How can I be Eastern European?
My grandparents are from Northern Ireland and North/South France. I have an old "germanic" surname. I can't for the life of me figure out how I could be almost 30% Eastern European and NO Western European? How can that be?? Has anyone else had similar questions?
Also, Eastern European, according to Ancestry.com is anything from the Baltic Sea in the North down to the Adriatic in the South....thats one heck of a large and super diverse area....I don't get it??
Can anyone help me understand this?
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
Good question. You say you have a Germanic surname, so were your ancestors from Eastern/NE France? There's a lot of that influence in those parts of France (i.e. Franks, Burgundians, Alsatian Germans, etc.). Maybe some of those ancestors migrated from farther east in what's now Germany, where they might've been in contact with Slavs and other Eastern European populations.
Just a thought that's all, that is interesting indeed. Neither Ireland nor France ever really had much contact with what we consider to be "Eastern Europe" historically.
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
Hi Al, thanks for the reply. Only my paternal grandmother was from NE France (Alsace-Lorraine) which was part of Germany when she was born and later became part of France. She did not have a Germanic surname, her last name was Perrise. Her mother's last name was Roger, Germanic. My French Grandfather who was born in Southern France near Provence did have a Germanic Surname which was Lambert. Being Germanic, from the tribes mentioned, doesn't surprise me but after so much time has passed I would think my results would be Western Europe and not Eastern Europe....I am so puzzled by that. If anyone else has an opinion I would love to hear it. I know there are many people that are really educated in this area. Thank you !!!
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
Much of continental Europe is heavily intermixed and France and Germany are some of the most intermixed. Chances are anyone with ancestry from those areas have a healthy dose of Eastern European DNA.
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
Thank you Matt..... just wondering why no Western European showed up at all ....you would think I would at least have some Western? Do you have any idea why this might be? I appreciate your response.
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
Could be lots of reasons. The biggest probability is false paternity. This is actually coming up more and more in research. Some experts think that as close as 100 years ago...there were up to 25% false paternity in every generation. Could be that your great, great, grandfather was actually the equivalent of a milk man or vacuum cleaner salesman of his day.
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
LOL.... never thought of that.... thanks tdlb9910! :)
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Re: How can I be Eastern European?
The ethnicity percentages are only estimates and it's important to keep in mind the methods by which they are determined. Your DNA is compared to samples of people who come from different regions, but the thing is that there's no DNA that is 100% unique to one area. As such, depending on the sample groups, your results can vary quite a lot. For example, FTDNA says I have 0% British Isles results even though I have several known, confirmed British branches all over my tree. Meanwhile, AncestryDNA says I have 55% British results.
In other words, you should always take the ethnicity percentages with a very large grain of salt. They can be interesting, but they don't actually tell you anything concrete.
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