Through talking to some people, I found out that some of these tests consider Scandinavian DNA to be European (namely western European, from the United Kingdom) if it reports back to them at what they consider a “low confidence”. On my dad’s side of the family, I’ve been able to ascertain that I am predominantly Danish, some British, and… as for the rest of what has reported back over the years that I’ve done these tests, I’m still figuring out from whom might I have inherited what (or was it both of them?). I know that I am Swedish on my mom’s side of the family because her maiden name was extremely Scandinavian, and Ancestry reporting back that I am Swedish — then being able to tell from what side of the family that would be on — does not surprise me one bit. I mean, it would be from one of those countries.
I seem to be stuck with the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh DNA, and I say that with nothing but love at this point.
As for the Greek, southern Italian, and Balkan DNA, that’s where things began to get a bit interesting. When I first took a 23andMe test, before they made some updates to their algorithm, it reported back that I had southern European DNA at around this percentage. I have a cousin from whom I was able to tell exactly how we are related who has this at a higher percentage, and apparently a higher confidence level. So I was quickly able to figure out from exactly which relative this DNA came from, even if Ancestry and 23andMe “regard” the DNA with lower confidence than MyHeritage (my paternal great-grandmother). Interesting…
