How do I find out what percentage of each ethnic group I am?

Question

I know some of what I am, but not all. I am a mix of so many ethnicites. It is really my father's mother that mixes it up; she is a lot of different things.

Irish

Italian

German

Swedish

Norweigan

French Canadian

Cherokee Native American

And I am not sure what else! Any ideas of a DNA test or something I could do? Would it cost a lot?

Feel free to contact me with info!

Answer 1

Yeah, it would cost you lots.....and lots.

You would have to know what percentage of each race of your parents for certain.  You would only be a very small percentage of those percentages. However, you may have features that represent one race over another, or even a mix.

Answer 2

You are trying to do something that is futile and useless.  As you go back, percentages will change and you can only go back so far.

Y DNA passes soley from father to son.

Mitchondrial DNA passes from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to her children.

Most of our DNA is autosomal and the testing at present isn't done so much on autosomal.  We get it 50-50 from both parents.  It is the only DNA that relates a female to her father or that will relate you to the spouses in your direct male and direct female line.

Y & Mitochondrial are used as they go in a direct line and Y doesn't change from remains unchanged from generation to generation.

You have to consider this 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 when you go back you will probably find, for instance, a great great grandfather in one family line was your great great great great great grandfather in another family line. As you go back, you will probably find a German ancestor that had a great great grandfather from Poland or Hungary.  Your Swedish and Norwegian ancestor might have had one from Germany or Finland.  

But considering there are no duplicates, you have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, 16 great great grandparents.

That is 30 people.  Add in your 32 3xgreat grandparents and you are up to 62.  Then add in your 64 4xgreat grandparents and your have 126.  Next take your 128 5xgreat grandparents and you then have 254.  (Are you keeping up with me?)  Next take your 256 6xgreat grandparents and it total 510.

When you think of all their descendants, Honey, you have a big family.

Now out of that 510 people 8 of them have your Y DNA and 8 of them have your mitochondrial DNA.  However, you still have the Autosomal DNA of the other 502.

Another thing I might add the DNA doesn't necessarily show specific countries but Haplogroups.  All of our ancestors were nomads at one time.  If it takes you back 100,000 years you will find it takes you back to Africa, even Scandinavians.

SMGF(Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation) is planning to use autosomal in the near future.  It is more complicated as you can imagine, but it probably won't give you percentages of everything.

Answer 3

i bet you're beautiful

Answer 4

DNA testing for European ethnicity confirms the statistical probability of percentages of Northern European, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and Southern Asian descent.  Native American verification testing also confirms the probability of Native American descent.  

DNA testing cannot tell the difference between different ethnicities of a particular European group beyond a rather large geographical area; for instance, it cannot differentiate between various Northern European nationalities, lumping Norwegian, Swedish, German, Irish, British*, and French ancestors all into one category--Northern European. Nor that matter, can it tell the the difference between a Cherokee and a Choctaw.  

It will, however, note certain percentages of Northern and Southern European  ancestry, for instance, Italian or Greek, as well as certain percentages of Native American Ancestry along with any other ancestry DNA testing might find.  Costs vary, but the following DNA web site quotes $395 as the price for a test verifying a European ethnic background.

------

"British ancestry takes in various mixtures of English, Scots, Scots-Irish, and Welsh ancestry--all of which come out as simply Northern European  along with the Germans and Scandinavians (much to the chagrin of the Scots, Welsh, and Irish who derive much of their identity being different from the English).  Nevertheless, being "British" is not necessarily the same as being "English" as many independently-minded Scots and Welsh are quite happy to point out to Americans (like myself).  

So is culture more an important factor in ethnicity than genetics?