Anyone do a DNA test? Any surprises?

[bif]

I just sent mine in. Expecting mostly Eastern European (Polish) and a trace of Jewish. There was a rumor that we had some Swedish blood, but I have my doubts. This will prove it one way or another. (My brother's convinced we're from Swedish nobility.)

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I'm about to.

Expecting some surprises to find out if remaining family still exists in Lithuania.

[Sherman A1]

2. Until Privacy of the Data is more secure

I don't see me doing one.

[notdarkyet]

31. My feelings also.

[Quemado]

36. +1

+1

[Flaleftist]

63. Same here. I am wary of giving my DNA to a private company.

Or any entity for that matter. There's no telling what some unscrupulous people could do with that kind of information. Anyway, my family ancestory has been fairly well documented for several generations. If I have some distant relation to some famous person in the Middle Ages, I really don't care.

[cilla4progress]

3. Had our daughter do it.

Silly me - I thought it would come back 50% Russian, since all my grandparents were born there. But of course - Russian is a nationality, not an ethnicity! She is 50% Ashkenazi Jew! With some Swedish, etc., thrown in on her dad’s side.

We are likely related! 😉

[yallerdawg]

4. We had always heard we were just a couple generations from Native American.

Multiple tests on that side of the family and descendants showed we were about the whitest damn people I ever heard of! 100% Irish/English/European.

Which finally explained why I have such bad luck at the "Indian" casinos!

[yesphan]

6. My mother told me that her

grandfather was 100% Osage which would put me at @ 1/8.
Test results were 0% Native American. My brother's results came back the same.
I never met my mom's grand father but I did know her dad. He had black hair and brown eyes.

[yallerdawg]

10. My grandmother and her sister in Oklahoma City...

were named Juanita and Ona.

We never questioned our Native American heritage.

[tonyt53]

28. My oldest sister's came back 0% Native American. Mine came back at a bit over 5%.

My grandmother (mom's mother) said she was half Cherokee. At least one of our tests (sister and mine) is wrong. My oldest sister and I look exactly alike, so no babies swapped at the hospital.

[fleur-de-lisa]

20. My brother and I had ours analyzed with 23andMe.

We are more than 99% northern European, with lots of Neanderthal DNA (about 95th percentile). That's funny because Neanderthals were supposed to be somewhat short and squat. All members of my immediate family are exceptionally tall.

[JenniferJuniper]

5. Huge surprise for my uncle

He found out my grandfather was not his father and amazingly enough (with a little help from me) was reunited with his late father's family, including an elderly aunt and cousins who had been looking for him for nearly 70 years. His father died in WWII and my grandmother stopped communication with them for some reason when my uncle was about 7, six year after his father's death in the war.

My grandmother kept the secret from everyone for the entirety of her long life.

DNA don't lie though.

[Louis1895]

39. Found my dad was not my biological father

My biological father was a family friend. A bit of a surprise for me in my late 50s! Makes for a good story though. Sure wish I knew the circumstances. Unfortunately, everyone one who might be able to shed any light on my conception have passed on.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. No big surprises; the results were pretty consistent

with what we knew about our background - but what was a bit unexpected was the percentages (granted; they're estimates). My mother's father was Norwegian and her mother was half Norwegian and half German, making her 3/4 Norwegian and 1/4 German, so I should have been 3/8 Norwegian and 1/8+ German. My father was mostly Scots with a bit of Swiss-French and German. So how did my DNA come out 55% Norwegian? I blame the Vikings. And I didn't inherit any German at all. It was pretty interesting.

[spooky3]

27. DNA doesn't work that simply. You don't get exactly 50% of your DNA from each parent, and

they didn't, from their parents, etc. Also, both Ancestry.com and 23andme.com make estimates based on comparing your results to those of populations living in Norway, Germany, etc., rather than through more direct methods that aren't available to them. They both have articles linked that explain these things better than I could.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. Yes, exactly.

That’s why the results are so interesting. I’ve been trying to get my brothers to do it to find out just what they inherited.

[safeinOhio]

8. My Sisterim Law was in her 70s

When she got the test back and found out her father was Jewish.
My brother and me only share 51% of our genes and we both have lots of Neanderthal traits.
Pleased to find out I have very few genes for major diseases.

I recommend taking it.

[qazplm135]

9. Yes

Turns out I'm 12 percent Dolphin.

Just an ocean swim my ass grandma!!

[In_The_Wind]

47. Oh my

[blaze]

11. Two friends, two surprises.

Last edited Tue Jul 31, 2018, 12:21 PM - Edit history (1)

1st friend found a previously unknown half-sister. They are so much alike you would swear they also had the same mother. Same easy smile, same build and same politics. So much winning. They have been having a blast!

2nd friend, soundly rooted in the Dutch Reformed Church, doesn't have an ounce of Dutch blood!

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. No unexpected dna, but less or none of some, which can

happen. No German showed up in me, despite having a German great-great grand parent. My brother might have gotten it instead of me. LOL

[mitch96]

13. Same here, What I was told was the truth

Both parents from Eastern Europe and the DNA test confirms... Large smattering of southern Spain,northern Italy but Slovak/Ashkenazi was the predominant origin...
m

[IrishEyes]

14. My brother did it. It said that we were Irish

Very Irish with a little bit of Scottish and English. I was kind of hoping for something more interesting.

[snowybirdie]

15. My granddaughter

did a test. Despite having four great grandparents from Germany, she is only 6% German. Interesting...... Conversely, in her Italian side, she found a long lost aunt who was the product of a one night stand. Grandma was not pleased.

[Hotler]

16. Those DNA sites are all CIA fronts....

to collect DNA on as many of us as possible without a court order.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. I'm not sure why the CIA would care where my ancestors came from.

[Hotler]

19. I was just being werid. nt

[NNadir]

18. My wife's uncle did one. I told my son's that I love...

...them anyway even if it's true they have a fair amount of English heritage. That goes for my wife as well of course.

Were it actually true and accurate, it would speak well for England that my wife comes from their stock. But basically this stuff is largely popular nonsense.

Actually, being familiar with population genetics should disabuse people of taking this stuff too seriously. As my sarcasm suggests it also presents a risk of falling into racism.

I am not German/scotch/Hungarian. I am an American just like Barack Obama. And I'm proud to say that like him, I'm most definitely first and foremost a human being.

[defacto7]

40. I think some have the idea that these tests are some sort of miracle

when at most they give you some probabilities. Though DNA test are good at telling what you've inherited they are fair to misleading in revealing where you inherited those genes without a pool of tests from multiple relatives. Chimerism in humans is a good example. Also it's very common for a child to show a considerably higher percentage of an ancestral region than either parent. It's all a bit iffy.
If DNA were the perfect tell of our ancestry siblings would be clones. It tells what we are now; anything else is for the fun of it at best. Nope, no crystal ball to the past. A good genealogical record is the closest anyone will get to knowing their ancestry. I'll stick with that.

[applegrove]

21. 2 or 4% Neanderthal.

[smirkymonkey]

22. I grew up thinking that I was half Italian, 1/4 English and 1/4 Dutch, although I knew

that there was also some Irish and Scandinavian ancestry in there as well. I was surprised to find about 17% Irish ancestry, some Finnish, 2% Ashkenazi Jewish and about 5% Iberian Peninsula. The English and Dutch showed up, but less than I thought due to the Irish background. I was exactly 50% Italian but the strange thing is that my Italian father also did the test and he came out 65% Greek and I showed no Greek ancestry.

I wish my siblings would do it, I would love to see what they turned up with.

[miyazaki]

23. Yeah. Looked up the family tree and found out I was the sap.

-Thanks Rodney, never gets old.

[tonekat]

24. My sister recently did hers

So...she saved me the trouble. I always thought we were just Scots-Irish like so many others. Her results said we were part Irish, Scot and Welsh, but 44% British.

I tell people I went from the servant class to landed gentry.

[beveeheart]

30. Your percentages will be different.

I had 68% Western Europe (Germany and France) while my sister's almost same percentage was from Ireland, Wales and England.

[Glorfindel]

25. No surprises. I had always thought (hoped?) that I had at least one

Cherokee Indian ancestor, but no such luck. I turned out to be 46% Europe West, 39% Great Britain, 7% Ireland/Scotland/Wales, 4% Scandinavia, 2% Iberian Peninsula, 1% Europe South, <1% Finland/Northwest Russia.
Really kind of boring.

[jpak]

26. My kin don't look up the family tree

Cuz we know some of usins are hangin' from it.

So said my Appalachian Mom

[Cicada]

29. My mom said her grandfather full blooded Choctaw, no indication of that

[democratisphere]

32. Never have. Never will.

RFID implants in humans and forehead barcode tatoos are next. No thanks!

[Kaleva]

34. Most of us are no longer Nordic, German, English, Irish or what have you.

The Finland of my great grandparents, which was called the Grand Duchy of Finland at the time, is long gone. There is almost nothing that connects me to the old country other then my name and likes for certain foods such as kalamojakka and juustoa.

[WePurrsevere]

35. I was the surprise. Lol I was adopted & DNA was how I found my bio families and...

am now learning 'my' story and so much more.

It took taking both 23andMe and Ancestry, uploading my data to other DNA testing/matching sites, a bit of sleuthing and learning how DNA works for matches but, although both of my parents are deceased, I now am in reunion with and accepted by both sides.

I'm also tickled to bits to be able to finally build MY tree (on Ancestry) and am very much enjoying learning about my family last and present.

If you're thinking of testing please consider allowing your DNA matches to see you, attaching your raw data to a tree, even a super basic one, if on Ancestry. This might really help adoptees and those looking for missing family and that would mean the world to them.

[Tucker08087]

52. My son is adopted.

He was adopted from Florida, and they have a system there for cases in which both parties want information. His birth mom already placed her paperwork, so he could have found her for 15 years now. There is a very sad backstory that I wanted him to be old enough and mature enough to handle, so I told him that I had his paperwork and would give it to him when he turns 18. He found letters between us, and has some understanding of the circumstances, but not all of them. I agreed to the DNA test because we know his birth father was not “white,” but that’s all. The man named in the adoption eventually denied paternity, but I believe he is his father. My son believes that he is African American, identifies as African American, and wants it confirmed. I’m actually not sure. It will give him answers that perhaps his birth mom didn’t even know, but if it comes back showing that he’s not African American, I’m not sure what his reaction will be. I might just have to let him file the paperwork and meet his birthmom and hope we can all support him in discovering that sometimes miracles grow from manure.

[WePurrsevere]

53. DNA testing for ethnicity is in its infancy and...

like all things inherited can be a bit of a crap shoot as to how much, if any, of the DNA you inherit. The science of it, especially with certain under represented ethnicities like NA for instance, continually improves as more samples become available and some companies are more accurate than others at any given time.

If you're not already, you might want to be prepared that once he gets his results he might also have hints as to who his father is through DNA matches much like I used it to find my bio families. He might also discover grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins and even siblings who might not even know he exists.

NY is much the same as FL with the, if both parties agree, thing. Like other states who don't 'yet' have open records adoptees can get non-identifying info too.

I truly hope he gets the answers he seeks. It's hard to explain the driving need so many adoptees have to find the pieces of the puzzle that is 'us'. This might be a bit difficult on you but it warms my heart that you're being so supportive of him on this since unfortunately so many adoptive parents aren't.

[Tucker08087]

56. Thank you

I just always hope I do the right thing where he is concerned. I’m sure that is the same with most parents. I am aware that he can find relatives, and he and I discussed this before I agreed to the sample. He does have siblings, and he’s a middle child by birth, which was something I waited to tell him. It was hard to explain why she kept others but not him, so I needed him to be older. It was hard to hear, but I think he understood. I don’t know how it feels. I always tell him it’s not my story, but his, and where he takes it is really his decision in the end. It’s his life. I have been blessed to take the ride with him.

[WePurrsevere]

58. Great! I'm so glad you have that attitude with him. So many adoptive parents don't get that. nt

[flying_wahini]

37. Yes, sad to say.

Nothing even remotely exotic or fun. Just Irish/ Scottish/ French/German. Dull.

[RobinA]

66. I Don't Understand

why you think this is dull. The majority of my paternal line is German, although I would probably test out (when I get around to it) to be well over 50% UK because that is where the greater share of the maternal lines are from. I discovered that the paternal Germans, and well as those on the maternal side, were from Alsace, or close to it. That lead me to decide that we were actually French, but then I realized that I really had no idea as to the details of the Alsatian French/German switcheroos, so I set out to actually map it through the ages. I wanted to figure out if they were actually French or German when they left. Of course, they clearly identified as German, although there was no Germany when they left, etc., etc., so they weren't really "German." Anyway, it was very interesting learning what the people in Europe went through back then and learning about the way of life in the process.

I also discovered that my Grandmother's mother, the last of the branches to emigrate, came from Cornwall, so now I have to learn about all things Cornish. I dunno. Plenty to keep me researching for a long time to come.

[Turbineguy]

38. My Grandmother was

Dutch.

[panader0]

41. Three years ago my daughter gave me a 23andMe test.

I followed the instructions, sent it in, and a few weeks later was informed
that my test had failed and was given a new test. I sent it in and it too failed.
I may be alien. 23andMe won't do it again.
I believe I'm 3/8 English, 1/2 Irish and 1/8 Crow.

[MaryMagdaline]

42. Yes. Was told I was 100% Irish. Turns out 72%

Rest is Scottish/Great Britain/ tiny but Scandinavian/Iberian peninsula. Not too shocking because my name, although almost exclusively Irish, originated in Britain. Those Normans and Vikings brought the rest of the DNA to my Irish ancestors. Ancestry .com research shows my great/great grandfather was Scottish Presbyterian. Great grandmother converted to Catholicism and we never knew we were “mixed.” Also, not related to The great Irish martyr who has my grandmother’s last name. Pure family myth.

I am enjoying the research. Falling in love with Quebec ... took my wretched ancestors off the coffin ships and treated their typhoid and starvation. They were able to live there in peace for two generations.

[Historic NY]

43. I was more Irish than Italian....

did find how things go full circle with people Made a couple connections but its still fairly new.

[seaglass]

44. Yes, I have a surprise half sister.

The rest of my results were not much of a surprise. Irish/Scottish 50% - I expected the other 50% to be Sicilian but I now understand the basic history of Sicily thus my results 23% Europe South and 10% Caucasus 7% Middle East with small amounts of a number of other areas.

[Recursion]

45. North African

So there's this code in the South where any non-white ancestry is described as "Cherokee". Nobody actually takes it literally (or at least nobody should) it's just the "polite" way of saying a family's background is not entirely European. So I always wondered what that "other" strain actually was that gave us the dark frizzy hair and olive skin. Turns out it's Moorish.

[kwassa]

62. Arabic, or Sephardic?

[Recursion]

65. I wondered, but didn't want to spend another $40 for the "extended analysis"

Maybe if it gets cheaper over time

[oberliner]

46. A trace of Jewish?

How does a DNA test determine religious beliefs?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

49. "Jewish" can also be an ethnicity.

European Jews (Ashkenazi) are the descendants of Jews who migrated to what is now Germany and then eastward in Europe during the early Middle Ages. Their DNA is identifiable as such because they have remained as an ethnic community for centuries.

[Luciferous]

48. I just sent mine in. I did opt for them to destroy the sample when they are done.

[BlueSpot]

50. Anyone else notice how the commercials focus on racial stereotyping?

I find that very off-putting.

[Sneederbunk]

51. Anyone here had tests by two different companies?

[WePurrsevere]

54. Yes, Ancestry & 23andMe plus I uploaded my raw data...

To GEDmatch, My Heritage & Family Tree DNA. As an adoptee trying to find my bio families it was a part of the process.

It was interesting to see the slight variations in my ethic results between companies but not totally unexpected.

[WePurrsevere]

55. FWIW... Ethnicity (Admixture) is fun but it's still in its infancy...

When I first got my autosomal DNA results I was surprised with how little Irish showed up on the one test since my non-identifying info As an adoptee said I was a good bit Irish.

As I tested and also uploaded my raw data to other sites to try and find matches to give me clues about my bio-families, I found that there was an interesting variation in what ethnicities came up so I started hunting for answers.

The following link is one of the best short and sweet explanations I've founded far. It helps if you're wondering why you're showing so little or none of an expected ethnicity...
https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2014/05/18/admixture-not-soup-yet/

If you're missing NA you're sure you must have this might help...
http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2015/03/native-american-dna-is-just-not-that.html

[DFW]

57. I was very surprised

Part ocelot, part blue whale, part Dodo bird.

I want a second opinion.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

60. Cousin!

[DFW]

64. I was told those tests never lie, so.....

It must be true

[LeftInTX]

59. Trace of Native American.....probably "ancient noise" as opposed to having a Native American

in my family.

My mom's family is from the UK. I think Scotts-Irish is the term. They came here mostly late 17th-18th century, but my dad is from the Middle East.

It turns out that European DNA is extremely cosmopolitan. I get the Native American from my mom's side. (I uploaded it to gedmatch and compared it to relatives) Most of them have DNA from all over Europe, with bits from South Asia etc. Lots of Eastern European etc.

On my dad's side the DNA tends to be very local. The only European DNA with those relatives is Italian/Greek. The rest is Middle Eastern of some form.

[LeftInTX]

61. My husband is Mexican American and we had some neat surprises

He did his through Ancestry and had the fortune of having relatives who have studied the family's genealogy on both sides.

Some of his relatives served in the Spanish navy and were in Baton Rouge in the late 1700's. Someone knows people with my husband's surname in Louisiana. They identify is Italian - LOL. The surname is Spanish, but ends in "o", so they could pass as Italian. (Mexicans were not highly regarded in Louisiana)

He is 47% Native American, but although there are no specific tribes, the Native American is connected to the genealogy, which indicates they are South Texas, NE Mexican indigenous. He does have some indigenous from the Chihuahua area.