Ancestry DNA test

[Kismet]

So I did that DNA test on Ancestry.com which determines your genetic ethnicity and I was kind of surprised at the results. As far as I know, my family is all from central/northern Italy, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. So my results ended up being 27% from Southern Europe (which includes Italy), 16% Central Europe (which includes Austria) and 15% Eastern Europe (which includes Hungary & Slovakia) so those pieces all make sense. The pieces that didn't make sense were 27% British Isles and 15% Persian/Turkish/Caucasus. I was not expecting anything from the British Isles and that it's such a large percentage is very strange.

Has anyone else done this? How did your results turn out?

 

[VRBeauty]

Which service did you use? What does it actually test? I mean - how do they come up with those percentages?

I've looked into doing it for my mother before but decided against doing it - but now I don't remeber why!

 

[JewelFreak]

I thought they only tested male DNA. The ones I've seen specify the sample should be from a man who has the last name in question. Or are there places that do random ones, to tell where any person's forebears are from?

I'd like to do my father's line -- having trouble getting farther back than my g-grandfather -- but they require male DNA & I can't see either of my brothers wanting to go for it. We have a Scottish last name; recently I heard from somebody on a last-name forum who said our line is Dutch with spelling anglicized, so it matches a Scots one. Rats! I've been married to a Dutchman forever -- I wanna be Scots!

--- Laurie

 

[Kismet]

I used the test at ancestry.com. I think some of the older tests required a male but these newer ones do not. Here's the FAQ http://ldna.ancestry.com/atFAQ.aspx which can probably answer the questions better than I can.

ETA: I'm thinking about seeing if I can get my mother to do this to see if the British Isles DNA is from her side.

 

[starshine]

Wow! That is really cool!

 

[lovebug1031]

I've done 23andme which also gives you ancestry results! I was a bit surprised with mine, but moreso because i had no idea what I was! Turns out i'm really just a mutt, my highest percentage of anything was british at 8.7%!

 

[Jennifer W]

I don't quite know how the tests are 'scored' for want of a better word. I don't really think there's any such thing as British DNA, since there are four nations within the United Kingdom, and much of the land is populated by people who are descended from various invading nations. French and Viking DNA are common here, for example.

There's a lot of work being done on ancestral DNA in the UK at the moment. Google 'Viking DNA project' for some interesting stuff.

I can trace my family back nearly 500 years though, and we all come from the same little part of Scotland. Many of us have red hair, so probably at some point we had Viking ancestry, but that's further back than Parish records go.

 

[Kismet]

I don't quite know how the tests are 'scored' for want of a better word. I don't really think there's any such thing as British DNA, since there are four nations within the United Kingdom, and much of the land is populated by people who are descended from various invading nations. French and Viking DNA are common here, for example.

Not British, British Isles, so it is taking into account all four nations. I can't really say I understand how it's scored either.

Here's what my results look like. The pins on the map are places my family came from.

 

[megumic]

This is cool. I've always wanted my mom to do it since my maternal grandmother was found on a doorstep. Maybe now I will pay for her to have her DNA tested so we can get to the bottom of our background!

 

[Catmom]

My test came out 90% Central European and 10% uncertain which is really strange because my father's family came from the British Isles. Hmmmmmm.

 

[katpaw]

I was really surprised by my Ancestry.com DNA results too. I consider myself Hungarian and German. My results came back 59% Scandinavian, 25% Eastern Europe, 8% Southern Europe and 8% Persian/Turkish/Caucasus.