Where can i go to get a blood test to dtermine my heritage?

Question

my middle name is Lorenzo , my fathers middle name is lorenzo and that was his fathers first name. My family is black and my dad says we have Cherokee ancestory on his mothers side im just wondering where my middle name might have come from i don't know of any Spanish or Italian in my family's hisotry so i want to get a blood test to figure this all out.

Answer 1

It is done by cheek swab now not blood test.

Familytreedna.com and other places do the testing.  National geographic does it but get more bang for your buck somewhere else.  Compare tests and services by different companies.

Answer 2

Blood tests are not used for that sort of thing.  They use DNA.  Your blood contains DNA but so does your bones, your saliva, your skin etc.  The companies that do the testing will send you a kit with a q tip type device and you swab the inside of your cheek.

Y DNA is passed from father to son only.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to both sons and daughters but only the daughters pass it on to their children.

Most of your DNA is autosomal and you get it 50-50 from both parents.  It is the only DNA that relates a female to her father or anyone to the spouses and their families in your direct Y and direct mitchondrial lines.So autosomal would have to be used to get everything.  

If you get back to your 6xgreat grandparents, you are directly descended from 510 individuals.  Of those 510, you get your mitochondrial DNA from 8 and your Y DNA from 8 but you get your autosomal DNA from all 510.

However, ethnicity testing is not exact. It will show Northern European, West African etc but no specific countries.

Answer 3

National Geographic has a test you can send for the genome project for 100.00.  All Basque people have RH negative blood.

Answer 4

I don't think you can get a blood test to figure out what ethnicity you are. I could be wrong, but i've never heard of it before.

A better idea would be to look up your families records, birth/death/marriage certificates, ect. Lorenzo is italian/spanish and if you're african-american, it could be a name that was passed down through marriage.

Good luck!