DNA Tests. What do you think?

[smirkymonkey]

Well, I got my results back. They aren't a complete surprise, but they aren't what I thought they would be. I grew up believing that I was half Italian (father) one quarter English and one quarter Dutch (mother). My results were:

51% Italian
17% Irish (Muenster)
18% Western Europe (no specific country mentioned)
6% Iberian Peninsula
The rest was a smattering of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Finland/Northwest Russia, European Jewish, Caucasus and Middle East.

I was surprised by the high percentage of Irish. I knew I had an Irish great, great grandmother, but my mother's maiden name is distinctly English. Also, my father, who is Italian had it done and his came back w/ 65% Greek, 20% Italian and the rest a mix, so how come I did not have any Greek and I am more Italian than he is.

Maybe I don't understand how it works, or maybe it's just not very accurate. Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone else had it done and had any surprises.

[TexasProgresive]

1. As to your mother's English surname- The Brits forced some Irish to take "normal" names.

That could be the reason or not. As to the DNA tests for determining ethnic background, I would be interested but I have real privacy concerns. So what am doing posting on the internet if I have privacy concerns? Who knows?

[hunter]

37. Many Irish immigrants reinvented themselves as "not Irish" when they got to America.

If they didn't succeed at first they'd move on a try again.

The genealogies some of my older relatives claimed were almost comically not Irish.

That was one way of dealing with anti-Irish bigotry.


People forget that before computer databases records got lost in fires, people landed in America undocumented, births weren't immediately recorded, and white males were generally accepted to be as they claimed so long as they stayed out of trouble.

My own grandfather had three "official" birthdates, one on his Social Security, one on his California Drivers License, and one on his military records. After my grandma died my grandfather claimed yet another much younger age to his girlfriends. He once asked me to say I was his son whenever I was visiting him.

The first line of the apocryphal "Code of the West" is:

"Don’t inquire into a person’s past. Take the measure of a man for what he is today."

My grandfather had run off to (or been sent away to) the big city of Cheyenne Wyoming when he was sixteen, age according to his sister.

[Clarity2]

2. Bookmarking this

Because my mother and son both sent in tests recently.

Part of my family comes from the Kingdom of Bavaria. I told my mother if she finds out we're related to Trump, she maybe shouldn't tell anyone...especially any Trumpsters in the family.

I will be getting around to doing it eventually... We have a ton of Irish in our families too.

I'm embarrassed I never heard of Caucasus and had to look it up!

[handmade34]

3. my DNA results

are pretty much what I expected... although there is some Middle East DNA that I didn't expect

on the other hand... my partner's results showed significant Native American DNA and with some additional research he found a brother and sister he did not know he had... we met the sister last week and are now planning a trip to Minneapolis to meet his brother... much excitement all around... I keep telling him he and family could be ad on TV

[Sophia4]

29. That is what is great -- finding relatives and family history you never knew

existed thanks to your DNA.

[Siwsan]

4. I saw something weird on a 'revelation' show

A brother and sister who didn't represent themselves as other than full siblings got their results back, but the results were different. The specific I remember was the % of Native American was different between the two. I'm no DNA expert, but if you share the same parents, shouldn't your DNA come back identical?

I know that part of my family came from Eastern Europe, and the rest from Western Europe. I identify, on a strong emotional level, with the Welsh faction of the family that also has a smattering of Dutch. My brother identifies with the other side. So who knows - maybe the genetics flow in different ways to different family members.

(As a disclaimer, I don't have a whole lot of faith in any of those DNA companies and I worry about what they will do with the information in their data banks. But, that's just me.)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Only identical twins will have identical DNA.

The way DNA is passed on is random, so while each sibling gets half of their DNA from each parent it won't be the same half for each sibling. The reason identical twins have the same DNA is that they started out as a single fertilized egg. Otherwise, even though the underlying ethnicities will be the same or similar, the proportions will be different, and some nationality DNA might not be inherited at all by some siblings while others get it. https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/03/05/understanding-patterns-of-inheirtance-where-did-my-dna-come-from-and-why-it-matters/

[smirkymonkey]

8. Thanks, that's very interesting.

I still wonder how my Italian dad could come back 65% Greek, 20% Italian and I would come back w/ 50% Italian.

[Siwsan]

10. How interesting! I knew our specific, personal DNA was pretty individual

but I thought that ancestral aspect would be the same, between full siblings.

I've always had a belief in what I called 'Atavistic DNA' as an explanation for many of my insights, interests and beliefs. Perhaps there is a degree of validity to that theory.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

11. My friend recently found out she and her sister are only half sisters.

It’s not a complete surprise since their father has been estranged since very early in their childhood. But still...

And then there is this wild story:


https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/

[Siwsan]

12. I remember reading about a woman who was a 'Chimera' and didn't share DNA with her child

As I recall, her uterus was actually that of her 'absorbed' twin.

Yea, I think this DNA technology can, at times, be a Pandora's box of epic proportions.

[Upthevibe]

14. Well there went 45 minutes of my dad

reading this crazy story.....

[Iggo]

19. Helluva story at that link!

[Laffy Kat]

24. You know, it's a good thing that she learned she had some Ashkenazi.

Women with Ashkenazi genes have a higher than usual occurrence of a type of breast cancer and need to be followed more closely than other women. So much so, it is a question that is on many beast cancer screening forms. It's good to know.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

25. Wow. Never knew that. Interesting

[d_r]

35. Good read, thanks nt

[Xipe Totec]

5. 80% European, 20% Native American

60% Iberian, no trace of Irish/English

My direct paternal line (Y-chromosome) is Middle Eastern. Direct Maternal (Mitochondrial) is Native American.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. The way they come up with these percentages

is by comparing your sample to their total database of other samples. The larger their database, the more accurate any particular results will be. If you used Ancestry DNA, as I did, they will give you a percentage that's actually based on a range of probability, which they also show. One reason your results didn't show any Greek despite your father's results is that you don't inherit your parents' ethnicity in neat percentages. Instead, the percentage of DNA passed on to the next generation will be random. Here's an explanation: https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/03/05/understanding-patterns-of-inheirtance-where-did-my-dna-come-from-and-why-it-matters/

My results showed I was 55% Norwegian, even though three of my mother's grandparents were Norwegian and the fourth was German. My father, as far as we know, had no Norwegian ancestry but was mostly Scottish/English and a mix of other assorted European nationalities, including some German. But I got only a tiny smattering of German although considering what we know about both my parents' ancestors there should have been a lot more. I just didn't inherit much of the German DNA because of how the genes divide up, which is randomly (the excess Norwegian can probably be explained by Vikings invading Britain). Your results are probably pretty accurate for basically the same reason.

[smirkymonkey]

9. Oh, ok. I see. Disregard my post above. You have explained it in this one.

Thank you!

It's all very confusing.

[OnDoutside]

13. It's Munster, not Muenster !!! Wonderful Munster ☺

When you say distinctly English, it could be a Norman name, which would be popular here in Ireland.

[smirkymonkey]

21. Sorry, I was thinking of the cheese!

The name is Ottaway, which is pretty much English. I'm not sure if it is very popular in Ireland.

[MaryMagdaline]

26. I also have an Anglo name because of the Norman

Conquerors. They came 1170 to Ireland and were a mishmash of English, french, welsh and flemish groups. Other Irish names were anglicized over the centuries. I probably have majority Norman-Irish blood and the rest Gaelic Irish. The Irish intermarried with all the conquering groups ... Vikings, Normans, Saxons, English, Scottish. From what I've heard from family members who took the DNA test, it all shows up as Irish.

[wishstar]

15. The discrepancy between you and your Dad is puzzling if you used same company

According to Ancestry I am 43% Italian/Greek, 0% Iberian and 0% N. African and 2% Ashkenazi. That company does not distinguish between Italian and Greek DNA as the populations were so intermixed. However when I put my DNA on My Heritage, they said I was 27% Greek, 16% Iberian, 9% Ashkenazi, 6% N African and 0% Italian. Family Tree DNA was kind of in between but they do not break down Italy and Greek, just show Southern European in their analysis. I have found original records establishing both of my 2 Italian grandparents' ancestry back to over 300 years ago in southernmost tip of Italy that was colonized much earlier by Greeks so is understandable that some DNA companies would show Italy/Greek and the other Greek.

Makes no sense though that your company would have not found any Greek ancestry for you while showing 65% for your Dad unless their method of analysis was handled differently for each of you or had changed.

I have several cousins who have tested on Ancestry and all our results are consistent with each other and match up with what we know about our ancestry. Although I think Ancestry is usually quite accurate, their testing only shows me as 3% Irish while I have well documented Irish ancestry of over 12% so their results are certainly just approximations and not completely accurate.

[smirkymonkey]

20. Interesting. Thank you. We (me and my parents) went through different companies.

I did Ancestry and my sister bought my parents kits from 23 and me for Christmas so it makes sense that our results would show up differently. If I ever have a little extra money left over I would like to try another company just to see how it compares.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. Here's why there can be a discrepancy among relatives:

https://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2014/03/05/understanding-patterns-of-inheirtance-where-did-my-dna-come-from-and-why-it-matters/

[lastlib]

16. I refuse to do it.

To me, it's a sneaky way of getting my DNA into a database, and I don't want it there. I don't know what they will do with the information after they report the results to me, so they're not getting it. I don't need to know that badly.

[backtoblue]

18. I feel the same way

It's giving away the most personal, valuable information that a person has. I'm just fine just knowing that I am my mother's daughter.

[Luciferous]

23. Yeah I'm too paranoid about them having my DNA.

[MaryMagdaline]

27. In the last two months I heard from 2 friends who learned they had a relative they never knew about

One whose mother gave up a baby for adoption and one whose brother had a child he did not know about. Both were discovered when family members took DNA tests. Happy results in both cases. I elected not to share DNA on Ancestry but I don't have much confidence they won't share.

[ailsagirl]

17. I considered it but decided not to in the end n/t

[underthematrix]

28. I decided against it as well given that a criminal and traitor is now occupying the WH

[thbobby]

30. I just don't care about having a DNA test

I am relatively sure I am human. But beyond that, I am not interested. Also, I am paranoid and do not want my DNA test results available to anyone (they may discover I am not human).

[radical noodle]

31. I know people who had the test done

and found their sperm donor was not the father they'd always known.

I had mine done and it came out pretty much as I'd thought it would.

[Rhiannon12866]

32. You might want to post in the Ancestry/Genealogy Group

I's not as fast moving, but there have been plenty of discussions on this there.

Ancestry/Genealogy (Group)
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1156

[pansypoo53219]

33. NPR had a geneticist on to explain weird results. every egg is a complete mash up of what you could

show up. we are a genetic gumbo.

[SWBTATTReg]

34. Opening Pandora's box might not be what you want...

Never know what you'll find...

Maybe even alien DNA!!

Just kidding (about the alien DNA)...but in truth, families have lots of secrets in the past, will in the future too.

[radical noodle]

36. Yes...

I've solved many family mysteries and secrets (even before doing my DNA) but I enjoy that sort of thing. Some don't and they shouldn't even get started in it.

[hunter]

38. Oh hell no. They'll discover my alien heritage...

... and I'll be locked up for the rest of my life in some Area 51 bunker getting probed in many horrible and unspeakable ways by amoral government scientists.