Have you done a DNA test?

I was amazed by mine. I am only 6% British. Mostly Scandinavian. No idea where that came from. My maiden name is a variation of a French name. Very much a Heinz 57.

My results are English Irish Scottish Welsh and Central Asia. Surprised about the Central Asian result.

I did mine and confirmed rumours which I was unable to do any other way
My DGF was brought up by his DGP because his own parents, his big sister and her boyfriend, were young and unmarred.
They subsequently married but he remained with his DGP. (His birth certificate lies!)
His biological father came from the Scottish Borders where I now live.
Ancestry put me in contact with hordes of cousins from the Scottish Borders.
I'm a mix too. Mostly Irish and Scottish but with additions of Jewish, and SE Asia. No English at all which I find odd.

It’s been very interesting GrowStuff. My Aberdeenshire cousins and I have done a lot of research over the years. We spent a lot of time in records offices and university collections, going back to the source, as it where. The DNA results have fitted in well with what we found. I’m very interested in the lives of the ordinary men and women, and the social history behind it all.

Fleurpepper

'Ancestors might very well have lived in a place for a few generations, but it doesn't mean that their ancestors always lived there. Genetic studies on an individual level can be misleading.'

not misleading at all, why? A few generations or one- it all adds to the mix, and why not?

Genetic studies at an individual level can be very misleading. Let's imagine that an ancestor's family moved from Italy to Scotland four generations ago. It could be that the ancestor married somebody from the same group, as did their children and their children. The DNA test would show that a person had almost 100% Italian DNA and might be surprised because he/she had always thought of him/herself as Scottish. Culturally, this person would feel Scottish, as would the thousands on the west coast of Scotland, whose DNA has similarities with Norwegians.

Yes,and some shocks.
Ancestry split it into maternal and paternal. I was surprised as my parents and their ancestors have lived in Northern England. for generations. My father has Norwegian/Icelandic DNA my mother Swedish /Danish.Vikings raiding from the Isle of Man for slaves.My father has more Irish than my mother yet I have turned up lots of Northern Irish Scots in her tree.
Looking at what I have found myself I would have said my mother was more Scots then my father it is definitely the other way round probably because he has notorious Reivers. Distant cousins also had Mali DNA which we now know came from a Caribbean slave brought to England as a houseboy and given his freedom.Lots more things to follow up. Another cousin has Caribbean/African DNA.SIL even more fascinating and worth following up.

I haven't, but my DD has. I know I am Breton through and through, although 2 grandparents moved to Jersey and Mum was born there.

But my GC will have an interesting mixture of French, German, Croatian, Scottish, Irish, and Indigenous Canadian.
It would be interesting to see theirs.

Blossoming

Fleurpepper also possibly from the 12th century Norman French ancestor that I already knew about.

Your Norman French ancestor would almost certainly have had Viking genes.

People need to remember what DNA tests tell you. They're only as good as the database held by the companies.

For example, it could be that many centuries ago, people were forced out of a place - some settled in one area and others somewhere else. DNA tests will show similarities, but it doesn't mean that either originally came from either place. In fact, they might not even have originated from the place they were forced out from.

People might, for example, assume they have Irish ancestry because their parents and grandparents lived there, but they might not have one Irish gene, if the families migrated from somewhere else. It depends if they migrated as a group, in which case you would expect to see others with a similar genetic profile.

Blossoming

Fleurpepper also possibly from the 12th century Norman French ancestor that I already knew about.

Yes, 1000s and 1000s of us have Huguenot roots, and of course Normans (1066 and all that).

'Ancestors might very well have lived in a place for a few generations, but it doesn't mean that their ancestors always lived there. Genetic studies on an individual level can be misleading.'

not misleading at all, why? A few generations or one- it all adds to the mix, and why not?

Fleurpepper also possibly from the 12th century Norman French ancestor that I already knew about.

Fleurpepper

Blossoming, most British people have scandinavian in the mix, due to the Vikings, especially from the North Midlands upwards.

At a population level, there are clusters of people in the North West and, of course, in the Orkneys and Shetlands with similarities to Norwegian genes.

In the east of England, there is a greater tendency to share genes with Danes and North Germans. It's almost impossible to differentiate between the two.

However, since the Industrial Revolution, the population has been highly mobile. Ancestors might very well have lived in a place for a few generations, but it doesn't mean that their ancestors always lived there. Genetic studies on an individual level can be misleading.

We're all, well, all of those with Western European heritage anyway, descended from Charlemagne…

My results were underwhelming but I'm glad that I did it. 96% Southern England which is where both parents are from. The DNA matches did confirm certain things for me. It is frustrating when close matches don't want to correspond or have a tree on the site.

No, I haven't.
Not ruling it out though...

Blossoming

Yes, very interesting. Mostly NE Scotland, some English, Welsh and Irish, also French and Scandinavian. None of it was really a surprise, apart from the Scandinavian.

I’ve gained a few more cousins 😊

Most people with UK ancestry going back generations have a percentage of Scandinavian/North Germanic genes.

Yes Icelandic, Danish Swedish with a tiny touch of French and Irish a smidgeon
No surprises for me

Yes, was very surprised when GS was given very Irish name- as his grand-parents are of Scottish roots in NI, and Protestant.

Yes, my sister has had hers done and mine awaits. Hers showed far more Irish in us than we expected. If I am the same as her, I am 70% Irish/Scot and only 30% English. Which is surprising as I am half Irish on both sides. Both sets of grandparents consisted of one Irish person and one English through and through.

Fleurpepper In Northern Ireland your religion was often deduced from your name. Scottish name (Protestant) Irish name (catholic). The Scots were settlers in the late 18th century and had to be protestant.

When I started work I worked with a man from NI (protestant) who couldn't work out why I, with a NI heritage, had a Scots name but was a catholic. Still, it explains the Scottish element in my family DNA heritage.

Yes had mine done recently hugely happy to be a mongrel, in descending order, English, Irish, Maltese/Scicilian, French, Jewish people of Europe, Norwegian, Anatolia and The Caucuses, Welsh. There are cousin cross matches who come up on my Ancestry DNA page who have incredibly diverse ancestry which makes mine look ordinary I like to think I've descended from people who wandered about a bit.

Blossoming, most British people have scandinavian in the mix, due to the Vikings, especially from the North Midlands upwards.

And again, something I have mentionned before. Who is a 'mixed race' person? The term is only used about people who have physical features which are linked to 'mixed race'.

However, many mixed race, even multiple mixed race- are never considered as such, because if does not 'show' in physical traits. Which can have a huge impact on some lives, and not others.

Anyone who grew up during Apartheid would know how massively it was important then. The relative colour of skin, the 'pencil test' for hair, the shape of nose or mouth. Of course, not so much now, but still very much a big influence on so many things.

Yes, very interesting. Mostly NE Scotland, some English, Welsh and Irish, also French and Scandinavian. None of it was really a surprise, apart from the Scandinavian.

I’ve gained a few more cousins 😊

I'd really like to do one of these. Everyone I know who has done one has found some surprises in it.

Same for DD1 and GD!