Baltics and Scotland but my nearly 25% Swedish/Danish is reduced to one 3rd great grandfather on Mom's side, likely born in Sweden, when it's my father side that has 18% of that 24%.  It's a curiosity.

Comments

Gosh, I never expected anyone to give an explanation.  I was just asking about the experiences of other WikiTreers with this year's update.  So I was relating my experience, never thinking there was an explanation.  I love WikiTree and G2G.  You are great people!

Answer 1

You might find this Ancestry article answers your question:

https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/surprising-Sweden-Denmark-or-Norway-ethnicity-results

Comments

Thank you, Regan.  The article was helpful.  I certainly have deep roots in Eastern England.

Answer 2

Im on gene base, theres stay pretty much the same.

Comments

Yes, Anon.  For some of us it only changed in the beginning.  When they had enough data, it remains same year to year.

Answer 3

This sounds like a question for Ancestry and not for WikiTree.

Comments

No, Kevin.  I asked in the right place.  We can talk about DNA results on Ancestry.  But what about my original question.  Did your results change or stay the same?

Answer 4

As in the past, the basic ethnicity has stayed the same, but the basic percentages have changed. so not much changes from one revision to another.

However if you go back to my first result and compare that to the most recent revision, I've gained quite a few other ethnicities, breaking down larger regions into separate areas. The latest breaks down Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales from the older United Kingdom. It also used to be just "Scandinavia", now it breaks those down separately.

Comments

Thank you, Ken.  I think my first report just said England, West Europe, East Europe.  So as you say, they are improving their data, breaking down the larger regions.

Answer 5

I'm now a little bit more English (52% from 47%) and a little bit less Irish (31% from 35%). I'm pleased that Northern Italian has moved into a clear 3rd place (6% from 4%), as if I had inherited equal amounts of DNA from all my great grandparents I should theoretically be 1/8th Italian, and we believe it's Northern Italy.

Having read the interesting article that Regan linked to, I'm now a lot less "English Viking" (3% from 8%). I seem to now be twice as Scottish (4% from 2%), but I'm not aware of any recent Scottish ancestors so that's probably linked to the Irish branches.

Comments

Good point, Paul.  "If I inherited equal amounts of DNA from all my grandparents" and that's the key...it's so random.  Yes, that was an interesting article that Regan linked.  It certainly explained things for me.

Answer 6

I only just looked at it because you asked, and I had, what I think is a HUGE change! Even though on my father's side the paper trail all leads to Palermo, Sicily, I am only 30% Southern Italian. The other 20% comes from the Aegean Islands, Greece and Albania, Cyprus, France and the Balkans.

I am also surprised on my maternal side because Wales and England & Northwest Europe are more largely represented. I've lost a lot of Germany, but gained Norway, Scotland, Northern Italy and Easter Europe & Russia. I think my Ireland increased.

Too bad I wasn't able to test my maternal grandparents. My grandmother had deep roots in the US, but my grandfather's parents were both immigrants - one from Germany and one from Ireland.

My daughter still has her indigenous North American though. Interestingly, she inherited both Sweden & Denmark and Spain from me, but I don't show those in my estimate.

Then I looked at my sister's inheritance and her chart looks so different from mine. She has Ireland on our Italian paternal side and Sardinia that I do not. On our maternal side, she has almost equal amounts of England & NW Europe, Ireland and Wales, with a little Scotland thrown in.

Comments

Fascinating, Lucy.  They are trying to get more samples to become more accurate but I 'm glad you noted that there was a difference with your sister, because my friend's sister just said on Saturday when we were discussing this, "no point in me getting tested; I'll just be the same as my sister."

Answer 7

yes mine changed and is now more inline with gedmatch

Comments

That's good, Donna. Mine still isn't in line with FamilyTree.