# My surprise genetic ancestry analysis results **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 30, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823 "2016-06-30T20:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/21 "2016-07-01T17:16:32Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > With results like that, it’s time to look at the confidence intervals for those particular sequences. At 50 and 60% confidence intervals, I’ve got a trace of sub-Saharan ancestry, but when I raise them to 80%, that trace vanishes, tho the Ashkenazi remains at that level. > > 23andMe does show the ethnic breakdown over on different confidence intervals. I don’t know if the other purveyers do so or not. My bizarre results stay at the highest confidence intervals (90%), and have stayed there for several years. I’m not at all convinced it’s real, but it’s fun to wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/22 "2016-07-01T17:20:35Z")
I’ve posted this before. I found about 12.5% Ashkenazi, and the only way I could account for it was my German great-grandfather. I’m pretty sure from the researches I did into his life that he wasn’t a practicing Jew (he and his wife helped found an Episcopal church in Spokane in the 1880’s, for example), and I don’t have any idea how he was raised. He left Germany when he was 15. My born-again sister was thrilled at the Jewish connection, but I reminded her that Jewishness is supposed to pass through the female line, so this didn’t really make us part Jewish. And we also had the family legend about native American ancestry (my mother’s father used to tell us that story) and it was proved untrue. Sorry, Grampa, not sure where you got it from but someone was pulling your leg. Or maybe you were pulling ours. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/23 "2016-07-01T17:25:17Z")
Irish was a bit of a surprise, but the bigger is that there is no Jewish. We have several family heirlooms with the star of David on them, and some of my ancestors’ names end in stein. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/24 "2016-07-01T17:50:27Z")
I won’t do this. I know I’ll turn out 35% Hitler, 35% Vlad the Impaler, 29% Gilbert Gottfried, and just a smidge of Ted Bundy (or maybe Al or Cliven). This is stuff I DO NOT NEED to know. ---
**Author:** ![mistymage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mistymage/32/459_2.png) [@mistymage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mistymage)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/25 "2016-07-01T19:31:36Z")
NA genes don’t always show up especially the further back you go to get to the one who contributed them: [http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2015/03/native-american-dna-is-just-not-that.html](http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2015/03/native-american-dna-is-just-not-that.html) ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/26 "2016-07-01T20:01:08Z")
[Here’s](http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/06/dna_testing_cannot_determine_ancestry_including_elizabeth_warren_s.html) a recent Slate article debunking this X% something nonsense. You should also look at some recent similar threads here that have some really great information about how poor these tests can be. (For some odd reason Google isn’t turning up those threads.) And to you who “discovered” your are or are not part-Indian. Please read some articles such as these. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/27 "2016-07-01T22:05:54Z")
From [DNA explained](https://dna-explained.com/2014/05/19/ethnicity-percentages-second-generation-report-card/), a critique of the vendor gene companies cited in the Slate article: > [@](#): > > Just because we can’t exactly map the ethnicity results to our pedigree charts today doesn’t mean the results are entirely incorrect. It doesn’t mean they are entirely correct, either. The results may, in some cases, be showing where population groups descend from, not where our specific ancestors are found more recently. The more ancestors we have from a particular region, the more that region’s profile will show up in our own personal results. This explains why Mediterranean shows up, for example, from long ago but our one Native ancestor from 7 or 8 generations ago doesn’t. In my case, it would be because I have many British/German/Dutch lines that combine to show the ancient Mediterranean ancestry of these groups – where I have many fewer Native ancestors. > , > For today, these are extremely interesting tools, just don’t try to overanalyze the results, especially if you’re looking for minority admixture. And if you don’t like your results, try a different vendor or tool, you’ll get an entirely new set to ponder! In short, they do give fascinating data and insights, but they should not be over-interpreted. Which is what I suspected going into it, and as I read further (particularly that excellent comparison of different vendors in the link above) I’m seeing how my results do apply, and also seeing how they can’t be applied to further build my pedigree’s picture. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/28 "2016-07-01T23:32:00Z")
I’ve wanted to do this for some time, but unfortunately I do not have sufficient disposable income to justify satisfying my curiosity. I’d expect a lot of Ashkenazi, German, and Irish with a smidge of Asian (the Mongol hordes left behind a lot of bastards after passing through Russia, where half my ancestry is from, and we have some subtle traits that are more common in Asians than Europeans. No Native American in my family tree. I’d be especially interested in any and how much Neanderthal I might be. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/29 "2016-07-02T03:43:04Z")
I’m currently waiting for results from [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) right now. Most likely going to be a fairly boring mixture of northern European DNA. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/30 "2016-07-03T16:00:18Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Irish was a bit of a surprise, but the bigger is that there is no Jewish. We have several family heirlooms with the star of David on them, and some of my ancestors’ names end in stein. Here’s the story of someone who had a similar surprise result. Any of your ancestors candidates for having been[switched at birth](http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2015/02/switched-at-birth-unravelling-century_27.html)? ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/31 "2016-07-14T15:07:51Z")
My brother got tested. Most of the results were consistent with research I’d done. i.e. English, German, Dutch, other northern european. I also piggy-backed onto someone else’s research that showed one line was heavily Irish and the surnames were consistent with Irish ancestry. For a while I felt like I was more Irish than German. DNA results say 0% Irish, 0% Scottish. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/32 "2016-07-14T16:42:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The weirdest one in mine ([previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19296858)) was a trace amount of Melanesian. Since all of my ancestors were here by the late 18th century at the latest and to my knowledge none had layovers in Papua, and I can’t even imagine a guy from New Guinea swimming to Northern Ireland to play sheathe the shillelagh with one of my ancestresses my best hypothesis, if it’s real, is that perhaps I had an ancestor or a relative who was a sailor and fathered a child there and their descendant was tested and has a genetic sequence or two similar to my own. I’m pretty sure that’s not how the regional profiles work. The marker sequences have to be established in their regions, and not common elsewhere. Something rare, a “family quirk,” can’t be selected as a marker at all. The more likely way to make this detail reconcile in your story is that your sailor ancestor brought back a Melanesian wife. Or, it’s just a mistake. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/33 "2016-07-14T16:56:37Z")
One thing that one must remember with sexual reproduction is that which genes get passed on at each stage are somewhat random. With as long of a sequence of DNA we have and as many sequences we have relatively nailed down to specific ethnic groups, it’s not hard to make very broad determinations about ancestry, but when you get down into the very small admixtures, it’s all up to luck as to whether any identifying sequences from a particular group got passed down to you. I wouldn’t hesitate to think that someone who thinks they are 1/64th some ethnic group would show up as 0% for that group; he might also show up as 2-3% if luck worked in the other direction. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/34 "2016-07-14T18:38:45Z")
My sister got the (default?) DNA test at [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com). IIRC there is mention of 700,000 tested locations. Wow! Ancestry shows us 400+ “4th cousins or closer” and a huge number of “distant cousins (5th-8th cousins).” A 5th cousinship leads to sharing, on average, 0.049% of your DNA (1 out of 2048); to recognize 5th cousins with any confidence, the test would indeed require MANY many more than 2048 markers. IOW, if the Ancestry test reports you as 1/64 Native American you can assume that this is indeed quite accurate. Many of the people Ancestry reports as 4th cousins are indeed 4th cousins, as we can see by comparing pedigrees. Most of the alleged cousins have no trees, small trees or private trees, but in a few cases there is a large tree with no obvious connection to ours. In one case this led me to hypothesize a sister for one of our “most wanted” ancestors. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/35 "2016-07-14T19:37:44Z")
I didn’t want to pay the fee, so I visited a[free online site](https://www.andersondesigngroupstore.com/poster_kiddy-korner_what-are-boys-made-of-_anderson-design-group.html). Apparently, I’m made up of snakes, snails and puppy dog tails. No percentages are given, but I guess you get what you pay for. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/36 "2016-07-15T21:57:23Z")
I’d come back as pretty much 100% Ashkenazi. My great-aunt has researched my maternal family tree going back several generations, so if there’s a _goy_ in that woodpile, I’d be very surprised. No one on my father’s side has an interest in genealogy that I know about, but we’re descended from a small, insular shtetl in what is now Ukraine. Not much opportunity to mingle there. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/37 "2016-07-15T22:44:53Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I’d come back as pretty much 100% Ashkenazi. My great-aunt has researched my maternal family tree going back several generations, so if there’s a _goy_ in that woodpile, I’d be very surprised. No one on my father’s side has an interest in genealogy that I know about, but we’re descended from a small, insular shtetl in what is now Ukraine. Not much opportunity to mingle there. Maybe so, but you never know! You too could find a mysterious 2% heritage, reflecting some cossack or travelling journeyman passed through the shtetl. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/38 "2016-07-15T23:14:21Z")
Quite a few people in the Ukraine/Russia/other European parts of the USSR actually have some Asian ancestry - maybe they didn’t marry out of their village and had little chance to mingle, but when the various steppe hordes rode through on their way to the rest of the West they engaged in raping and pillaging and some of the survivors gave birth nine months later. Under Jewish law, being born of a Jewish woman, the resulting children would be considered Jews but Asian traits were seen for generations afterward. It’s probably where we get the Asian in the Ashkenazi half of my family. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/39 "2016-07-16T05:38:06Z")
I know my father’s family is from Ukraine/Poland (and I have the Slavic name to prove it). Sure enough 23andme told me my DNA is predominately Eastern European, so I do think there is some merit to their testing. If you go back far enough, of course, we’re all Africans. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823/40 "2016-07-16T15:24:04Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I also discovered that our family myth of Native American ancestry was bullshit. Supposedly, my grandfather’s very dark skin (for a white person) came from his mother who was part Native American. I like that you accept the DNA as truth. The 23andme message boards are filled with people insisting that the DNA results showing that they have no Native blood must be wrong because they know that their great, great grandmother was a Cherokee princess. As a positive control, my 1/2 Native wife came out as about 1/2 Native on 23andme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-surprise-genetic-ancestry-analysis-results/758823.md?page=3)