RootsChat.Com

This is my attempt to explain how the Ancestral Regions work (and obviously is my interpretation of Ancestry's explanation).

The first thing to understand is that there is no such thing as "German" DNA, any more than there is English, Scottish or Irish DNA. All there is, is DNA which is more or less prevalent today in people with Scottish, Irish, German or English descent.

The second thing is to consider what Ancestry actually does - which may not be quite what the marketing blurb sometimes suggests.

What Ancestry does, is form reference panels of, in their words "people with deep family roots in a specific geographic area or cultural group". What that means is they use people whose families can be shown to have lived in a particular region for several generations. So their German reference panel (which at 2000 members is the same size as the Scottish and Irish reference panels) consists of people who have established roots living in Germany for several generations.

They then analyse the DNA of the people in the reference panel, measure the percentages of people who have each of 1001 separate segments, and use these percentages to decide on the "origin" of any particular segment.

Let us call one of these segments the "Abba" segment. It turns out the Abba segment is quite common in the Scottish reference group - about 40% say. It is also quite common in Germany (let's say 38%) and Norway (62%), but as I'm sure you've guessed already, I'm going to make this particular segment most common in Sweden (75%, say). (Just in case it's isn't obvious, I'm making these numbers up, I have no idea what typical ranges they get.) The point is, now that they have have measured the percentage abundance of the said segment, the "Abba segment is now categorised as "Swedish".

Now they analyse my DNA. It turns out I have the said Abba segment, so Ancestry now allocates 1 of my 1001 segments as Swedish. This does not mean I must have gained that segment from a long lost Swedish ancestor - it just means I have a particular segment of DNA which is more common NOW in people whose families lived in Sweden for several generations in the past than in any of their other reference groups.

Should Ancestry find 10 such "Swedish" segments, that is 10/1001, ie roughly 1% so it now classes me as 1% Swedish. BUT, because each of those MAY in fact be from Scottish ancestors given that, as with my earlier example of my entirely fictitious Abba segment, those segments may also be relatively common here in Scotland, they put an error range of between 0 and 1% on my Swedish ancestry.

Given that the UK has during it's history been invaded by Romans, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Vikings from various parts of Scandinavia as well as Norman French, has provided refuge to many exiles from religious or other forms of prosecution, and has in turn fought over or invaded large parts of the globe, it is perhaps not surprising that we share a lot of those segments with many other groups.

What all that means is that what used to be called ethnicity estimates are just that - glorified guesses based on statistics and probability - which only indicate that you share DNA with people whose ancestors are from a particular region in the past. If you want the fuller picture look at the ranges on the given identified regions.

Most importantly, always remember that DNA is only one more piece of evidence that might link you to a given ancestor.

The name MacGregor was proscribed in the early part of the 17th century, by James VI - it had nothing whatsoever to do with Culloden. Charles II restored the use of the name, but it was once again proscribed by William of Orange in 1693. Grant was one of several Clan names adopted by members of the MacGregor Clan. The name MacGregor was eventually restored in 1784.

Culloden was also nothing to do with "Scotland vs England" it was the culmination of a dynastic struggle between the Catholic Stuarts and the Protestant House of Hanover. (Though the Hanoverian claim to the throne also descended through the Stuart line, a historical fact frequently forgotten.) Culloden is more accurately described as the final full scale battle of the catholic vs protestant struggle which raged throughout the British Isles (just as it did in most of Europe) for the better part of 250 years. Scots and English fought on both sides, though there were only small numbers of English Catholics that rallied to Bonnie Prince Charlie (that being one of the main reasons the '45 failed).

You see the exact size of all the reference groups on Ancestry.

Most European ones are 2000.

Cornwall is one of the new regions added in the last update.

Whilst some of the marketing waffle is just that - blurb to sell more kits,it isn't all total rubbish.
If you go onto Ancestry and read how the assignment of regions is done (written by the science people not the marketing ones) it makes much more sense. What that also does is tell you what it really means.

My regions for example are (circa Jul 2024)

 85% Scotland, 10% Ireland, 2% Iceland, 2% France and 1% Norway.

What that actually means is that 85% of the DNA segments Ancestry uses to define ancestral origins is more common in the Scottish Reference panel than any other. 10% is most common in the Irish panel than any other regional panel, and so on.

The 2% Iceland is new (as it is for everyone, it was only added with this update). Because it is new, the Iceland Reference panel isn't as large as most of the others, so a small group with similar DNA can have a disproprtionate effect on the results. So what does my  2% Iceland really mean?

It doesn't mean I "2% Icelandic." It doesn't even mean that segment is more common in Iceland than elsewhere. It just means that a small part of my DNA is more common in the reference panel for Iceland  than anywhere else. That's all.

A birth certificate (amended or otherwise) is simply an extracted copy of the original birth register.

For a purchased certificate to be amended, the original register would also have to have been amended - and the record of that change or "correction" would be held alongside the original register, in the GRO or GROS as appropriate.