I'm sure others have posted on this topic already, but I won't have time to do more research until 2 weeks from now and this question will haunt me during that time.

I haven't done my father's DNA test yet, but I did have my mother do it. Her ethnicity results came back as 61% Central European, 33% British Isles, and 6% Uncertain.

My ethnicity results show 54% Scandinavian, 38% British Isles, and 8% Southern European.

Aren't I supposed to have 50% of her DNA? I know that means I can get my 50% from more of one ethnicity than another, but the differences seem too great when I look at them now. I know she's my mother, besides the fact that she's a match on my own tree as my parent :p.

Now I know that her 6% Uncertain could contain some of my Southern European or Scandinavian, but it just seems strange that she doesn't have any Scandinavian or Southern European. I suppose I won't know until I have my dad take the test, but his family - as far as we know - is Irish/Scottish, and I always assumed most of my Scandinavian came from him because of the Vikings in the British Isles. I thought that since I have such a high Scandinavian percentage, it would be present in both of my parents.

I also don't understand why I don't have more Central European and less Southern European because we have no idea where the Southern European came from. My mother's family includes ancestors from Switzerland/Germany, so I had assumed that maybe my Southern European ancestry came from some overlap from ancestors near the southern border of Switzerland. However, my mother has no Southern European at all!

Now I've rambled a lot, but my basic questions are as follows: How exactly does the ethnicity breakdown work? Have there been cases of inaccuracy, and if so, were they resolved? Is it possible for me to have my ethnicity breakdown while my mother's is so different? Should I stop asking these questions until I have my dad tested too? ;)

Any other feedback you think is relevant will be much appreciated. Thank you!