do you receive 50% Ethnicity DNA from each parent? (German, native, eyes)

[lisa o'brien]

My child recently had a DNA test,which prompted me to do the same as I was surprised there was slighty more African DNA 50.9%.([Father] than my European at 49.1%.I discovered I had no African so this could not account for The African having slightly more than the European.My child also had more Scandanavian than me at 9% more and 3.5% of Jew which I do not have in my DNA result so this would give them more from their father.Is this possible?
I Know nothing can skip a generation when it comes to Ethnic DNA.Any explanation for this?

[60sagain]

Interesting, I'm following along!

[Crashj007]

The GATTACA variations are due to the analysis being based on a human reading of the data, recognizing groups which have been thought to be due to racial origins. The TV show, The Doctors, had this done for women who already had be determined to be identical triplets. The three readings were widely different.
You should not put too much stock into the readings.
"Sort of like a horoscope, but less scientific"

[Joe33]

My Parents are both Ethiopian. I look white. My Sister looks Black. I always thought I was adopted or kidnapped.
However many years later my sister got sick and I was a Bone marrow match. Go figure. So I got a few DNA tests. Happily my parents werent my kidnappers. However I had more african DNA than my parents or sister. Its about a 3rd African, A third eastern European and the rest a mix of everything else.
So DNA Tests just give you a little more data to confuse yourself with.

[PA2UK]

The ethnicity report is very much an estimate. Although at continental level the results are more accurate, a difference of 0.9% is negligible.

But at an inter-continental level, there has just been too much mixing of Europeans to tell neighboring regions apart with any real accuracy. It's best not to take the ethnicity report too literally.

[KathrynAragon]

Here's a layman's take on it - and I could be wrong but here goes:

Yes, we inherit roughly 50 percent from each parent. But let me tell you how that played out for my brother and me (full brother - sharing both parents).

Yes, I inherited 50 percent of my DNA from each parent - but apparently the 50 percent from each of them was nearly completely English/Scottish/Irish (UK), Scandinavian, and Finnish. In other words, countries ringing the North Sea. I'm a Viking in other words. That's the DNA I inherited. Not one smidgen of Native American, for instance, though I know we have Native American ancestry (a smallish amount but I know it's in there). I also know we have a significant amount of German and French ancestry - I mean SIGNIFICANT as in probably 30 percent. But my DNA only showed 7 percent German and/or French. Me with my totally German last name and my ancestry records showing quite a bit of German and Swiss ancestry.

I am the whitest person I've ever known.

Anyway, my brother has not has his DNA done, but I can almost assure you that when/if he does he will show up with quite a bit more Germanic ancestry as well as probably some Native American. He has swarthier skin than me. He LOOKS Germanic. He's got that German surname. He is interested in all things German. Not me - I'm an Anglophile to the bone.

So my hypothesis is that I inherited 50 percent of my DNA from both parents - but I inherited the North Sea genes. I think my brother inherited more German and French (from both parents - my mom has a healthy dose of French in her and my dad has a LOT of German in him - probably 30 percent or more). And maybe he inherited some of the Native American genes - I don't know. Like I said, he's got swarthier skin than I do - I am the quintessential "English rose" and he looks definitely southern German.

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Here's a layman's take on it - and I could be wrong but here goes:

Yes, we inherit roughly 50 percent from each parent. But let me tell you how that played out for my brother and me (full brother - sharing both parents).

Yes, I inherited 50 percent of my DNA from each parent - but apparently the 50 percent from each of them was nearly completely English/Scottish/Irish (UK), Scandinavian, and Finnish. In other words, countries ringing the North Sea. I'm a Viking in other words. That's the DNA I inherited. Not one smidgen of Native American, for instance, though I know we have Native American ancestry (a smallish amount but I know it's in there). I also know we have a significant amount of German and French ancestry - I mean SIGNIFICANT as in probably 30 percent. But my DNA only showed 7 percent German and/or French. Me with my totally German last name and my ancestry records showing quite a bit of German and Swiss ancestry.

I am the whitest person I've ever known.

Anyway, my brother has not has his DNA done, but I can almost assure you that when/if he does he will show up with quite a bit more Germanic ancestry as well as probably some Native American. He has swarthier skin than me. He LOOKS Germanic. He's got that German surname. He is interested in all things German. Not me - I'm an Anglophile to the bone.

You can't go by appearance. There might be only a handful of genes that determine your appearance, whereas the ethnicity report is determined with hundreds of thousands of SNPs.

For example, let's say your brother only inherited 6% of his DNA that falls into the "German" (West Europe) category of the DNA test. The genes that determine his appearance may happen to fall within that 6%.

Additionally, as I mentioned, intermixing within Europe has been happening for too long to always be able to tell regions apart with any accuracy. In particular, the Scandinavians, Germans, and British are too genetically similar to always tell apart. So it's entirely possible your 7% German might actually be higher or lower than that, but because it's too similar to your Scandinavian and British DNA, there's no way to know for sure.

As an example, here are my results across multiple companies, keeping in mind I have known ancestry is West Europe, Scandinavia, and Britain - note how the numbers are all over the place for those regions:

AncestryDNA:
Great Britain 55%
Italy/Greece 31%
Europe West 5%
Scandinavia 2%
Finland/Northwest Russia 1%
Ireland < 1%
Caucasus 2%
Middle East 1%
Africa North < 1%
Asia South < 1%

FTDNA myOrigins 1.0:
Scandinavia 34%
Western and Central Europe 26%
Southern Europe 20%
Finland and Northern Siberia 3%
Asia Minor 12%
Eastern Middle East 5%

FTDNA myOrigins 2.0:
British Isles 54%
Southeast Europe 33%
West and Central Europe 6%
Finland < 2%
East Middle East 3%
West Middle East < 2%

23andMe:
French & German 17.9%
British & Irish 17.2%
Scandinavian 4.8%
Broadly Northwestern European 23.4%
Italian 19.3%
Iberian 0.1%
Broadly Southern European 10.1%
Broadly European 6.9%
North African 0.1%
Unassigned 0.1%

MyHeritage:
English 39.0%
Scandinavian 12.3%
Irish, Scottish, and Welsh 1.4%
Greek 28.2%
Italian 13.4%
Middle Eastern 5.7%

On paper, I should be about 12.5% Scandinavian, and something like 25% German and 33% British.

Hopefully this helps illustrate how the ethnicity reports are very much an estimate and should not be taking literally, and definitely are not necessarily a reflection of one's physical appearance.

So my hypothesis is that I inherited 50 percent of my DNA from both parents - but I inherited the North Sea genes. I think my brother inherited more German and French (from both parents - my mom has a healthy dose of French in her and my dad has a LOT of German in him - probably 30 percent or more). And maybe he inherited some of the Native American genes - I don't know. Like I said, he's got swarthier skin than I do - I am the quintessential "English rose" and he looks definitely southern German.

I wouldn't really consider south Germans all that swarthy. Germans in general are stereotypically lighter. I'm sure in the south there might be higher percentages of darker hair and eyes, but I wouldn't necessarily call them "swarthy". Not like the Mediterranean area.

https://www.quora.com/Do-southern-Ge...the-northerner

"If you mean the physiognomy, or stature - the answer is a definite no. Any perceived differences will be only that; perceived (based on prejudice). From a genetic perspective, people all over Europe are very closely related. People living in the same area are often related more recently, but that’s not enough to create generally distributed phenotypes."

[brownbagg]

you get about 50% from your parents but your sister and brothers might not get the same 50% dna, so that why the percented are not exact

[AFP]

Originally Posted by lisa o'brien

My child recently had a DNA test,which prompted me to do the same as I was surprised there was slighty more African DNA 50.9%.([Father] than my European at 49.1%.I discovered I had no African so this could not account for The African having slightly more than the European.My child also had more Scandanavian than me at 9% more and 3.5% of Jew which I do not have in my DNA result so this would give them more from their father.Is this possible?
I Know nothing can skip a generation when it comes to Ethnic DNA.Any explanation for this?

In a nutshell 50% is the average but it can vary a bit. Your results are completely normal by the time you get to grandparents it varies significantly, anyone who has tested all four grandparents can verify that.

[CMichele]

Yes, it is an average but can vary a bit.

I know from my own mother/daughter DNA tests that a series of "No Calls" with 23andMe is the reason why my oldest child only shares 48.6% of her DNA with me. A "No Call" is where the software cannot make a determination on what's what. And also, there is "Undetermined/Unassigned" DNA.

Upload your results to Gedmatch and play with the various tools. Is the father 100% African? I will bet more than anything that you have smaller African segments that fall under the radar. In that instance, there is something new at Gedmatch called Genesis Beta. You could try those tools, too. Compare the kids' DNA to your DNA and play with the Admixture options.