DNA

[TonyV]

So my mother was English to the core, going back at least 4 generations and yet Ancestry has me 5% English and My Heritage makes it 0%. Go figure! Perhaps I was a foundling!

[Croy Girl]

I got  a Dna Kit from My Heritage as a 60th birthday present from my Son and Daughter.It is at this minutes in the lab in Texas.So fingers crossed I get good matches with ancestors I have found and can compare mine with theirs.
Mine should show mostly Scottish and Irish. Will let you know the results see what they say.lol.

Marguerite.

[louisa maud]

Although I was pleased  to  be  94% British the  Eastern European has surprised  me, I  cannot fathom  it  out,


Good  luck  with yours

LM

[Ruskie]

I thought My Heritage lumped Irish, Scottish and Welsh in together? That’s how mine is anyway. I have Irish ancestors, but no known Welsh or Scottish.

English is separate, which seems odd.

Though I have ancestors from Durham/Northumberland going back to the early 1700s, I am not assigned any English. I thought it possible that ancestors from the NE may form part of my rather high “Scandinavian” percentage. I have no known Scandinavian heritage, (though it is possible that at least some of that came from unknown bits of my paternal branch.)

I read that the ethnicity estimates aren’t accurate because these companies are trying to slot people neatly into geographical areas which is impossible.. People moved around.

The ethnicity estimates are interesting and a bit of fun but nothing more.

LM, what percentage Eastern European did they give you?

[Gadget]

I thought My Heritage lumped Irish, Scottish and Welsh in together? T

Chamged as I read my Ancestry distribution. Mine are lumped on MH

PS - in the detailed breakdown they list smaller areas where most  matches live now

[melba_schmelba]

Although I was pleased  to  be  94% British the  Eastern European has surprised  me, I  cannot fathom  it  out,


Good  luck  with yours

LM

I wouldn't take any meaning to it, my mother has a large % of it on MH but has no eastern european ancestry whatsoever.

[Ruskie]

From the link I provided at reply#9:

Samples are generally collected from people with deep roots in a particular location. For some DNA ethnicity projects the requirement is that the individual should have four grandparents from the same country, region or county.

Only four grandparents? You can see how that might lead to some questionable “ethnicity” results related to those sample populations. 

and:
For example, if you are from Denmark and the company has no Danish samples, you will be matched to the next closest population.

You might find something along these lines happened with your Eastern European percentage LM.

[louisa maud]

Ruskie, as you ask, my DNA is as follows

93.9% English
3.7% Irish, Scottish and Welsh
2.4% East European

I wonder how far back it goes, the only one in my family was my Gt grandfather who was born in Stockholm Sweden, I don't know much about DNA  to be honest, wish I could persuade my twin brother to do a test

LM

[Ruskie]

2.4% is not much LM. Keep an eye on it though as the percentages will likely change over time.

This gives an idea about 2% from a particular region:
https://whoareyoumadeof.com/blog/how-many-generations-back-is-2-dna/

Have you uploaded your raw data from MyHeritage to FTDNA? You will probably get different percentages:
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/transfer-to-ftdna

I suggest it would be worth paying the small fee (currently on sale it seems) to unlock all the features on FTDNA. 

Do you know anything about your Swedish ggrandfather’s origins? Were his parents also born in Sweden? You might expect a percentage of Swedish if generations hailed from that part of the world, but it’s all pretty vague.