It would seem that my DNA Origins changes over time, or at least that is what appears to happen on Ancestry.com. Since my first blog post on 24 December 2019, "Who Do I Think I Am?, my DNA Origins have changed. Ancestry says they continually update their algorithms, causing the ethnicity estimate and ethnicity inheritance results to be updated. Let me share the updates they have provided and some DNA comparisons.
Here is what my DNA origins looked like at the end of 2019.
And now, less than 3 years later, here is my current DNA Origin map and distribution:
Some of the numbers have been changed and countries broken out or re-grouped. For instance, Ireland and Scotland were lumped together at 6% and now, separated they make up 14% Scotland and 10% Ireland. In my opinion, that is a pretty significant increase. Another area that made a significant jump was Sweden and Denmark, going from 3% to 16%. The predominant DNA distribution appears to come from England and Northwestern Europe, although the percentage has decreased from a whopping 84% to 47%. Germanic Europe ticked up a percentage point to 6%.
Then there were the two new additions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Baltics, popping up at 1% each.
Ancestry.com did add a new feature where it divides the DNA profile between one's parents. It does not distinguish between mother and father, just Parent1 and Parent2. However, based upon my research, I am able to guess which is which.
Based upon the above chart, I believe that my father is Parent1 and my mother is Parent2. One of the reasons is the 2 sections representing Germanic Europe and Wales, given my paternal surname and my paternal Welsh ancestors through the Morris line. Conversely, the large turquoise-colored segment on Parent2's chart I associate with my maternal Kelly ancestors.
One interesting point to consider is this: We only receive half of our parents' DNA so there is half that we did not have passed down. The chart above shows only the parts of their DNA I inherited.
As Ancestry explains: "Inheriting half of a parent’s DNA doesn’t mean inheriting half of each ethnicity. The DNA you inherit is random. One or both parents may have ethnicities that they didn’t end up passing down to you."
For comparison, I am using a paternal aunt's DNA results since my father never took the test and I am making the assumption that they would be close, if not identical. Here is our comparison:
The results are interesting because allegedly the regions we share along the paternal line are the same, but the percentages are different. For further comparison, here is my distribution compared to a paternal first cousin, a child of the aunt cited above.
Similar to the comparison to my aunt, the regions are the same, but the percentages have shift, due to the DNA of my cousin's father's DNA. The four other regions in my DNA are not shared on either paternal comparison chart, leading me to further conclude that those regions are from my maternal DNA.
Now, to go the other way, when my DNA is compared to one of my sibling's children, there is an interesting shift in the percentages.
Maybe I am just a DNA-nerd, but I find this fascinating. Hopefully you, dear readers, do as well. And, as the saying goes, it takes two halves to make a whole. That is definitely the case in regard to one's DNA story.
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