DNA % help please

[queenwillow]

Hello, I did a Ancestry DNA test and the best I have is 1 13% (906cM)..
As I have a lot of unknown for names I am more interested in heritage.
I am 65% Welsh, 23%Southern England and the rest Norway , Germany and Russia
My mother is 50% Danish (?) and probably 50% South England Counties
My father is a complete unknown.
Could a mathematician make an educated guess as to my fathers heritage please.
Many thanks for your time
Queen Willow

[youngtug]

The ethnicity percentages are nothing more than a guess really. Here is an example; https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/dna-ancestry-kits-twins-marketplace-1.4980976

[Talacharn]

I agree, percentages are not that accurate, but they can offer a surprise; and 60% Welsh is high. My ethnicity said I was; UK and Ireland 89.7%. North West England 34%. South Wales 24.3%. South Central England 12.4%, Central England 4.7%, North Wales 3.2%, North West Scotland 1.8%, Cumbria 1.6%, but also Asia South Pashtun 8.6% and Africa Nilotic People 1.6%. My parents are from South Wales and North West England. I do not have a clue about South Pashtun and Africa Nilotic People, but my test was with LivingDNA, who offer deeper information from Africa for an additional charge, so I felt it a marketing gimmick. As for North West Scotland, I was sceptical. I uploaded my Autosomnal to GEDMatch. Most of my matches are around 30cm, while one was 74cm, so I contacted that person. That email conversation explained the North West Scotland link, as some relocated to South Wales.

When you say, ‘father is a complete unknown’, if you have relatives on your mother’s side, who could also take a DNA test, preferably not with the same father, from their results, you could triangulate the majority of your mother’s side. Then the remaining, are likely to be your father. I am not a DNA expert, but the more tests you can merge, more questions could be answered.

Also upload to GEDMatch and any other free databases, as they have a database from all different testers. Without GEDMatch I would never have found the link, as we had tested on LivingDNA and 23andMe.

[queenwillow]

My mother was born in Wales, but her grandmother was from Southern England. Her Husband may have been Welsh .My grandfather was (i thought) Danish but Norwegian is not impossible.
So I may be 15% Welsh from my mothers side.
Which would make me 50% Welsh from my fathers side.
So 90+% Welsh father
Defiantly Land of my Fathers

[Talacharn]

With such a high Welsh percentage, at present, it does seem your father had some Welsh DNA, but adding percentages does not work. In time, as more are tested, your percentages could well change. If you read through threads on RootsChat, some have experienced massive changes, where 60% is reduced to 10%, and other countries added. Then again, with more information, or tested using a different provider, that 60% may be very different. It does not mean your father was Welsh, but probably had Welsh heritage. He may have been born in England of Welsh parents. The other issue, is your DNA offers various strengths, which can cause higher, or lower percentages. As youngtug said, percentages are nothing more than a guess. Yet many accept them as fact. While information can be found, there are no facts.

When I looked on LivingDNA, Wales was split between North and South, but on their map, everything above the M4 corridor was considered North Wales. Do you have any division within Wales?

If you upload to GEDMatch, that should give you the strongest matches. Then make contact with them, explaining you are trying to find your father and ask the make-up of their family, if only the surnames of grandparents. If you receive plenty of responses, matches could appear. Some you may know from your mother’s side, but some you will not know.