Hi
I have been slowly, looking through my matches on Gedmatch, and there do seem to be a few Swedish and Norweigan names there, so I am wondering if I might have an unaccounted for Scandinavian relative somewhere around fifth, sixth generation. It might explain my really high scandi percentage. Mind you, my 4x grandmother was born in Selkirk, and her surname was Anderson, which might explain some of it.
Anderson is not necessarily Scandinavian, though it is very common there.
I would imagine that a high amount of Scandinavian DNA would come from descent from Vikings and Normans.
Hi
Yes, that is true about the Anderson surname, and I think she was a full bloodied Scot, but i'm struggling to think of where else the high amount could come from. I do have alot of family from Yorkshire, and the Midlands ( Danelaw) and some from Scotland, which could explain the high percentage. One of my distant Ancestors was called Jane Raw, which I believe is a Viking name, and she was from Swaledale in North Yorks and possibly Cumbria further back.
According to FTDNA I am a whopping 45% Scandinavia and the coloured blob was mostly over Norway and Sweden. I was 40% Great Britain, 13% Southern Europe and 2% Central and South Asian. All my family, as far as I am aware of, were born in the British Isles. But I do have many gaps and brick walls to fill. What is odd is that I have no Western or Central Europe.
So, yes, it is hard to tell if the DNA is Ancient or relatively recent. I have not come across any ancestral Scandinavian links so far in my research, but I do have some current Scandinavian matches with people on Gedmatch, who are Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish. Interesting times!.
