# DNA tests for ancestry: harmless fun or idiotic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 5, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908 "2007-02-05T10:54:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/21 "2007-02-08T12:08:48Z")
I’m “not from the Celt parts” but one of my great-grandmothers was from Asturias (Celt, yeah, we’ve got Celt). Mom and me are both very much into “legends” in general, I’ve been to Galicia, I have friends from Galicia (gallegos come in two basic models, “Celt” and “Iberian”), so I’m familiar with that one. Dad’s side is Basque, and while the Spanish version I’d heard of the Canción doesn’t mention our area at all (the wiki article you linked does), our own “origin story” talks about coming from the East and settling down here and so forth and so weise; this prompted in me a general interest on “old legends about the origins of different peoples”. La Canción was first put in paper about the same time our own legends about Aitor were, XIX century with the nationalist movement. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/22 "2007-02-08T14:04:05Z")
See? Getting your family history traced is edumacational! Just don’t take it any too serious. I think I’ve posted how I can literally trace my family history back to Adam now, thanks to some loonies in the 18th century making up a geneology pre-Golam. My last name _does_ mean ‘of Ir’, and I am, supposedly, descended from Ir’s 100th son. The part where it’s handy has come from sorting out people who share my name or variants… uncommon name, but many variants… and figuring out which of them are related to us, which just have another name that has variants that overlap, and so on and so forth. We literally have traced the family back to around 1000 AD now, and possibly further. Once you break a certain distance, it becomes easier, thanks to converging ancestors and other people making the same effort. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/23 "2007-02-08T14:19:18Z")
> [@](#): > > it’s astoundingly unlikely that the universe would be suited to allow human life–when in fact it’s impossible (given the existance of humans) for it to be otherwise Yup…this is the anthropomorphic principle, more or less. Interesting to apply it to this context. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/24 "2007-02-08T14:45:45Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] My da got one. We discovered a few things. We’re _really_ irish, from the place we thought we were, that we are related to some people who share our last name, not related to others, descendants of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and that the legend of Golam, the Spanish Soldier may be correct, insofar as our family history is concerned. > **[Milesians (Irish)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milesians_%28Irish%29)** > > The Milesians or sons of Míl are the final race to settle in Ireland, according to the Lebor Gabála Érenn, a medieval Irish Christian history. The Milesians represent the Irish people. They are Gaels who sail to Ireland from Iberia (Hispania) after spending hundreds of years travelling the Earth. When they land in Ireland, they contend with the Tuatha Dé Danann, who represent the Irish pantheon of gods. The two groups agree to divide Ireland between them: the Milesians take the world above, wh... (The date when we start having some spanish blood is about that far distant) It’s fun! [/QUOTE] Bob Quinn has studied Irish origins & presented his results in [The Atlantean Irish: Ireland’s Oriental & Maritime Heritage.](http://www.amazon.com/Atlantean-Irish-Irelands-Oriental-Herritage/dp/1843510243/sr=1-2/qid=1170945349/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-6060729-8091140?ie=UTF8&s=books) \*\*(Note: The book has _nada_ to do with Atlantis!) \*\* The best review is attached to the Amazon entry for the earlier, long out of print edition. [Here it is.](http://www.amazon.com/Atlantean-Irelands-African-Maritime-Heritage/dp/0704325241/sr=1-1/qid=1170945349/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6060729-8091140?ie=UTF8&s=books) Quinn is more an inspired amateur scholar than academic. However, Barry Cunliffe wrote the preface to the latest edition; the recently knighted Oxford professor wrote the quite scholarly [Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic & Its Peoples, 8000 BC-1500 AD](http://www.amazon.com/Facing-Ocean-Atlantic-Peoples-BC-AD/dp/0199240191/sr=1-3/qid=1170944981/ref=sr_1_3/104-6060729-8091140?ie=UTF8&s=books) My father’s parents came from East Galway. My maternal grandfather’s people came over earlier & his widow (who helped raise me) called herself “Scotch Irish.” So I’m considering shelling out to find more about my Atlantic Fringe background. And I may even pay for my brother’s testing, to get more data. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/25 "2007-02-08T17:29:36Z")
We used Family Tree. You want, I’ll try to dig up the specifics… there’s a lot of subgroups and family associations that may help you part of the way. > **[List of haplogroups of historic people](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Genetic_Results_from_Notable_Persons)** > > This is a list of haplogroups of historic people. Haplogroups can be determined from the remains of historical figures, or derived from genealogical DNA tests of people who trace their direct maternal or paternal ancestry to a noted historical figure. Some contemporary notable figures have made their test results public in the course of news programs or documentaries about this topic; they may be included in this list too. > MtDNA results indicate direct maternal descent while Y-DNA results ind... (half an hour later) Shoot, I don’t have the original e-mails anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/26 "2007-02-08T23:37:38Z")
It sounds like some people have used tests other then the National Geographic one. I’ve planned on getting my father the NG test kit as a present, but I’m interested in what others people have used, and what you thought of them. Links would be nifty. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/27 "2007-02-09T00:03:39Z")
> **[DNA Testing for Ancestry & Genealogy | FamilyTreeDNA](https://www.familytreedna.com/)** > > Discover your DNA story and unlock the secrets of your ancestry and genealogy with our autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mtDNA tests. What can I say? Worked great. Check out the Surname Projects. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/28 "2007-02-09T00:33:31Z")
I may try this out. I know virtually nothing about my birth father so this might provide a little insight into my background from that side. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/45deac/32.png) [@Evil\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_One)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/29 "2007-02-09T01:16:53Z")
[QUOTE=Oakminster] The lawyer in me wonders if this type of testing could be used to qualify for affirmative action programs… [/QUOTE] Exactly. It’s only a matter of time before someone uses the results as an attempt to grab the brass ring of victimhood. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/30 "2007-02-09T07:58:43Z")
[QUOTE=E-Sabbath] > **[DNA Testing for Ancestry & Genealogy - FamilyTreeDNA](https://www.familytreedna.com/)** > > Discover your DNA story and unlock the secrets of your ancestry and genealogy with our autosomal DNA, Y-DNA and mtDNA tests. What can I say? Worked great. Check out the Surname Projects. [/QUOTE] Family Tree DNA seems to be handling the genetic testing for the Genographic Project. Anyone doing testing with one can join the other without having to recollect specimens. And it appears that Genographic Project participants get a reduced rate from Family Tree for additional DNA testing. Neat. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/31 "2007-02-09T08:20:19Z")
Someone else has found a use for it: > [@](#): > > BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau - When the government of one of the world’s poorest nations learned that Whoopi Goldberg had taken a DNA test showing her ancestors hail from here, the news reverberated through the halls of parliament, necessitating a high level meeting. > > It was, the country’s leaders decided, a chance to change the image of a nation plagued by coups since wresting independence from Portugal in 1973. > > If the world could only grasp that a Hollywood celebrity traced her roots to this forsaken corner of the globe, it could bring goodwill from afar - even fame for Guinea-Bissau, they reasoned. > > So they set out to write a letter on official stationary, embossed with the country’s star-shaped seal. It was hand-delivered to the U.S. Embassy, which passed it on to the State Department in Washington with instructions to forward it to the home of the Oscar-winning actress. > > It begins, with some uncertainty on the star’s name, “Your Excellency Hoppy Goldberg, it is with great euphoria that the government of Guinea-Bissau . . . learned of your ancestral origins . . . The news has awoken in each and every one of us a deep sense of fraternity . . . We simply cannot remain indifferent to the news of your Guinean heritage.” … > > Goldberg found that her genetic makeup is overwhelmingly Papel and Bayote, two tribes indigenous to this country on Africa’s western seaboard. [the amusing rest of the article](http://www.canada.com/topics/entertainment/story.html?id=6a68fc12-9e7d-4f3f-8de4-0f08f69d0a95&k=80727) ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908/32 "2007-02-09T15:10:52Z")
[QUOTE=Evil One] Exactly. It’s only a matter of time before someone uses the results as an attempt to grab the brass ring of victimhood. [/QUOTE] Isn’t Affirmative Action intended to make up for past & present problems due to one’s perceived race/ethnicity? If the “victimhood” can only be proved by DNA testing, how could it have affected anything? Have no fear: Here’s the application for the “Caucasion Achievement & Recognition Scholarship.” > [@](#): > > 1. In 250 words or less, briefly describe your ancestroy. > > 2. In 500 words or less, describe in your own words what it means to you to be a Caucasian American today. [http://people.bu.edu/colrepub/Caucasian%20Achievement%20and%20Recognition%20Scholarship.html](http://people.bu.edu/colrepub/Caucasian%20Achievement%20and%20Recognition%20Scholarship.html) Applicants need only be 25% Caucasian. Guessing this means “white”–since “Caucasian” is a bit old fashioned, anthropologically speaking. Surely, the Chechens, Avars & Georgians are lining up. I’ll bet that many of the applications are interesting reading. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dna-tests-for-ancestry-harmless-fun-or-idiotic/390908.md?page=1)