Which test is best for Viking ancestry?

[ajf25]

My paternal grandmother's ancestors lived in the Orkney Islands. On my mother's side I have both Swedish and Danish ancestry.
I imagine I could have Viking ancestry but would love to confirm it.
Which type of testing would be the best?

Cheers,
Alison

[Alexander.]

Hi Alison,

The bottom line is that there is no such thing as Viking DNA.

However, an autosomal test, such as Family Tree DNA's FamilyFinder, will give you a rough breakdown of your ethnic makeup. You would need an autosomal test because you want to test all your chromosomes, which are the product of all of your lines of ancestry, unlike Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA.
https://www.familytreedna.com/learn/dna-basics/autosomal/

Alexander

[Skoosh]

You're descended from many thousands of people, it would be surprising if you had no Norse ancestry in your make-up. You will need plenty of Danegeld for this (fruitless) exercise and these DNA Testing companies will be only too delighted to take your cash.
The Vikings are very much still with us.   

Skoosh.

[ajf25]

Thanks Alexander and Skoosh 

[DevonCruwys]

See this Sense About Science article for the reasons why you cannot take a DNA test to detemine whether or not you have Viking ancestry:

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/data/files/resources/119/Sense-About-Genetic-Ancestry-Testing.pdf

However, DNA testing is very useful for genealogy. You might like to read some of the beginners' articles to understand the potential:

http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Beginners%27_guides_to_genetic_genealogy

[Designer Jeans]

Hi

Did your paternal grandmother have any brothers whose sons had sons who you could approach for a DNA sample?  If so, could be fun to test their Y DNA and see what haplogroup they turn out to be and where that haplogroup originated.  DNA testing companies may well offer Father's Day sales in June.  Like all genealogy, you never know what you will find!

Valerie

[Skoosh]

Alison,  I had a Orkney/Shetland grannie myself, in Orkney the folk are a Norse/Scots mix,  the Scots have been settling in Orkney long before it became Scottish.   If  you did take a test and found Scots ancestry, that doesn't rule out the Norse element, her forefathers might have been predominantly Norse, and vice versa.

Skoosh.

[ajf25]

Thanks everyone for your input

Alison 

[Banana12]

Hi.
You may not be able to find Viking DNA, however you can find out if you have Northern European (Scandinavian) DNA.
I'm 54% Scandinavian according to ftDNA autosomal test.