My DNA says my ancestors got around

So I got my DNA tested by Ancestry.com. I wanted to see where my ancestors hailed from. Some was expected, but there were a few surprises in there.

Southern European 34%  –  And the winner is, Portuguese! Having two grandparents from the Azores makes this one obvious. However, if I’ve got two Azorean grandparents, shouldn’t that be 50%? Of course not! If there is one thing the Portuguese are awesome at it is travelling around the world and picking up chicks!

Eastern European 21% – Also expected. I have one grandmother whose family immigrated to Pennsylvania from Poland and Latvia. This was also the family with the Hebrew surname, but there was no middle eastern DNA.

Finnish/Volga-Ural 17% – Now this is interesting, but Finland and Latvia aren’t exactly super far apart. Though those two together is way higher than the 1/4 of my DNA that is supposed to be from that part of the world.

British Isles 13% – Also interesting, as it is much lower than expected. My other grandfather was supposedly 100% British by way of Mississippi. Yet it is looking like there was something else in there too.

Scandinavian 8% – I am a Viking Conquistador!  But as much as the Vikings got around I wouldn’t be surprised if everybody in Europe had some in there.

Central European 7% – France and Germany. But I suspect this one helps fill in the 50% Portuguese gap. My family actually has Azorean cousins whose family had a French/Belgian last name. Like I said… Super good at picking up chicks.

The part that is kind of cool is that when you combine the Slavic and the far north eastern/Russian bits, that’s 38%, while my primary ethnicity that I grew up with is actually smaller at 34%. Who would have expected that? Though it does explain why I’m one big ugly Cossack looking dude.  Add the Scandanavian in there and that’s 46%, almost half.  I didn’t know there were so many Rus and Varangians in the genetic woodpile.

Another interesting bit was that there was no middle eastern/Jewish, but it wasn’t like that Grandma ever talked about her family (she ran away from home when she was a kid) so our thinking that she grew up Jewish was based more on surnames and conjecture than anything.

Sadly, I am not related to Genghis Khan. That’s a bummer. 🙂

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31 thoughts on “My DNA says my ancestors got around”

  1. A lot of modern Jews don’t have middle-eastern DNA. They were converts from Eastern Europe. So your Hebrew grandma was probably one of these.

    1. Since that is in every genetic lineage that made it out of Africa, if I recall correctly most humans are about 4%.

      1. No, just those with European ancestry. Once we got out of Africa, one set of humans went north and mixed with the natives, and the other group went east. As a result, eastern Asians, Polynesians and Australian aborigines, and Native Americans have minimal to no Neanderthal genes.

  2. So basically what you’re saying is that you’re a mutt. Like most of us are. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  3. On the subject of ethnic background I once was on the edge of telling someone “I’m American; which part of the mix you want to know about, asshole?”

    They were kind of insistent on ‘What are you?’; nearly got more of an answer than they wanted.

    1. This is my genetic makeup. My nationality is American. 🙂

      Like I’ve said before, everybody should embrace their heritage and celebrate the badasses who came before.

      1. Easy for you to say. My first ancestor in North America that I share a name with was a Hessian mercenary. Captured after just a few months, held in a camp in Maryland and loaned out to local farmers as a laborer, he eventually sold out to the colonists and stayed in Pennsylvania after the war. I’m sure he was called a traitor at some point.

        But maybe he knew Agent Franks.

      2. Dave: Apparently I have a Hessian ancestor who did basically the same thing, except instead of being captured he simply said “fuck this” and deserted. He also wound up in PA, IIRC.

    2. What am I … When asked that I start singing loudly and off key a lyric by a Comedian.. Dennis Leary (-= My ex wife says it is very accurate description.

  4. As an adoptee, I really should have this done. Going by my adoptive grandparents, I’m 3/4 Scots Irish and 1/4 Irish. I claim my youthful indiscretions with fireworks to have been attempts at car-bombing myself. :-p

    1. Considering what my dad looks like, I’m actually a little surprised… Unless he’s not really my dad. HA! 😀

      And it isn’t that I’m not a white dude, it was the all knowing, all wise, benevolent US federal government that declared that Portuguese is Latino. Not me. And apparently I’m 34% Portuguese (down from the 50% I expected!) So apparently I’m only 1/3 Wise Latino, which leaves me 2/3 sarcastic man of priviledge.

      1. Since when is there a “d” in privilege?

        Sorry couldn’t resist….. not every day one gets to go all /spellingnazi on an author. . . . .

  5. There has been some recent studies that say the ashkenazi jews dont have much if any jewish blood. It came up mainly central european when tested the same way yours was.

  6. I haven’t done that particular test, but I have done the mtDNA (Northern European– think Cheddar Man as a relative) and ptDNA (one of my brothers) which lands us in the Mid-east. They went north 4000 BC (or thereabouts). That one was a surprise. Viking for sure– and other stuff.

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