Ancestry updating ethnicity again--question

VirginiaB · 09-09-2020 9:44pm #1

There is a banner on my Ancestry DNA page that says that ethnicity updates 'to be more precise' are coming soon. I'm in the US. Are you Ancestry subscribers in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales getting this message?

New matches are already showing the changes but not yet for existing Ancestry subscribers.

Hermy · 09-09-2020 10:25pm

I'm in Ireland and I can see the banner but not sure about the changes.

What changes are you seeing?

VirginiaB · 09-09-2020 10:51pm

Thanks for letting me know that you're getting that banner too.

If you click on any new matches, even the people whose photos are shown that you may have no idea who they are, you will see that Ancestry has separated Ireland and Scotland and England and Wales. Separate percentages for each. That's what is coming for all of us. Ie, they are not lumping Ireland-Scotland or England-Wales-NW Europe in the latest update.

pinkypinky · 10-09-2020 9:37am

I also have the banner.

I'm not too bothered about this. It's all just a bit of fun.

Hermy · 11-09-2020 7:53am

My update arrived this morning - can't say that it's all that illuminating.

pinkypinky · 11-09-2020 9:20am

Mine has actually changed.

Now 90% Ireland
5% Scotland
5% Wales

No reflection of my English gg-grandfather in there, but looks like they've found my (different line) Welsh gg-grandmother for the first time.

Hermy · 11-09-2020 9:35am

Mine has changed from

77% Ireland & Scotland
17% England, Wales & Northwestern Europe
6% France

to

62% Ireland
23% Scotland
10% France
5% Wales.

Rmulvany · 11-09-2020 10:16am

Surprised that mine updated aswell, when I looked into the details surrounding their updates earlier in the week I thought it was just concerning the Oceania area.

I was:
Ireland 100%

Now:
Ireland 99%
Scotland 1%

Currently looking into the distinction between them, previously I had presumed that the 100% Ireland was reflective of the Gaels/Celts generations.
Does the Scotland now reflect Pictish? Or am I looking too far into this.

VirginiaB · 11-09-2020 1:28pm

Thanks for the heads up. I am now 83% Ireland and 17% Scotland. My Spanish great-grandfather isn't there at all

Funny, because some time back on Ancestry I was 13% 'Iberian'. I went thru all my sibs, cousins who descend from him and only one shows 4% 'Spain'. He was from Asturias on the north coast of Spain and Ancestry does not do DNA tests in Spain, say my close cousins there. They can't buy the test and Ancestry has no model groups or whatever they call it.

I include this info here as it skews the results and may affect others who may have ancestors from similarly unrecorded (by Ancestry) places.

pinkypinky · 11-09-2020 2:45pm

As we've discussed before, ethnicity results are not reliable and the above evidence just underlines it.

Just look at them for fun.

srmf5 · 12-09-2020 9:43pm

My family's results didn't change much really. It mainly just separated Ireland from Scotland.

Me:
New
Ireland 91%
Scotland 9%

Old
Ireland & Scotland 94%
England, Wales & Northwestern Europe 6%

Mum
New
Ireland 97%
Scotland 3%

Old
Ireland & Scotland 100%

Paternal Aunt
New
Ireland 98%
Scotland 2%

Old
Ireland & Scotland 100%

Paternal Great Aunt
New
Ireland 100%

Old
Ireland & Scotland 98%
Europe, Wales and Northwestern Europe 2%

KildareFan · 12-09-2020 11:15pm

Well - I've been given 25% Scottish ancestry even though I can go back to the 1600s and there's no trace of a Scottish ancestor.

srmf5 · 13-09-2020 4:20pm

KildareFan wrote: »

Well - I've been given 25% Scottish ancestry even though I can go back to the 1600s and there's no trace of a Scottish ancestor.

Out of curiosity, where are your ancestors from?

KildareFan · 13-09-2020 7:37pm

srmf5 wrote: »

Out of curiosity, where are your ancestors from?

Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Westmeath, with an outlier from Inishboffin Island Co Galway:

Mother, father & three grandparents from Dublin. Mother's paternal ancestors go back to Dublin city (Sir John Rogerson's Quay & John's Lane) & Co Wicklow as far as late 1600s (they were protestants so better records available). Some of the Wicklow ancestors obtained land from the Williamite settlements and came from England. Her maternal ancestors (RCs) lived in south County Dublin as far back as the early 1800s.

Father's paternal ancestors Co Westmeath traced back to late 1700s; an outlier caused by my RIC great grandfather who married a woman from Inishboffin Co Galway - her ancestors traced back to early 1800s; father's maternal ancestors Co Meath traced to early 1800s.

Can't see any scope for 25% scottish ancestry there and no DNA matches have turned up in Scotland.

srmf5 · 13-09-2020 8:26pm

KildareFan wrote: »

Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and Westmeath, with an outlier from Inishboffin Island Co Galway:

Mother, father & three grandparents from Dublin. Mother's paternal ancestors go back to Dublin city (Sir John Rogerson's Quay & John's Lane) & Co Wicklow as far as late 1600s (they were protestants so better records available). Some of the Wicklow ancestors obtained land from the Williamite settlements and came from England. Her maternal ancestors (RCs) lived in south County Dublin as far back as the early 1800s.

Father's paternal ancestors Co Westmeath traced back to late 1700s; an outlier caused by my RIC great grandfather who married a woman from Inishboffin Co Galway - her ancestors traced back to early 1800s; father's maternal ancestors Co Meath traced to early 1800s.

Can't see any scope for 25% scottish ancestry there and no DNA matches have turned up in Scotland.

Thanks for the information. I was just curious since I haven't seen any results from the east. I also haven't seen any results from people descended from Protestants who lived in the Republic of Ireland either so it's interesting to see that too. Have you been given an English percentage as well or is it just 75% Ireland and 25% Scottish?

It has been noted in other forums that Scottish seems to be inflated for a lot of people with ancestry in Britain and western Europe. I'm not taking issue with the Scottish in my family's results since it's less than 10% for us all.

Before anyone comments, I'm not taking the ethnicity estimates seriously but I'm just curious to see how well Ancestry are doing at estimating ancestry from different locations.

KildareFan · 13-09-2020 9:36pm

<Have you been given an English percentage as well or is it just 75% Ireland and 25% Scottish?>

Just 75% Irish, 25% Scottish. Earlier versions gave me some exotic ancestry in Turkey and the middle east, now gone....

srmf5 · 13-09-2020 9:45pm

KildareFan wrote: »

<Have you been given an English percentage as well or is it just 75% Ireland and 25% Scottish?>

Just 75% Irish, 25% Scottish. Earlier versions gave me some exotic ancestry in Turkey and the middle east, now gone....

Thanks and I'm guessing that your genetic communities are just based in Dublin and Westmeath based on your recent ancestry?

Ancestry updating ethnicity again--question

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