DNA saya Irish | Mumsnet

GordonBrownwhenherealisedhismicwasstillon · 06/12/2025 07:57

How far back do you know your family tree?

KimberleyClark · 06/12/2025 08:02

Was it Ancestry? Mine came back 50% Welsh and 50% Scottish/Irish, then they changed it to 100% Welsh which makes more sense as I am a first language Welsh speaker and so were both my parents and all of theirs.

Kave · 06/12/2025 08:02

I’ve not heard of a simple DNA test pinpointing a town. I suppose it’s possible with a fairly settled population & some unusual feature. I think it’d need more than a cheek swab, though. Which company?

Original poster

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 08:04

23andMe.

Its Leinster, sorry a county not a town.
On some branches i know the tree back to people born 1700s.
But not all branches as it becomes vast.

OP posts:

x2boys · 06/12/2025 08:08

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 07:55

Has this happened to anyone else?

My dna came back 98% Welsh and Irish even pinpoint the town in Ireland. I have never ever heard of Irish relatives.

Is this common? How far back does the dna mapping thing go? I thought from what I read it does not really pinpoint many many generations ago (since we're all relatives if you go far enough back)....

I imagine most people
le indigenous to the UK will have some ancestors from other parts of UK and Ireland.

Fibrous · 06/12/2025 08:10

Leinster is one of the four provinces in Ireland, it’s not a county. It’s also the most populated, so it’s not that specific a pinpoint. It includes Dublin.

amiadickhead · 06/12/2025 08:10

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 08:04

23andMe.

Its Leinster, sorry a county not a town.
On some branches i know the tree back to people born 1700s.
But not all branches as it becomes vast.

Leinster isn't a county it's a province made of 12 counties, so this is much less specific than you think.

Peridoteage · 06/12/2025 08:11

Could there be some errors in your family tree? You don't have to go back far before it becomes quite common for there to be things like:

hidden affairs so daughter number 2 isn't actually dads....
mum raising teenage daughters accidental/secret pregnancy with the farriers lad
unwanted 6th child is given to childless sister to raise etc

Rainallnight · 06/12/2025 08:13

Yeah Leinster is a province, around a quarter of Ireland.

What is this making you think? Do you have a theory?

Minjou · 06/12/2025 08:15

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 08:04

23andMe.

Its Leinster, sorry a county not a town.
On some branches i know the tree back to people born 1700s.
But not all branches as it becomes vast.

Not a county either, a province. More than 50% of the population of Ireland lives in Leinster

Original poster

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 08:22

Just checkdd and it says Wicklow.

Not over relevant, just never heard of a single Irish relative.

Makes sense tho because i am pale as milk and dark hair and eyes.

OP posts:

Dollymylove · 06/12/2025 08:23

I think it can change as more people join. My DNA test started at 17% Irish , now its 23% and the Scottish has reduced

Avantiagain · 06/12/2025 08:26

I have had 3% Mali consistently on mine and comparing with other Ancestry matches I think I have an ancestor born in the West Indies about 200 years ago.
I also have Irish DNA but I know that comes from GG grandparents who were born in Ireland.

Lifejigsaw · 06/12/2025 08:31

I don’t think it matters much how big Leinster is, the issue is 98% rather suggests OPs family tree is significantly different than she expected…

DoingAway · 06/12/2025 08:32

I’ve got Swedish and Icelandic in mine which I’m assuming goes back quite far to Vikings but I think given the adjacency it isn’t too surprising.

Matronic6 · 06/12/2025 08:32

DNA can come from ancestry thousands of years ago. My mum and her siblings did it and they had different results. Some siblings were more genetically matched than others. Whilst they were all mostly Irish, some were bit more Scottish and English than others and only 1 out of 5 of them was randomly 2% Portuguese.

DeQuin · 06/12/2025 08:38

Peridoteage · 06/12/2025 08:11

Could there be some errors in your family tree? You don't have to go back far before it becomes quite common for there to be things like:

hidden affairs so daughter number 2 isn't actually dads....
mum raising teenage daughters accidental/secret pregnancy with the farriers lad
unwanted 6th child is given to childless sister to raise etc

This.

HollyChristmas · 06/12/2025 08:44

Mine is 86% Western Europe / basically UK
Wales 5% ,

Denmark 5%
The Netherlands 5%

Again Denmark/Netherlands from centuries ago I presume .

AppropriateAdult · 06/12/2025 08:55

I’m not sure why this is surprising. There has always been free movement between Ireland and Britain, and there are millions of British people today with Irish ancestry. If your great great grandparents had been Irish emigrants would you really know?

Tormundsbeard · 06/12/2025 08:59

There was mass emigration from Ireland during the Great Irish Famine in the 19th Century.

Zhu · 06/12/2025 08:59

98% Irish is a lot though. My family tree which I know is about 40% Irish, the same Scottish and then some random other north European bits is reflected pretty accurately in the DNA test I did. 98% Irish is strange if your tree doesn’t reflect that.

x2boys · 06/12/2025 09:02

Zhu · 06/12/2025 08:59

98% Irish is a lot though. My family tree which I know is about 40% Irish, the same Scottish and then some random other north European bits is reflected pretty accurately in the DNA test I did. 98% Irish is strange if your tree doesn’t reflect that.

It says Welsh and Irish.

PodMom · 06/12/2025 09:06

Lifejigsaw · 06/12/2025 08:31

I don’t think it matters much how big Leinster is, the issue is 98% rather suggests OPs family tree is significantly different than she expected…

This. How is the relative part of your dna matches going? Are you matching people that you haven’t heard of. Obviously there’s always numerous second and third, etc cousins you won’t have heard of….are they Irish? Can you tell? Are there closer relatives that are coming up? People you know? Don’t know?

I do think they say that while dna relative matching is accurate that the ancestry regarding your countries of origin isn’t so accurate.

so either in the OPs case it isn’t accurate

or her more recent family tree is different to what she would expect

or past ancestors emigrated from Ireland, only ever married/had kids with other Irish expats and nobody talked about it/passed down an oral history of coming from Ireland. I’d say this last option is the most unlikely.

Original poster

blondlygo · 06/12/2025 09:06

Matronic6 · 06/12/2025 08:32

DNA can come from ancestry thousands of years ago. My mum and her siblings did it and they had different results. Some siblings were more genetically matched than others. Whilst they were all mostly Irish, some were bit more Scottish and English than others and only 1 out of 5 of them was randomly 2% Portuguese.

It can but these tests don't return results from thousands of years ago. I can see its up to between 6-8 generations

OP posts:

x2boys · 06/12/2025 09:08

AppropriateAdult · 06/12/2025 08:55

I’m not sure why this is surprising. There has always been free movement between Ireland and Britain, and there are millions of British people today with Irish ancestry. If your great great grandparents had been Irish emigrants would you really know?

Well exactly I know my Dad was born and lived in Ireland until he was 11 and his parents and grandparents were all Irish, but family history gets hazy beyond great grandparents
Similar on my mums side Her Dad's grandparents were Irish and her mum had an Irish maiden name but I dont know when her relatives came over to England.