Ancestry updated origins

[NorthWestWoes]

They’ve updated it all very recently. DM now shows as 22% Germanic, I think that was only about 4% before.

A large part of her family tree is south east England - Essex, Sussex, Suffolk. But nothing German or even from the continent unless you go back to 1680, And there are enough DNA matches with the right cousins/ 2nd 3rd cousins to be pretty confident a few generations back. So I’m guessing this is from a strong Saxon/ Angle / Jute ancestry matching quite closely with modern day native Germans.

I only come out as 4% Germanic so even more odd (I know we don’t inherit evenly but her 22% to me 4% is quite a German loss!).

Thats very interesting another2cats thanks.

I hate that it no longer shows you the number of 4th cousins or closer, instead it says “8 new matches” but they are all at 5th cousin or more distant.

If you click on the filter then click the "Shared DNA" drop down, you'll find it as an option in there. Not very user-friendly at all - I only found it by chance!

Re. Parent 1 and Parent 2, I complained about this because gender-neutral terminology has no place in a situation like this where biological sex is absolutely crucial in identifying where we come from. No response though.

You can overwrite them to say Paternal and Maternal, once you have worked out which is which. For me, Parent1 was the paternal side so I'd imagine that'll be standard for all. Do double-check though.

It's worth remembering that people are their mummy's baby's, and their daddy's maybe.

That far back, it's almost definite that someone played away or lied in some way (mum is sister etc.). If the DNA was remotely accurate, it would be much better than genealogy.

I've also had a few odd changes in ethnicity. Lost 9% Scottish and gained Irish and Dutch. I've got back at least 9 generations in most branches of my ancestry and never found any Irish connections yet.

DH will be furious to learn that he is no longer 89% Scottish, but his Irish has increased to a more accurate level. Also his English is gone, and been replaced by Danish. This might well be accurate as this side of his family came from the Danelaw area, so his changes seem to actually be more realistic. Jury's out on mine though.

Mine actually looks more accurate now. One of my grandparents was German and now it says 20% German while previously it was 5%. The rest has stayed fairly similar, although it says I'm 15% less Irish now.

Well I know my mother's father came from Ireland and her grandmother's father also came from Ireland, so the lots of Irish side has to be my mother's side. My father's side is pretty much Yorkshire/Lancashire as far as I can go, so the English, not a lot of Irish, a bit of Norwegian is his side. If both sides are very similar or you don't have much of a family tree it's a bit of a problem.

Edit: I don't know if it did before, but if you click on one of your areas it shows your matches that also match that area, if that help identify parents lines.

Aware of that but now I only have West Wales and North Wales. No Gloucestershire or SW England at all and given that at least 3 great grandparents came from there it seems odd.

Mine has changed a bit. Before the update my paternal line showed Scottish but now it doesn't come up at all. I can't remember what the percentage was though. How are people seeing what it was compared to now? Am I missing something or was it just that everyone had screenshotted it (or remembered!) before?

On the page which shows the Origins I have a link that says

"Updated July 2024. See what changed and FAQs"

If you click on the link then it shows what the figures were before. Attached are two screenshots showing this.

Thanks @Another2Cats I couldn't see it on the app but there was similar to yours when I looked via the website. Strange how it's changed though. The higher percentage for Germany isn't any surprise as my Gran was German. I didn't know anything regarding Scottish ancestors on my Dads side so it's not really surprising that has now gone. It's all so fascinating!

That doesn’t come up for me on the app, but it does on the website.

I'm not sure about the accuracy of the new update at all. I had 18% Scottish ancestry on my maternal side which has suddenly shifted entirely to my paternal side. Have traced my mother's family back to Yorkshire and Lancashire and then back to Scotland further back so that seemed to ring true, don't know how it could have shifted to a different parent. My surname (from my father) has a Scottish origin, but the family tree is strongly Southern England and some Norfolk.

Mine has all changed too. I've gone from 50% Scotland on my dad's side to 61% Scottish Highlands, which is odd as I went quite far back in my tree and didn't come across anyone who lived here. His side is North East England and North Yorkshire though, not sure if it all gets lumped in with Scotland but the Highlands is oddly specific.

I've lost all my Ireland which I wasn't expecting as my grandfather was half Irish (but apparently this can get lumped in with Scotland).

I've gained 9% Germanic Europe but lost Sweden. Inexplicably gained 1% Basque but I don't know which parent that's from as my membership expired. Two of my matches also have 1% Basque but I don't know who they are or who any of their matches are.

I love your line @MrsTerryPratchett
"People are their Mummy's baby but their Daddy's maybe ..."

Half brother or sister

@KungFuKitten brother. He has a cousin with the same surname in the US who matches half that DNA. Looks like my dad and uncle were spreading it about 🙄

I’m taking it all with a pinch of salt, the most recent update gives me 2% Portuguese. Which I was initially very curious about until I realised that my maternal grandparents and my dad who have all DNA tested for me do not have any Portuguese in their ethnicity estimates! Goodness knows where that came from 🤔

Remember @MrsTerryPratchett wrote upthread that people are their Mummy's baby but their daddy's maybe.
Perhaps someone "played away" hence the Portuguese connection?

This, from MyHertiage, explains it well.

Luck of the draw
Each human being receives a random mix of DNA from his or her parents: 50% from the mother, and 50% from the father. Because of the random selection, a person will not necessarily inherit a clean 50% of each of the parents’ ethnicities. For example, if your father is 50% English and 50% Iberian, you might inherit 50% English ethnicity, while your sibling inherits 25% English and 25% Iberian. Both of you have Iberian heritage, but your sibling may have inherited the DNA associated with that ethnicity while you did not.
If the missing ethnicity was from a grandparent, there is an even greater chance that it will be “hidden” in a grandchild’s genes

I am still irritated with the new layout. I am interested in close DNA matches as 4th cousins or closer. Now it says “new matches” and whoppie doo, they have 9cm. Too many steps have been introduced that the user has to do to get useful info, unlike the past iteration. I was hoping they would have enough feedback by now to change it back.

Normally yes I’d agree, but when my own Dad (who has DNA tested) and my Mum (both parents have DNA tested) don’t have any Portuguese DNA, it obviously is less than accurate!

I had the same thing happen. Under the new system it shows me as 1% Basque (which is Northern Spain) but neither of my parents have Basque.

When I look on the "Your regions by parent" it states that my 1% Basque comes from my father.

But then when I look at his DNA it says:

England & Northwestern Europe 77%
Germanic Europe 11%
Wales 9%
Denmark 3%

So, yes, these very small percentage ancestral regions can really be quite dodgy.

There is no such thing as "Belgian" DNA. These are man made borders.
It's hardly scientific.

No, I don't think it does explain it.

That explains why an ancestor may have certain DNA but a descendant does not.

It doesn't explain what is happening here.

The child is said to have Iberian DNA but neither of the parents have Iberian DNA.

I am now supposedly 1% Basque but, according to Ancestry, neither of my parents have that ancestral region at all.

I worked it out looking at relatives that share the same ancestry (eg large proportion of Scottish is only on one side of the family).