Thursday, March 8, 2018

What's in your DNA...by Kristin Wallace


One of my Christmas presents this year was a DNA kit from Ancestry.com. A little unorthodox as a request, but I've always wanted to do one. I think it's so interesting, all these combinations that make us who we are. Now, my last name is Wallace so the chances of having Scottish ancestry seemed likely. I also knew my dad had Irish on one side. My mom had mostly English and some Irish. 

A couple weeks ago, I finally got the results back. A few expected conclusions...and also some surprises. 

Great Britain - 45%
Scandinavia - 22%
Ireland/Scotland/Wales - 18%
 

As expected, Great Britain came out ahead. There's also a substantial percentage of Ireland/Scotland/Wales...also pretty expected. Altogether, the British Isles came out to 63%. But the second highest single percentage is Scandinavia. Yep...the Vikings. Now, actually I wasn't totally surprised about that. My parents got their results back before I did, and on my dad's side, Scandinavia was the biggest percentage. 

There were also what Ancestry.com called "low confidence regions", with each making up 5% or less

-Europe South (Italy, Greece)
-Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal)
-Caucasus (middle east)
-Europe West (France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands etc.) 

Clearly, my people got around quite a bit.

Now, back to the Great Britain ethnicity and the big presence of those Vikings. I found this article about the types of DNA mixes that could be found in Great Britain. The article pointed out that even modern Brits are only about 60% Great Britain. It wasn't only Vikings running amok, either. It's common to find Italian (Roman empire), French (Normans and later the Huguenots fleeing religious persecution in France), Spanish and other ethnicities in the British Isles, too. etc. 


Have you had your DNA tested? What were your results? Any surprises? Please share!


Kristin Wallace is the USA Today Best Selling Author of inspirational and contemporary romance, and women’s fiction filled with “Love, Laughter and a Leap of Faith”.  Look for Kristin’s new series The Heiress Games, launching in April, (Least Likely Heiress, Not Quite An Heiress & The Forgotten Heiress). Get a sneak peek with a FREE Chapter Sampler with the opening chapters of all three books.




9 comments:

  1. So interesting, Kristin! Thanks for sharing. I really want to check out Ancestry.com.

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  2. I've never checked my DNA, but it sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. That's so neat! I've never done a DNA test like that, but I think it would be fun to do. Thanks for sharing your results!

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  4. I haven't had it done, but my parents have. There's was about the same 47% western European, 17%Ireland, 13% GB, 16%Scandinavian 3% Iberian Peninsula, finnish/new Russia 2% Italy/Greece 1/2%

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  5. I haven't done one, but I think I'd like to.

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  6. Thank you for sharing your DNA results, Kristin! I'm looking forward to your Heiress Games series. Sounds like so much fun!

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  7. I haven't done one yet either, but it would be interesting to do.

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  8. I've met so many cousins through the DNA tests whose families knew mine. And I discovered that I have Italian and British Isles ancestry, which I never knew about. I love it.

    Here are my results from AncestryDNA:
    39 percent Iberian Peninsula,
    32 percent Native American,
    8 percent Europe South (Italy, Greece),
    7 percent Africa North (Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria, Libya)
    My low confidence regions:
    4 percent Middle East,
    4 percent Ireland/Scotland/Wales

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  9. I would love to do one. But, I cannot afford it being disabled. My grandmother was adopted and I don't know who my grandfather was so I have a huge whole on my mother's side!

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