I have uploaded my autosomal DNA to three of the big DNA testing companies. This year, they have updated their ethnic breakdowns. I thought I would create a chart to show the difference in my results between the three. I have tested with Family Tree DNA (they were the first for me), AncestryDNA, and I uploaded my raw data to MyHeritage as well.
Here is a chart outlining the differences between the three companies
As we all know, these are estimates. There is no way to know precisely where our more distant ancestors were from, just general regions. Borders are always changing; people have migrated in groups over the centuries due to war, environmental changes, famine, and many more reasons. These results, however, seem to match up to my family tree reasonably accurately.
My Grandmother is from the Netherlands, her DNA shows as mostly Scandinavian, so it's safe to say that most of my Scandinavian ethnicity likely comes from her. Her ancestors were from Friesland and Amsterdam. History tells us that in the 17th century, large groups of Norwegians emigrated to the Netherlands looking for better-paying jobs, a lot of these people settled in Amsterdam. My Scandinavian percentages seem to be accurate. AncestryDNA's new breakdown does not have me grouped into a "Scandinavian" category but does show a Norwegian percentage. Scotland, as a group, is brand new for me, though. To date, I only have one ancestor that I have been able to trace to Scotland; even then, I wasn't able to confirm this with official documents. I will need to look more into this and see if I can find these Scottish ancestors that AncestryDNA seems to think I have.
I have a lot of Irish branches in my family tree, so this was nothing new. I wish I was able to see which areas in Ireland that my ancestors were from, it would make my research a little easier. Maybe one day I will be so lucky.
West Slavic (less than 2%) is brand new for me on Family Tree DNA. It used to read as Baltic, like AncestryDNA and MyHeritage shows. Seeing as it is such a low percentage, I won't look much further into it; I'm sure it's blended into my other European ancestry.
Overall, the three companies show the same general regions. They all have their way of grouping populations, and AncestryDNA has changed mine, but for the most part, they are the same. I'm satisfied with the current results.
If you haven't uploaded your raw DNA to other testing companies, you should consider it. Not only will you view new cousin matches, but you'll be able to see their version on your ethnic break down.
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