When I wrote about my first foray into DNA testing in April 2012 (my most-read blog post), my autosomal results indicated that my genetic ethnicity (going back many hundreds of years) was 78% British Isles, 16% Scandinavian, and 6% Uncertain.
AncestryDNA has greatly increased the genetic regions and provided more information about the ranges of possibility of each ethnicity.
First, the summary: 64% Great Britain, 23% Europe West, 6% Ireland and 7% Trace Regions. Interesting: where did the Scandinavian go? And what are the Trace Regions?
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| My updated genetic ethnicity (according to AncestryDNA) |
Clicking on each of the main categories above gives the following:
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| My specific ethnicity results for Great Britain from AncestryDNA |
When I click on each link, I can read about how AncestryDNA came up with the percentage and range for each ethnicity. I also see on the right that this ethnicity is primarily from England, Scotland and Wales with some in Ireland, France and Germany. The map (which is not shown above) also changes.
My ranges are as follows:
Great Britain range is 34% to 91%
Europe West is 0% to 46% (From AncestryDNA: "The Europe West region is the most admixed of our identified regions. That means that when creating ethnicity estimates for people native to this region, we almost always see DNA from other nearby regions included.")
Ireland is 0% - 16%
I'm guessing that the Great Britain percentage could be greater than 64%. I'm glad to see some Europe West results, as I know I have ancestors from Netherlands and France. My guess is that Ireland is not 0% as I know of a couple of ancestors from Ireland.
Trace Regions is an interesting addition to the AncestryDNA results. (And more interesting to look at than "Uncertain" as a result.)
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| My genetic ethnicity including results for Trace Regions |
Well, there's Scandinavia, at 3%. Iberian Peninsula results of 2% is a possibility because there is a story that the May family of Sussex, England were of Portuguese ancestry. The Europe East and European Jewish is just plain fascinating, showing that going back hundreds or thousands of years, we just don't know where our ancestors were from.
For others who have explored the AncestryDNA test, note the box at the bottom "Show all regions." When you click on that, you'll see all of the regions that AncestryDNA includes in its results, including all those for which you have no DNA.
Very cool. Will check this out! H
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting this, Elizabeth-- I also found my updated results interesting (and baffling). You're a lot more "British" than I am, and it looks like you're a "member of the tribe" in a very trace amount, ha.
ReplyDeleteYes, I knew I had mostly British ancestry. I do find the various trace amounts interesting. For a completely different ancestry, see my husband's at Jewish Results. Maybe we are very distantly related ;-)
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting!
Hi Elizabeth. I am Caroline Gittings Fleming (formerly McKee), daughter of Mimi Oliver Gittings and granddaughter of Caroline Lysle Oliver Hunter. Your grandmother Helen (we called her Aunt Honey) and grandfather (my Uncle Toby) were 2 of my favorite people. My Mom always said Uncle Toby was her favorite uncle. If I remember correctly, he retired from Alcoa. I hear Aunt Honey's tinkling laugh to this day.
ReplyDeleteI found your blog while searching for Percy Earle Hunter, my great (your great great?) grandfather. I am was looking for a picture of him to attach to my family tree.
I would love to stay in touch, though admit this is the first blog I have been on so don't know much about them. But one is never too old to learn. Caroline Fleming
Hello second cousin Caroline! I look forward to sharing information with you and I have sent a message via Google+.
DeleteThanks for reading my blog and contacting me!
I wonder if the surname Pyle is not in fact English, but actually the anglicised name of a forebearer from northern France. I guess impossible to figure out.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the Pyle surname is English. It is Lysle that is believed to be French. See Lysle Family Tree.
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting.
I have Irish and British included in my Ancestry DNA listed as trace regions. I find validity in this because my mother's maiden name is Sullivan and my dad's surname was Bray. This surnames's originate in these countries. I think trace regions have some truth to them if you can back it up with family records.
ReplyDeleteMy ancestors have been in the U.S. for so many generations that trying to confirm where they came from is a lifetime project.
DeleteThanks for reading and commenting!