Ancestry DNA v My Heritage DNA

[Pamela21]

I had a DNA test with Ancestry and then another one with My Heritage.
They are completely different!

My Ancestry test pretty much reflects my careful family research going back into the 1700s.
My mother was as far as I know 100% Welsh so this makes perfect sense.
My two daughters came up similar, nothing unexpected.
My results show:
Wales 53%
England 34%
Ireland 9%
Norway 4%

My Heritage DNA is completely bonkers!
English 84.5%
Irish, Scottish and Welsh 9.9%
Baltic 4.7%
Middle Eastern 0.9%
How can it be so different? I'm wondering whether these are someone else's results.

Or is there a logical explanation for this because it makes no sense to me.

Many thanks for your thoughts. 

[davidft]

IMO neither of them is bonkers and neither of them is likely to be 100 % correct.

They work simply by comparing your results with their databases some of which have very small sample sizes for some areas. As the two companies use different populations and population sizes it should not be a surprise when differences arise, rather they should be expected.

Remember there is nothing on your DNA that says where you come from its all assumption based on comparison of similar results in others which may or may not be correct.

[Pamela21]

Still makes no sense to me how they can be so completely different. It is like two different people altogether. The Ancestry result matches my research so closely it's hard not to accept it as being accurate. I can't relate to the other one in any way, especially when I am quite certain I am 50% Welsh through my mother.   

[medpat]

It's all according to what's in their database to give you your ethnicity.

My Heritage has given me a different ethnicity to everywhere else I have my DNA on. Put your Ancestry DNA onto My Heritage and other free sites to see what they have to say.

Ethnicity is very hit and miss but is updated so maybe sometime they will all be saying the same thing.

[Zaphod99]

Your analysis for matches will be very similar.  The ethnicity breakdown varies depending on the sample comparison size and algorithm used. This is widely explained on countless YouTube videos.

The test companies don't make that clear because more people want ethnicity details, even if spurious, rather than a list of pseudonyms used by 10,000 cousins.  They really push it on Mothers' Day etc. As a cute present. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

All but one of my ancestors from the last three generations came from the same small village.  Before that, none of my ancestors even came from that county.  So, tell me is my ancestry in that village or not?

Zaph

[DudelsackHogg]

I got my MyHeritage results back today. I tested both with MyHeritage and Ancestry.

I too was incredibly surprised at how different the results are.

MyHeritage:

Irish, Scottish and Welsh 38.5%
Scandinavian 27.1%
English 26.3%
East European 4.5%
Finnish 3.6%

Ancestry:

Scotland 87%
England and Northwestern Europe 10%
Ireland 3%

Puzzling.

I would say Ancestry seems to reflect my tree for the last couple of hundred years.

[Pamela21]

I agree. Ancestry reflects my research and my knowledge of my family very accurately. My Heritage bears no resemblance whatsoever! I have dismissed it as cobblers. 

[DudelsackHogg]

It’s certainly interesting how the ethnicity breakdown is calculated. Perhaps from a historical view point there is some basis for their calculation, Viking influence on Scotland etc.
I’m not sure I agree with the ‘Celts’ being categorised together on MyHeritage, Ancestry seems to be better for this analysis .

I’m glad I did the Ancestry one first. It pretty much confirmed my paper trail via matches. MyHeritage would have me thinking my Granny had an affair with a Norwegian sailor.
I appreciate it is just estimates based on their sample database but it’s left me feeling very reluctant to try the additional services they offer. Also, a lot of the connections I have seem to have really small trees, some just three people. I don’t understand why people took the dna test in the first place, I hope it’s not for their ethnicity breakdown. It seems like it will be a lot of work to try and figure out distant relatives. I wish they had a trial but anyway. I’m glad I did it as it provides a different viewpoint.
Going to upload to some of the other DNA sites and see what they say. Maybe gedmatch and livingdna but still exploring. Any recommendations?

[Pamela21]

I haven't yet uploaded from Ancestry to any other DNA sites. By the way, Ancestry is going to update their analysis this month (September) so it may get even more accurate, so I would wait until that happens. I do think many people just have the DNA test just to see their ethnicity, and are not really interested in creating a tree. Others do it to find relatives, especially if they know someone is out there they want to find.