My sister did the test on Ancestry and we also got Scandinavian instead of the German we know that we are. An uncle who is pretty well versed in dna things says that they just use an area, not specific countries, sometimes.
If you want some fun try being Hawaiian. We know that we are. Lineage can be traced back to the ali'i. (No joke). We come up as "Pacific Islanders". They have to group everyone with heritage from the entire Pacific ocean areas into one single group, lol. My uncle who is the family researcher of our Hawaiian heritage was mad about that result! But it had something to do with the lack of samples to be able to differentiate between groups.
I would recommend checking back on results on Ancestry as they do frequently up date and refine the results as more people test. Also I would sign up for their Beta program. At one time, they had Eastern European among my results but now have refined the results. If the family I am researching now as my possible paternal origins is indeed my paternal bio-father's family, one would think I would show Ukraine and more German ancestry. However, one side of that family is more British, as am I, so knowing the lower possibility of being from their Russian and German sides, I can focus on the British.
23andme has recently refined their results to even show this concerning my ancestry and this could be a big help in my search! I'm amazed that they can
do this!
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has 165 administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your ancestry in the following
10 regions.
1. Greater London
2. Glasgow City
3. Lancashire
4. Greater Manchester
5. West Midlands
6. Edinburgh
7. Merseryside
8. West Yorkshire
9. Suffolk
10. Tyne and Wear
Ireland has 26 administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your ancestry in the following
10 regions.
- County Dublin
- County Cork
- County Tipperary
- County Clare
- County Limerick
- County Kerry
- County Mayo
- County Offaly
- County Roscommon
- County Sligo
Germany has 16 administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your ancestry in the following
1 regions.
Baden-Württemberg
Iceland. Although it is likely you had ancestors who lived in Iceland in the last
200 years, we have not been able to identify the specific regions in Iceland where your ancestors may have lived.
Sweden has 21 administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your ancestry in the following
1 regions.
Gavleborg County
Though my bio ancestors seem to be primarily from the British Isles, my potential bio father's family tree shows a number of German ancestors having lived in Baden-Württemberg and my German results above only list Baden-Wurttemberg as a potential area! Am I on to something? It's all a journey of discovery with lots yet to learn!
Also on my bio-maternal side, I can trace from my great-grandmother 's family back to the earliest migration in Iceland's history and from there back to Norway further.
One last thing, my bio maternal great-grandfather immigrated to the US from Sweden. We are unable to trace him back further than his immigration from Stockholm to the US. He could have traveled to take the ship. Above, 23andme has broken the Swedish side down to just one county!
Sorry, if this has bored you!
I'm just thinking out loud with my fingers!