DNA Confusion

[lilybd]

I am a little confused having got back my dad’s ancestry DNA. I thought you got DNA from both parents even though the amount may not be exactly 50/50. However my grandfather was english and my grandmother was welsh but they predict my dad is 98% Welsh! And 2% Irish.

Is this normal to have no english or does it throw his parentage into dispute?

Sara

[Milliepede]

Were your grandfather's parents Welsh? 

[lilybd]

No none of my grandfathers relatives were welsh which is why it seems so confusing.

Sara

[DavidG02]

Non paternal event OR a far event that has picked up specific Welsh gene marker

I have Welsh matches which I assume came from my GGGgrandmother (as a brickwall) or the borders were not as lineal as today

[Janethepain]

Surely, a decision about whether there may have been a NPE and its impact on ethnicity results ( which so many think are disputable, though mine seems very explanatory of family history, and the paper trail), is the DNA matches!  If the DNA matches link into known family tree ancestors  on both sides, moving back then the explanation will be something else. So the important thing is to go check your matches, are they what you would expect.

Working out why your ethnicity is askew can be for later query!

[RossGillbanks]

Celtic confusion? Mine claims I am part Welsh, Irish and Scottish. I am well aware of the Scottish but the Welsh and Irish I have no idea on. The estimate seems to get shuffled around these groups, I believe people have complained that their Irish or Welsh has disappeared at some point and been replaced with Scottish also.

Likewise with Germanic group and England. They can get mixed a little too.

Best thing to remember is its an estimate, there is various things they take into account work out the ethnicity.

[Romilly]

To my knowledge, I had one Welsh Grandmother...

However, according to Ancestry I have 45% Welsh DNA!

It appears to me that DNA is assigned in a random manner. My sister has also tested, and she only has 17% Welsh DNA. Same parents.

Romilly.

[lilybd]

I do realise the ethnicity are estimates and I’m aware percentages can vary between family members. I just don’t understand why when my grandfather and his ancestors were English that my dad doesn’t even have 1% English in his estimate.

[Albufera32]

The thing to remember is that the ethnicity estimate is based solely on present day comparisons.

Contrary to popular belief, or even the way the DNA ethnicity is described by eg Ancestry, it does NOT indicate the actual place your ancestors lived. What it indicates is that you share similar DNA with other living people whose known ancestors were Welsh, English, Scottish or whatever.

Remember also that the prediction is that using these similarities they are estimating where your ancestors lived between 1000 and 500 years ago. So all it is saying is that your father's dna is similar to the dna of people whose ancestors (probably) lived in Wales somewhere around the 1400s or so.