23and me

where am I from?

[lawman]

Got my results back; pretty quickly I might add. No surprises for the top two - English/Irish and German/French. The rest European, Iberian and Scandinavian. The only surprise is that I have a skosh of North African/Arabian - .2%.

[RhinoFish]

23 and Me told me I descend from Niall of Nine Hostages:
[en.wikipedia.org...]

An Irish badash.

[NickMNS]

@RhinoFish,

I descend from Niall of Nine Hostages:

Anything past 7 generations is essentially meaningless (5 generations is already pushing it). Unless of course your family has been reproducing between siblings. But then there would be no question about heritage.

[topr8]

>>Iberian

isn't iberia europe?

[robzilla]

Just ancestry or health, too?

[topr8]

good advert btw! i've just applied! i think more expensive from the uk!

[lawman]

>>Just ancestry or health, too?

I'm a sucker. I paid $125 extra for the health part too.

[buckworks]

“Every king springs from a race of slaves, and every slave had kings among his ancestors.” -- Plato

[tangor]

I never worried about it. Mom always said I was "Heinz 57" and never had a problem (though her genealogy research suggested 16 ethnic probabilities in the family tree--well short of 57).

[lucy24]

Every king springs from a race of slaves

“When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?”

isn't iberia europe?

Crazy talk. You'd then have to say that England, Ireland, France, Germany and Scandinavia are also Europe.

The trick now is to cough up another $72 or whatever it may be to have the identical test done in at least two other places, and then average out the results.

[tangor]

All this technical talk about things that make no difference will make my head explode! (Look for a bill in the morning's mail, sometime next year).

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

"You'd then have to say that England, Ireland, France, Germany and Scandinavia are also Europe."

The UK is not "England".

Alba gu bràth!

[robzilla]

I'm a sucker. I paid $125 extra for the health part too.

Heh, I probably would have, too! Was it worth it, though? (Not requesting specifics of course.)

[lawman]

>>Was it worth it, though

There was one thing I was really interested in because a family member died from it. The test showed me as having a slight risk. So, to me, it was worth it.

For all who are straining at gnats about what is European, I gave the short version. The site has an expanded explanation of what my ancestry report means.

[Shepherd]

It takes a very brave/confident person to submit their DNA to a service like this these days. So many stories, just watched a business partner turn 17 different shades of green as he and his wife discovered he had a father/child match after submitting his DNA. Turned out to be his brother's (unknown) child. It was a tense few weeks for him, probably more so for his brother.

[lucy24]

The UK is not "England".

Who says it is? I was referring to the list of countries in the OP.

[lawman]

>>It takes a very brave/confident person to submit their DNA to a service like this these days

I'm not a brave man, but I have a lot of spit, and that's what it takes to submit a sample.

[Shepherd]

... and that's what it takes to submit a sample.

Not unlike marriage, real easy to get into, not so much easy getting out.

On the upside, if anyone in your family have will have had commit(s)(ed) a serious crime you've helped catch them.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

"Who says it is? I was referring to the list of countries in the OP."

Sorry, I missed that context.

We Scots get touchy because many people, particularly in the USA dismiss Scotland Wales and NI by referring to the UK as England. ;) I once worked for an American company in Scotland and I remember getting mail addressed to;

Company Name
Address Line 1
Address Line 2
Address Line 3
Scotland,
England.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I have my family tree back to around 1745 in rural Scotland so I doubt that there would be much mixed blood in there going backwards.

On a slightly different topic, do you think these services are reliable and trustworthy? (I'm not doubting them. It's just that I hadn't heard about tests like this being available to the public until this thread appeared.)

[piatkow]

On a slightly different topic, do you think these services are reliable and trustworthy? (I'm not doubting them. It's just that I hadn't heard about tests like this being available to the public until this thread appeared.)

Clearly you don't watch channels like Yesterday where they are advertised quite regularly.

[piatkow]

When it comes to origins I have traced my family back to 18th century rural Kincardineshire but the surname is Flemish in origin.

[RhinoFish]

I saw a report where 3 married, grown, identical sisters, each with different last names, living in different parts of the country, worked with an investigative reporter, tested 3 different DNA companies, and all 3 nailed the "you have two identical siblings".

I've found connected relatives myself. I think they are reliable. Trustworthy, different adjective there. :-)

[lucy24]

Scotland,
England.

Ouch. Now, since the material quoted in OP said "English/Irish", it remains open to question whether "England" actually means the entire United Kingdom. In which case they might as well have said “British Isles” and avoid the question.

There exists at least one longago--but definitely after 1707--PM whose gravestone says “Prime Minister of England”. But then, it’s possible the Scots banded together and said “Nuh-uh, he’s not our PM”.

[lawman]

OK, to clear up confusion here's the breakdown. The report says British and Irish, not English & Irish. I apologize for my improper characterization of what it said. Maybe this will get the conversation back on track:

British & Irish
67.0%
French & German
14.0%
Scandinavian
3.1%
Iberian
1.1%
Broadly Northwestern European
13.8%
Broadly Southern European
0.4%
Broadly European
0.4%
North African & Arabian
0.2%

FWIW, British & Irish is in the broader category of European. So broadly speaking I am 99.8% European and .2% North African & Arabian.

Regarding British & Irish, the drop down box says:

Descended from Celtic, Saxon, and Viking ancestors, the people of Great Britain and Ireland have left their genetic fingerprints around the world, following centuries of nautical exploration, colonization, and immigration. The modern British Commonwealth is composed of 52 member states found on every continent except Antarctica, and the English language is a lingua franca for global economic exchange.

[blend27]

My Uncle did it a few month ago for SiFi reasons for all I know... I asked him about the results and he replied: All of us are Groot.

[topr8]

for those interested, the groups they use as categories are:
British & Irish
French & German
Scandinavian
Iberian
Ashkenazi Jewish
Balkan
Eastern European
Finnish
Italian
Sardinian
Broadly NW European
East Asian & Native American
Melanesian
South Asian
Sub-Saharan African
Western Asian & North African
Unassigned

... the above are subdivided, giving a total of 163 groups.
for instance French & German:
Austria
Belgium
France
Germany
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Switzerland

and South Asian:
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
India
Mauritius
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka

British and Irish:
United Kingdom
Ireland
(no subdivision of england/wales/scotland)

[graeme_p]

We Scots get touchy because many people, particularly in the USA dismiss Scotland Wales and NI by referring to the UK as England.

Not just the Americans, Asians too. I know some people who refer to the entire UK as "London". That said, a lot of people in Asia do like their whisky and are clear about where that at least comes from.

I think our constitutional arrangements and the politics behind them are confusing to the rest of the world.

[martinibuster]

I've been watching that Vikings tv show and apparently they got around a lot, too.

[Leosghost]

The red hair , freckles and pale skin ( or some of those characteristics ) of Irish , Scots and Manx ( and anyone with those countries in their heritage ) owes far more to the Viking part of our ancestry than to the Celtic part..Dublin was ruled by the Vikings ( Ostmen ) for close to 300 years..