DNA Ethnicity estimates

by Keith Michael Parkin

Dec 11, 2023

Hi,

I recently undertook an Ancestry DNA test and was fascinated by the ethnicity results, although not surprising knowing the history of the country of my birth, Mostly Dutch/Germanic (32%) and Scottish (32%) with English (16%), and a close 4th, Swedish (14%) and a bit of Welsh (2%) making up the European DNA. A smattering of "First Nation" Khoisan (1%)  and a smattering of slaves from Northern India (2%) and Nigeria.(1%)

I then decided to upload my DNA on another site - Myheritage - as my original tree was created with them and may have provided a better source for relatives.

This is where things get confusing.

According to Myheritage, my ethnicity is mostly English (38%), a close second Scandinavian/Swedish (34%) and not far off, Iberian/ Spanish (22.7%) (not even mentioned and not remotely close to Ancestry results - nor indicative of any ancestors in the tree). Scottish (2%) hardly gets a mention. They have similar results for Indian (2%)  and there is an indication of the mixed lineage "typical of settlers to Southern Africa although they do not provide a %.

Can anyone explain how these results are so different using the exact same DNA results?

  • up

    Kimberly Murray

    Hi Keith,

    I had the same thing happen to me, with the same companies! I tested separately with both Ancestry and MyHeritage and had different results, some of which I'm still confused about.

    I did a bit of research and found that the results depend on where/what the company focuses their testing on. It's very tempting to test with a couple of other companies to see what their results would be. 

    2

    Dec 11, 2023