Help to decipher DNA results

[AJH - Holmes and Gordon]

I'm struggling to understand my wifes DNA results, I'm hoping you could shed some light on it. Other results for other family members have been easier to understand with little in the way of surprises.

First looking at her tree, of the 8 great grandparents, 2 are Scottish, one German and the rest English (largly Northumberland, Cumbria and Yorkshire). We believe we have reliably traced several generations further to the 1700's, and all lines stay pretty much in the same locations.

Now looking at the DNA ethnicity estimate, the first thing we noticed is a lack of English, in fact the red area doesn't even cover the parts of England the lines fall into. Am I reading that correctly? Clicking to show all groups, English is listed as 0% even though it shows 'additional genetic groups' below with various regions.

Next is the Irish connection. There has never been any hint of Irish, either through stories from Grandparents or general research. And why the strong focus on Ireland Donegal, is that suggesting a definate link? Could this be from way further back and we just haven't reached it yet?

And finally, is it possible and therefore worth it to upload DNA to other sites? The results for this one were very low, with only one close relative at 1.4% then 0.7% after that, though with no apparent links to their trees.

[decor]

I have found the MyHeritage ethnicity estimates to be quite bizarre.
My mother has 0% English as well, although most of her ancestors come from there.

Perhaps the Donegal link could be Scottish settlers?

[AJH - Holmes and Gordon]

Perhaps the Donegal link could be Scottish settlers?

I've just had a quick read and note that the main migration from Ireland to Scotland started in the early 1800's. The two Scottish lines in her tree go back further and seem to have strong roots in Fife, though I agree it's certainly something to dig a little deeper into 

[aghadowey]

People have been traveling back and forth between Scotland and Ireland long before 1800.

My father, with no known Italian ancestors before 1700 shows a certain percentage of Italian ancestry which indicates otherwise. His godmother was Venetian and he loves Italian food but that shouldn't make a difference to DNA results 

[avm228]

There are lots of threads on here about MyHeritage’s weird ethnicity results. They also have me as 0% English (and mostly Scandinavian) despite the fact that I am almost all English with a dash of Scots and Irish in there.

Ancestry has me pretty much bang on - even identifying my strong links to East Anglia and West Yorkshire. Unfortunately they don’t accept uploads; she’d have to do a fresh test with them.

[AJH - Holmes and Gordon]

There are lots of threads on here about MyHeritage’s weird ethnicity results. They also have me as 0% English (and mostly Scandinavian) despite the fact that I am almost all English with a dash of Scots and Irish in there.

Ancestry has me pretty much bang on - even identifying my strong links to East Anglia and West Yorkshire. Unfortunately they don’t accept uploads; she’d have to do a fresh test with them.

That's a shame Ancestry don't do that, my dad has an account so I was thinking of uploading there. Interestingly I have just uploaded my dad's to My Heritage following a message from these forums. It'll be interesting to see if there is any difference in results (just waiting 5-7 days 😉).

[Carmella]

There's also LivingDNA and FTDNA where you can upload your Ancestry/MyHeri raw data onto for some more ethnicity estimates.

In addition, all the companies update their ethnicity reference population panels from time to time to time, so then your ethnicity estimate may change!

[AJH - Holmes and Gordon]

There's also LivingDNA and FTDNA where you can upload your Ancestry/MyHeri raw data onto for some more ethnicity estimates.

In addition, all the companies update their ethnicity reference population panels from time to time to time, so then your ethnicity estimate may change!

I hadn't considered those two, I may upload there to see results. I'm surprised it's free for both sites, I honestly expected there to be a fee of some sort.

[Carmella]

There is an "unlock fee" for both companies to get all the features but it is still cheaper than buying 2 brand new tests.

LivingDNA had a £29 unlock fee last time I checked - if you are particularly interested in your UK DNA then you could try this as it breaks down ethnicity into UK regions e.g. one of my parents got 13.5% North West England which includes Cheshire/Merseyside/Greater Manchester/Lancs.  This is a mystery as no known ancestors from this area but we do have some unknown 3rd/4th cousin matches on Ancestry from these locations which suggests it's accurate. Must be behind a brickwall!