Question of the Week: What are your DNA ethnicity estimates?

Question

If you have taken a DNA test, what does the testing company report for your ethnicity? Is it what you expected?

Please tell us about it with an answer below, or answer on Facebook, or use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on any social media.

P.S. Don't forget to select which test you have taken so it can be connected to your ancestors' and cousins' profiles.

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Answer 1

Ancestry DNA

Eastern Europe and Russia - 31%

England and NW Europe - 29%

Germanic Europe - 17%

Sweden&Denmark - 15%

Baltics - 5%

Ireland - 2%

Scotland - 1%

Answer 2

Scotland- 34%

England & Northwestern Europe- 28%

Norway- 22%

Ireland- 12%

Sweden & Denmark- 4%

Ancestry DNA

Answer 3

Ancestry DNA

English and Northern Europe 41%

Scotland 28%

Ireland 15%

Sweden & Denmark 8%

Norway 8%

I would assume that my father's German ancestors fall into the Northwestern Europe percentage. My maternal paternal great-grandfather was from the Shetland Islands so I guess that might be where possibly the Scandinavian percentage comes from. But it was more than I would have expected.

23&me

British & Irish 86%

French & German 11.2%

Broadly Northwestern European 1%

Southern European - Sardinia 0.8%

The estimated  "Southern European" percentage  even though it is tiny is not one I expected. 

Answer 4

Family Tales (what I was told growing up)
Scottish - 25%
Irish - 25%
French - 25%
German - 25%

Well we had two NPEs which threw the French out the window and gave us Wales and England. The Scandinavian is from both sides and an added bonus.

Ancestry Autosomal Results - September 2023

• Scotland - 29%
• England & Northwest Europe - 28%
• Germanic Europe - 16%
• Wales - 10%
• Ireland - 10%
• Sweden & Denmark - 7%

Communities:

• Delaware Valley, Chesapeake & Midwest Settlers
• Newfoundland & Southeastern Labrador Settlers
• Nova Scotia & Prince Edward Island Settlers
• Northern New England Settlers

Total matches: 44,866

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MyHeritage - (no date)

• North and West European - 66.7%
• Scandinavian - 18.6%
• Irish, Scottish, and Welsh - 7.7%
• Italian - 4.5%
• Iberian - 2.5%

This is kind of what Ancestry looked like when I first did my DNA in 2012. They didn't have enough test subjects or enough testers.

Additional Genetic Groups:

• Midwestern USA #9
• Midwestern USA #2
• Northeastern and Midwestern USA #9
• Canada (Newfoundland) and USA (Massachusetts)
• Canada (Southeastern Newfoundland)
• Northeastern and Midwestern USA #6
• Canada (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario), USA (Massachusetts) and Australia (New South Wales)
• UK and Ireland

Total matches: 13,933

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FTDNA - (no date)

• England, Wales, Scotland - 65%
• Scandinavia - 21%
• Italian Peninsula - 10%
• West Slavic - 4%

Total matches: 5,392

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23andMe - July 23, 2022

• French & German -  48.9%
• British Isles (UK & Ireland) - 48.1%
• Broadly Northwestern European - 1.2%
• Spanish & Portuguese - 1.8%

Total matches: 1,502

Comments

Noticed England and Scotland and checked our relationships.  We are triple cousins - 11th cousin: England;  20th cousin; England; and 18th cousin: Scotland. (Through 3 of my grandparents.)

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That's awesome, cousin George!

Answer 5

My most current Ancestry Ethnicity

*Scotland- 35%

*England and NW Europe-31%

*Ireland-11%

*Wales-9 %

*Germanic Europe-8%

*Sweden & Denmark-6 %

Answer 6

Based on my families verbal history I believe it would be England and Ireland.

England & Northwestern Europe 42%
Scotland    27%
Germanic Europe    13%
Ireland    9%
Sweden & Denmark    5%
Norway    4%

I really enjoy the Ancestry Communities map

DNA Communities
Arkansas, Oklahoma & Texas Settlers 1700-1975
   Central Texas to Red River Valley Settlers

Alabama Settlers 1775-1975
   Central Southeast & Northern Alabama Settlers

Early Pennsylvania Settlers 1700-1975
   Early Settlers of Central Pennsylvania

Eastern Ohio River Valley & Northern Blue Ridge Mountains Settlers 1700-1975
   Southeast Pennsylvania & Northern Maryland Border Settlers

Answer 7

100% Europe

England Wales Scotland 82

Central Europe 14

Ireland 5

Answer from Ftdna

Answer 8

this looks more accurate to me than my Ftdna estimate.

England + Nortwestern Europe 45%

Scotland 24%

Ireland 24%

Sweden + Denmark 7%

From Ancestry

Answer 9

I've taken 3 DNA Tests, FamilySearch, MyHeritage & Ancestry, The 1st 2 came back pretty basic 55% Irish, Scots, Welsh & 45% Scandinavian. Ancestry was a Bit better 69% Irish, 19-20% English, 2% Scots & 2% Danish & Norwegian! Jack.

Answer 10

I am 50% Irish and 50% Scottish. I knew my Maternal Grandparents were from County Tipperary in Ireland, and I Knew there was a Scots link on my Paternal lineage. However, I grew up in England and assumed that I was mainly English (I even have a Tattoo of the Union flag and underneath it has the words “Made in England “) so you can imagine my shock when I saw the DNA Results from three different Genealogy sites.

Comments

Your tree is 100% Irish! But I notice most of the earlier profiles are unsourced, so maybe there's some discoveries there still.

Answer 11

England & Northwestern Europe 45%

Scotland 25%

Ireland 11%

Germanic Europe 8%

Wales 5%

Norway 4%

Sweden & Denmark 2%

Ancestry DNA

Answer 12

England 56%

Scotland 42%

Germanic 2%

Proved out by 9 English Kings GGFs and 16 Scottish Kings/Queens GGMs/GGFs lineages from both my paternal GM and GF as well as my maternal GM.  Most royalty are triple GGFs and GGMs

Ancestry

Many WikiTreers are my triple cousins. Cheryl on the above post and Steve below are both my triple cousins!

Answer 13

Scotland 31%

England and Northwestern Europe 28%

Ireland 18%

Sweden and Denmark 12%

Wales 10%

Norway 1%

Ancestry is where I took my DNA test

Answer 14

MyHeritage results:

Irish, Scottish, and Welsh - 59.7%

Scandinavian - 29.2%

Iberian - 11.1%

The two surprises for me were the absence of English (although most of my DNA matches have some British), and the 11% Iberian ancestry. I did recently read a book that said that there's a DNA segment that is common in Portugal and certain areas of Scotland, suggesting that very early ancestors, coming out of Africa passed through what's now the Iberian peninsula before continuing north to the British isles, on what was then a dry land connection.

Comments

The CEO of MyHeritage said their ethnicity estimates are not that good as they don't have enough testers yet. But they are hoping to update that soon. They just had a big push at RootTech for those who have tested at other sites to upload their DNA to their platform.

Ancestry is the best company to test for Autosomal DNA/Ethnicities as they have the most testers and test subjects. I have 44,866 matches on Ancestry, 13,933 on MyHeritage, 5,392 on FTDNA and 1,502 shared matches on 23andMe. I tested at Ancestry in 2012, 23andMe in 2019, uploaded to FTDNA in 2019 and MyHeritage in 2021.

FTDNA is the best for YDNA and Mitochondrial DNA tests. 23andMe is known for their health side, more than their DNA/Tree side - but they just had a big security breach and we can't even see our shared matches anymore. So the site, in my opinion, is currently useless.

MyHeritage does have one thing I like that Ancestry is about to launch, and that is being able to see how other matches match your shared matches. Unfortunately, they are adding that new DNA tool to the new ProTools option, which is an additional cost to your subscription. But I'll have to bite the bullet for a little while as I am knee deep in a DNA research project and could use that tool.

Answer 15

Ancestry dot com:

Ireland      48%

Eng & NW Eur     30%

Scotland     12%

Norway    6%

Wales     3%

Finland     1%

==========

23andMe:

NW Eur:  99.7%

   (Brit & Irish 95.6%, French & German 2.6%, and Scandanavian 0.4%(

Trace: 0.2%

==========

MyHeritage: Unavailable!

==========

Answer 16

Ancestry.com lists 27% Germanic Europe, 16% Scotland, 14% Norway, 14% England/NW Europe, 13% Sweden/Denmark, 4% Wales, 3% Ireland, 3% Indigenous America.

My Heritage lists 42.8% North and Western Europe, 39.7 Ireland, Scotland, Wales, 9.2% Balkan, 6.8% Greek and S Italian, 3.6% Scandinavian, 2.1% Indigenous America

23 and me lists French/German 42.6%, British/Irish 15.9%, Scandinavia 15.9%, Broadly NW European 22.4%, Eastern European 4.7%, Greek/Balkan 1.5%, Indigenous America 3.1%

Ancestry.com comes the closest

Answer 17

My brother and I tested with Ancestry and the results were pretty much what I expected, having researched my famliy tree for over forty years. We are heavily English and Scottish, with a touch of Welsh.

There was one surprise - the amount of Irish. But that can be explained by my reason for taking the test in the first splace - the (since successful) search for my biological paternal grandfather. Turns out his mum was Irish.

Answer 18

Myheritage:

Scandinavian 44,1%

Iberian            24,9%

Balkans           20,5%

Breton Irlandaise écossaise galloise   8%

Moyen orientale    2,5%

23 and Me

Northwestern Europe    97,9¨% (french and german 97%)

Southern European :Italian 1%

Broadly European    0,3%

Trace ancestry 0,5 %  (Iranian Caucasian Mesopotamian 0,2%,northen chinese tibetan 0,3)

unsigned 0,3%

Living DNA

Recent ancestry:

Europe 100%

       South germanic 68,8%

       Scandinave       10,9%

       Great britain and Ireland   20,31%  ( Ireland 1,2%)

Genomelink

Northwestern europe 48%

Iberian14%

Italian 11,9%

Balkan11,2%

Near East 4%

Eastern Europe 2,7

Dravidian 1,9%

Scandinavian 1,1%

Native people of North America 0,4%

North African 0,4%

Native people of Andes 0.1%

Southeast asia  0,1%

Other Europeans 4,2%

Genomelink

Answer 19

I took a simple dna test through  Ancestry in 2017, just hoping to find more about the origins of my father, who was orphaned at age 2 in 1930. Well, my results came back with several ‘surprises’! Maternal side of Irish/German was documented correctly but Swedish and Congo - well WHO KNEW?!?  

Sweden & Denmark	31%
Germanic Europe	24%
• Ireland	19%
• Scotland	14%
	• England & Northwestern Europe 9%
Peoples	• Cameroon, Congo & Western Bantu 2%
Baltics 1

Answer 20

I took my DNA test with Ancestry and was mildly surprised believing I had mostly a Germanic background.  Turned out to be 68% English Isles (England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales), 22% Germanic, 7% Viking (Norway, Sweden & Denmark) and 2% Eastern Europe/Russia.