Genealogy
Two Different Ethnicity Estimates on Ancestry?
Pogonogo · 15/04/2022 07:33
Can anyone please help me with Ancestry DNA please?
I've recently received my test results back. I have the result on the DNA story page which says I'm mainly English and NW Europe, then part Irish and part Scottish.
Then when I click on the matches it gives me a different estimate % , which says I'm mainly Irish, less English and then introduces Germanic Europe, Sweden, Denmark and Norway as well as Scottish.
Both are very interesting, but why are there two different ones?
Bewilderbeest · 15/04/2022 16:36
Sorry but there is no way to tell your ethnic origin from your DNA like this. All these tests can tell you is that you have a %age chance of having DNA from a particular area. So “I’m 33% Irish” basically means that you have a 33% chance that some part of your ancestry came from there. And given that at a population level, people from Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Northern Europe are genetically indistinguishable, your company is overstating the science. That’s why you’ve got different numbers - they’re essentially making it up.
www.popsci.com/story/science/dna-tests-myth-ancestry-race/?amp
time.com/5783784/dna-testing-genetics/?amp=true
OakRowan · 15/04/2022 17:07
I heard a thing on the radio about this, apparently all the % matches are just to other registered, living, DNA tested users of the same service, similar profiles to yours currently living in those locations, not an accurate representation of your generational and geographical history. So some other people, with similar DNA live in those places is all.
chisanunian · 15/04/2022 17:13
I agree, much of the result you get is based on the results of matches of yours, and is highly dependent on the number of your distant relatives who have also done the Ancestry DNA test thing. So if an entire large family from one area has done it, but very few from another branch in another country, it can skew the results a lot.
If you think about all the Americans of Irish descent who may have done theirs, it means that there are far more possible Irish hits.
Pogonogo · 15/04/2022 17:38
Don't worry, I'm not taking it seriously and actually my original one is actually spot on as far as the last 300 years go.
I just thought it was odd that on the same site there appears to be two different ethnicity estimates and wondered why?
Is it just mine or do others have this too?
MMBaranova · 15/04/2022 17:39
It's still early days with all this genetic stuff. Lots of data and a lot of jumping to conclusions. Give it another 20 years for a couple of rethinks and before that treat it as interesting.
What on Earth, for instance, is English? There are so many components to English heritage over the centuries. If you have known Irish heritage, that's a can of worms. Deep and regionally varied Irish genes (see image), coastal Viking settlers, plantation Scots and English, mixed?

newrubylane · 16/04/2022 20:18
I believe there has been an update to everyone's ethnicity estimates this week, so you might just have got caught between the old and new version somehow?
xJoy · 28/02/2023 15:58
That should mean that my result should have come back ''American'' but it didn't. It was UK and Ireland a bit of Nowway, Denmark et cetera. As expected, no shocks, but yeh, one of these days somebody Irish is going to discover that they're ethnicity is....................American!
IkBenDeMol · 01/03/2023 18:23
Ethnicity estimates are the horoscopes of the genealogy world. A bit of fun and to be taken with a HUGE pinch of salt. The sites are great at matching you with other people who share your DNA. They are not able to pinpoint where all your ancestors came from and in small islands like ours people move.
If you look at the Ancestry circle for "Scotland" it takes in Cumbria, Northumberland, the Isle of Man and a good chunk of N Ireland. Because there is no difference between people living 20 miles apart either side of the border.
Ethnicity can be helpful if it is dramatically different from what you were expecting - DH did a test and although his paternal line is supposed to be from Wales, he has very little "Welsh" DNA and instead is matching strongly with people from an entirely different part of the UK. Because it transpired that his grandfather's father wasn't who we thought it was.
It's a marketing tool, a bit of fun. Don't get hung up on it, the matches are the important thing.
chisanunian · 11/03/2023 22:44
xJoy · 28/02/2023 15:58
That should mean that my result should have come back ''American'' but it didn't. It was UK and Ireland a bit of Nowway, Denmark et cetera. As expected, no shocks, but yeh, one of these days somebody Irish is going to discover that they're ethnicity is....................American!
No they won't. Not unless they have DNA matches with indigenous Americans.
Everyone else in the USA is descended from immigrants, so their DNA will show where their ancestors came from - Ireland, Germany, Italy, England etc.
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