Viking hokey-cokey

Back in July Ancestry revised their output on DNA, based on a much larger, and growing sample of test results, 44,000+.

Previously, I have considered this topic in Ancestry Genetic Communities (March 2017), and Pardon my French! (September 2018). In the second of these I found it hard to believe the complete absence of any Scandinavian component to my genetic heritage, other than indirectly via Normandy.

A further update in August 2019 (which indicated Norway 2%, range 0-11%, but no Danish), passed me by, and I have only just caught up with the July 2020 update.

The 2017 profile made a great deal of sense, seeming to be consistent with my research going back (possibly) to sixteenth century England. The 2020 profile less so. At least the Vikings are back in, but Scotland?

July 2020 Norway

The proportion of my DNA ascribed to Noway is 7%, within a range of 0-9%, which makes some sense when considering my documented research, especially given the presence of Denmark.

Iceland? Well, there was some travel between Scandinavia and Iceland in Viking times, so this cannot be ruled out.

Scotland? This does not connect with my research, so I suspect that this will be towards the lower end of the range of 0-11% (Ancestry says 10%). Father of one aunt by marriage is the only person I have found with any Scottish heritage, and his parents were both English.

There is also a cluster in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I know that some of my ancestors’ relatives emigrated to the USA, and I have stumbled across some DNA connections through trees with shared ancestors.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and surroundings.

4 thoughts on “Viking hokey-cokey

  1. I know my Granddad John (Jack) Dennis always said (coming from other members of the Family my Mother and Uncle Jack) that we originate from Scandinavia area ,but if you search the name Dennis it will always go to French first, I know over the many Years the name is spelt different missing an N out for one , but then we have red hair in the Family and that seems to come from the Northern regent .Interesting

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  2. The Norse settled Iceland and on their way collected slaves from Ireland and Scotland, (mostly women) on the way. The Norse being the original settlers of Scandinavia their dna is found in the Danes which is probably going to make it more difficult to separate for Ancestry. My great grandfather James Dennis had red hair and blue eyes and I was also told that we originated from Denmark. I have Norse identified in my ancestry dna results. I am aware of a great great grandmother who was from Norway on my mother’s side.

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  3. With regards ancestry geography have you uploaded your DNA to a site such as MyHeritage.com (for free)? I took my test with ancestry which was accurate in that it specifically honed in on a very large historical link with the West Midlands and large chucks in Wales, Scotland, Germany and Ireland with a hint of Norwegian.
    My ancestry gave similar but broader results showing many more Scandinavian DNA matches in particular, Finland – also Lithuania, Sweden, France and many other countries and matches of a more mixed ethnicity.
    I think this shows the more broad European base of some sites compared to the large US base of ancestry.com.

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