Anglo-German?

Question

I have pondered on this question for some time. On my Fathers side i am English, Austrian and French while on my Mothers side I am German, Belgian and Serbian. If i got the English Y-Dna from my Father and he got it from his father and so on, and i got my MTdna from the German side on my mothers side because she inherited the German dna that would make me Anglo-German correct? Even though i was born in America. Because i understand it that the Mother cannot pass on Y-dna and the father cannot pass on mtdna .

Answer 1

You are quite correct, you have inherited your father's Y.DNA,

the Y-DNA remains virtually unchanged over thousands of years and indicates where some of your earliest ancestors probably lived, it will not tell you where your ?X grandfathers lived in more recent times, for instance, within a few hundreds of years. And yes you also inherit your Mother's Mtdna, that also will indicate, although less accurately, where all the females on her line originated, again, not in recent history.

DNA is not specific to any modern "nationality", the ancestors of the people who make up the populations of today's countries all came from somewhere else, and at sometime in comparatively recent history the countries they live in today did not exist, as named countries, going back even further those areas were not even populated. To cut a long story short, there is no such thing as nationality specific DNA.

As to who you are, you are American, with parents of mixed

European ethnicity.

Answer 2

Your heritage is English, Austrian, French, German, Belgian and Serbian because that is where your ancestors are from.

Answer 3

Let me tell you if you had both the Y & the mitochondrial DNA done it would give you the direct male and the direct female lines.

However, it would not include the spouses of your direct male and your direct female ancestors and they are just as much a part of you as your direct male and direct female ancestors.

I think Genevieve's Mom also hit it on the head.  Where your ancestors immigrated to the U.S. from might not necessarily reflect what you are.  Countries have been invaded. Borders have been changed.  There are no pure races or nationalities.

A lot of people ask questions about the percentages of what they are.  That is useless and futile. As you go back the percentages will change and you can only go back so far.  For instance a German great grandparent might have had a great great grandparent from France or Poland or Hungary. Serbia was part of the Austro Hungarian Empire.  You will probably find a Serbian ancestor married someone that wasn't Serbian.  

Most of your DNA is autosomal.  You get it 50-50 from both parents.  Y & mitochondrial are only a small part.  They are used because they go up a specific direct  line.  Autosomal is more complicated. SMGF is working to use autosomal.  However, you have to remember, if you go back 10 generations you can be directly descended from over a thousand people. It pyramids.  If you go back 20 generations, you can be directly descended from over a million people.  I use the word "can" because as you go back you will probably find a great great grandfather in one family line is your great great great great grandfather in another.  

For instance, you have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, that totals 14 people.  Add in your 16 great great  grandparents and you are up to 30.

Then your 32 great great great grandparents and you are up to 62.  Add in your 64 great great great great grandparents and you are up to 126.  You have 128 5x great that adds up to 254.  You have 256 6x great and that add up to 510.

A lot of those 510 people are not part of your Y & mitochondrial DNA, but they are part of your total DNA.  If I calculated right only 8 of those people are in your direct Y line and only 8 are in your direct mitochondrial line.

I just say that I'm a Pedigree American Mutt.

Answer 4

Remember also that Anglo-Saxon was actually TWO tribes of Germans who invaded Britain long ago,  Then you have the "modern" German, and Austrians are also German (just not politically) and most Belgians are "Lower-German" (meaning "from the low countries", not "sub").

Answer 5

It simply makes you an American with a diverse European background...just like most of us. For as many times as all of those countries had their borders shift, your ethnic heritage is always subject to a little tweaking...particularly Belgium and Serbia. Neither one has a particularly stable history and both have been trod upon by their neighbors for centuries. Austria, Germany and France have a history of doing the trodding. For as much as we know about your DNA, you might also be Greek, Swedish, Spanish or Swiss. You never know whose genotypes you carry from deep in your family's history. I tracked one of my lines through Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and England over 300 years. Each man in the line married a local woman. That gives a lot of diversity from one line of people escaping religious persecution and wars. Imagine how much "diversity" you might have from your Serbian line alone.