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.
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. 🙂