Your affinity for specific cultures vs. your DNA finds? (German, American, search)

[tomektomek]

We all have different affinities for different cultures. One might be a a huge fan of Polish culture, while another finds Czechia more interesting. For some countries that most people like it's often just that they are really popular and famous (France, Italy, UK). Then there are the obscure or not as popular places that you dig and you can't really explain why (Czechia and Gibraltar for me).

I don't know if this affinity matches DNA results or not. I know it's highly unlikely for a Bulgarian like me to have any Gibraltarian/Iberian or Czech DNA in me.

I want personal stories and examples if you don't mind. Did your DNA results confirm what you long felt might be true and that you really like X culture because you have some % of it in your blood? Or maybe just the opposite happened and you were disappointed? What about places you never had interest in and actually disliked? Did it change the way you view them or are you still just not into them?

My case is this:
I've liked the Czech Republic and Hungary since I remember. Especially CZ. When I say "Chehia" (the country's name in Bulgarian) I get those good vibes. Actually I get an explainable tingling inside from thinking or saying the country's name more than saying "Bulgaria".

However, I bet my DNA test results will be more typical for a Bulgarian - either Romanian or Greek blood in me. I don't really like Romania. At all! It's one of the countries I feel the coldest towards for no reason at all. I do like Greece as culture and architecture but not necessarily want to engage with people from it. To put it another way I'd be much happier if I have some Czech/Slovak or Hungarian ancestry, however minor, than Greek/Balkan, but the chances are slim for this.

So please tell me about how did your opinions/feelings about culture match or mismatch your DNA results?

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Eh...I can only answer 1/2 of that. I already know my heritage w/o those tests.

I have a very strong affinity to the Japanese culture, and I'm 100% not Japanese.

I believe it started from an experience as a small child. One of my biological aunts was married to a Japanese guy. The biological immediate family was...not the best. But, apparently I knew this Japanese guy that the aunt had married, and he was very nice to me when other adults were not. He used to baby me (I was a toddler), would sit me on his lap and feed me kimchi. Whether it was the Korean version or Japanese version, I don't know, but I would guess Japanese version because it's not fermented.

Anyway, apparently he was a big hit with me...and I think that's where it all began.

I love how respectful they are, overall, to each other, to nature, to animals. They are not, overall, loud. Their cities, overall, are clean. I really like their culture.

[coschristi]

My DNA results from 23 & Me were not a surprise, as I knew my mom was first generation American born Greek & I definitely have an affinity for Greek culture.

What was interesting, is how Gedmatch calculators interpret "Greek" DNA, beyond the political boundaries of actual Greece. "Being Greek" actually means you are actually a blend from Southwest Asia, Middle East/Red Sea & North Africa, along with the Southern European. I "ping" strongly, genetically speaking, from the region known as Egypt but I'm culturally Greek.

I was developing an affinity to learning the culture & history of the Ashkenazi Jews because my genealogy research was suspicious for that heritage & sure enough, I was right.

I have an affinity for Japanese culture because I was born in Japan. It's my birthplace. My parents loved the culture & I was raised with Japanese customs even after being brought to the US. I grew up eating miso soup, soba & tempura. I was carted through downtown Tokyo, into the villages & rode the trains everyday for years & the first humans I saw on a daily basis besides my parents were all Japanese. My mom's best friend who babysat me was Japanese. That's what I knew until I came here. I will always be from Japan, although I don't have a drop of Japanese blood.

I don't have a drop of Indigenous blood either but my given Cree name is Ka-meeyewsit. That's a long story.

[BabyBear1234]

I don't think it's uncommon to like certain cultures etc more than others. I'm American of European Ancestry. I love Egypt and the Middle East. As far as I know I have NO ancestry from these areas. I can trace the place where all my ancestors emigrated from. Now, i have no idea how long my ancestors stayed in those specific areas in Europe. Who knows where everyone was at 1000-2000 years ago. It's possible I have an ancestor from those areas that I just didn't inherit any DNA from.

I don't have a huge love for German culture although I have German ancestry. I do love French culture and I have ancestors from France. I have always loved Celtic things and I have A LOT of Celtic ancestry (Irish, Welsh and Scotish combined plus the Celts were in mainland Europe also - Gaul). I don't care for English or Anglo Saxon culture or Viking stuff and yet I have that ancestry (not alot of Viking but it's there)

I've done ancestry DNA and uploaded my info to various other sites also. They all match mostly...I say mostly b/c some have given me "odd" percentages. Myheritage gave me nearly 10% in Iberian, 3% in Balkan and the rest in North and West European. family tree DNA gave me a large percentage in Scandinavia, and a large percentage in England and Ireland...smaller in mainland Europe and none in Iberia. It kinda matched ancestry except I have only 3% in Scandinavia dna on ancestry...So who knows...Gedmatch is interesting b/c you can break down lots of different combos...I do have about 20-25% non European dna or at least non western dna. I am convinced I have an ancient ancestor from Egypt and no one can convince me otherwise lol!

[tomektomek]

Thanks for your replies. It's refreshing to see people into Japan who don't mention animes as a huge influence on liking it.

I also have a fondness for East Asian cultures. I love Asian food more than most European cuisines.

I also suspect some Ashkenazi Jewish in me, I've had been intrigued by Jewish culture but we also have some stereotypical features. And probably Italian, on dating sites I often get told I look Italian. The only thing stopping me from taking a DNA test for now is the sample sizes for Eastern Europe and the Balkans are still small and hence imprecise.

[SunGrins]

I can't say that I had any particular affinity for a specific culture beyond my own. Although I had an Irish grandmother, my family was assumed to be largely Germanic and might have leaned that way a bit. Doing my genealogy, I discovered a much broader range (Walloon, Dutch, English, Scottish, Ukrainian) of ancestry beyond German and Irish. I had people in America in 1608 and seven people on the Mayflower but that seemed very remote. The more I learned about my Germanic lineage, I saw that it was Germanic in language (high and low German) but culturally dispersed from Friesland to Bavaria to Hanover to Pomerania. In contrast, my Irish ancestry is concentrated in a few villages in County Kerry. My DNA was more Eastern Europe than Germanic, but my Irish DNA topped the more dispersed "presumed German" results. The records in Ireland are in English or Latin, rather than German and old German script, making research easier. I ended up going to Ireland and visiting some old family villages. It felt very welcoming and like I was on familiar ground. I probably lean more toward Irish culture now than before.

[Always Needmore]

Originally Posted by tomektomek

So please tell me about how did your opinions/feelings about culture match or mismatch your DNA results?

I never knew either of my grandfathers, both died before I was born. I was always told that our heritage was "German".

During my teens, my father's mother's brother died, only then did I become acquainted with that side of the family's last name, and it was blatantly Polish. So, I was like "WTH is going on with that?" And was told that she always proclaimed to be German, because there was a stigma associated with being Polish. And besides, her mother was German, so it was more a matter of which side of the family she identified with...so I was told. "Besides, everybody else is German" which I guess was supposed to encourage me to not rock the boat.

Somewhere in my preteen years, I became familiar with an old wives tale, claiming that the Dutch had crooked toes, as the result of those little wooden shoes they wore while tending tulips. Didn't seem to have any relevance, so it just got filed away as useless trivia.

I never cared a lick about my genetic origin, through my 20s, 30s, or 40s. Afterall, I KNEW that I was German, with alittle Pole mixed in that we just never talk about..

Then in my mid 50s, I had to spend some time in the hospital, and this matronly old doctor sees my bare feet, and comments "oh, are you Dutch?"
Incredulous, I reply no, I'm German,... why? And she replies that with toes like mine, she just assumed that I must be Dutch.

Now, I have never worn footwear that was in the least bit confining, but her observation immediately reminded me of that old grade school stereotype about the Dutch and their wooden shoes.

Mostly just a curio, because afterall, I knew that I was German.

About 5 years later I was playing around in the geneology section at my local library, and thought it might be fun to trace my paternal grandfather back to his German roots. All I knew of him was his full name, and the little town in Michigan he was born in.

The results gave me his father's name, his mother's name, and the name of his siblings.....and that was it. So, I gave up. "mission complete" or so I thought.

A few months later back at the library, I decide to do a search on the great grandfather name, same locale in Michigan,....and hit paydirt. Putting my paternal lineage point of origin, 5 generations back, in Colijnsplaat. Noord Beveland, Zeeland, Netherlands

All I could think about was that old woman doctor laughing at my crooked toes.

So, I've researched it a bit, and find nothing really concrete that establishes a proven correlation....but DAYMNN! That old gal sure put a spell on me!!

[allenk893]

I always wondered about this myself. I have yet to do a DNA test but my family's country of origin was conquered by the French and it's very possible that DNA is in my lineage. Coincidentally I did develop a massive interest and fascination with French culture. Studying the language now.

[coschristi]

Originally Posted by BabyBear1234

II've done ancestry DNA and uploaded my info to various other sites also. They all match mostly...I say mostly b/c some have given me "odd" percentages. Myheritage gave me nearly 10% in Iberian, 3% in Balkan and the rest in North and West European. family tree DNA gave me a large percentage in Scandinavia, and a large percentage in England and Ireland...smaller in mainland Europe and none in Iberia. It kinda matched ancestry except I have only 3% in Scandinavia dna on ancestry...So who knows...Gedmatch is interesting b/c you can break down lots of different combos...I do have about 20-25% non European dna or at least non western dna. I am convinced I have an ancient ancestor from Egypt and no one can convince me otherwise lol!

Given your Iberian & mostly, the Balkan; you very likely do. Any DNA from the Mediterranean region is likely to imply an Egyptian ancestor in the mix somewhere. I'm half Greek so mine "pops" on Gedmatch quickly, while 23&Me just gives me the banal "53% Balkan". Before 23&Me re-did their calculator, part of my Balkan was actually Sardinian, which is an island in the Mediterranean. Prior to 698 BC, "we" (including Egypt) were all part of the Byzantine Empire & the Mediterranean was an important connection hub for the Silk Roads. I'd be willing to bet you do have an Egyptian ancestor.

Originally Posted by tomektomek

Thanks for your replies. It's refreshing to see people into Japan who don't mention animes as a huge influence on liking it.

I also have a fondness for East Asian cultures. I love Asian food more than most European cuisines.

I also suspect some Ashkenazi Jewish in me, I've had been intrigued by Jewish culture but we also have some stereotypical features. And probably Italian, on dating sites I often get told I look Italian. The only thing stopping me from taking a DNA test for now is the sample sizes for Eastern Europe and the Balkans are still small and hence imprecise.

If you ever do DNA, upload to Gedmatch & use their J-Test calculator. I just knew my "Lutheran German" great x4 grandpa was Ashkenazi. 23&Me didn't detect it in me, while it did detect it in my full bio sibling. The J-Test nailed it; I'm 7% Ashkenazi

Originally Posted by Always Needmore

I never knew either of my grandfathers, both died before I was born. I was always told that our heritage was "German".

During my teens, my father's mother's brother died, only then did I become acquainted with that side of the family's last name, and it was blatantly Polish. So, I was like "WTH is going on with that?" And was told that she always proclaimed to be German, because there was a stigma associated with being Polish. And besides, her mother was German, so it was more a matter of which side of the family she identified with...so I was told. "Besides, everybody else is German" which I guess was supposed to encourage me to not rock the boat.

Pre WWI politics are likely to blame for that. Due a series of events I don't entirely understand, large portions of Poland were actually part of Prussian Germany, which existed from 1871-1919. Extensive Germanization occurred in those territories, involving anti-Polish propaganda & indoctrination, especially of the school children. It became literally dangerous to insist on identifying as Polish. I can imagine parents back then telling their children "We are German & that's that" out of fear of retaliation. That stuff gets handed down through the generations. I remember my Greek grandfather's penchant for telling "Turk jokes" (the equivalent of the Polish jokes) in the 1980s, six decades after he had immigrated to the US. The Greco-Turkish War of 1919 (which was actually the product of centuries of fighting between Muslim Turkey & Orthodox Greece) had ended in 1922, lol but it stuck with him.

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by coschristi

Pre WWI politics are likely to blame for that. Due a series of events I don't entirely understand, large portions of Poland were actually part of Prussian Germany, which existed from 1871-1919. Extensive Germanization occurred in those territories, involving anti-Polish propaganda & indoctrination, especially of the school children. It became literally dangerous to insist on identifying as Polish. I can imagine parents back then telling their children "We are German & that's that" out of fear of retaliation. That stuff gets handed down through the generations. I remember my Greek grandfather's penchant for telling "Turk jokes" (the equivalent of the Polish jokes) in the 1980s, six decades after he had immigrated to the US. The Greco-Turkish War of 1919 (which was actually the product of centuries of fighting between Muslim Turkey & Orthodox Greece) had ended in 1922, lol but it stuck with him.

The ethnic relations and settlement patterns of Central and Eastern Europe are a tangled web about which one could write not one but several books (and of course, they were the ultimate cause of not just one but two World Wars).


For genealogical research, understanding of the meaning of first/last names and their origins as well as the role of religion are vital pieces to get to the heart of the matter (if one must).