Can you tell ethnic percentages by your grandparents last name? My grandparents last names are:
Finley-celtic, scotish
May-English?
Long-English?
Bentz-German
Would this make me 50% english, 25% german, and 25% celtic/scottish?
Also i heard that your ethnicity is mainly determined by your fathers DNA. So if my dad has the celtic last name of Finley does that make me predominantly Celtic?
2006-12-08 18:16:48 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Genealogy
Hey Mushkin,
You did the percents correct. Your ethnicity is all of those backgrounds. DNA has a paternal test, where we as humans are only knowledgeable enough to determine the Surname lineage. There are Maternal tests too. You are predominanatly English if the grandparents contributions are correct.
I put some DNA web sites for you to read more.
2006-12-08 18:43:03 · answer #1 · answered by BuyTheSeaProperty 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Of course, you can not draw any definitive conclusions based on surnames alone. However, absent any better information, there is nothing wrong with researching your ancestors' surnames to try to guess your national origins. If it is the best information available to you, then it is your best guess as to your national origins. Your % are correct.
It would be better if you could find out where they were born, and the further back (earlier) in generations, the more accuracy you will have.
Ethnicity is a vague word. It usually refers to national origin, but can also refer to religion, race, or language.
Each ancestor in a single generation contributes the same amount of genetic material to you. However, there is a recently-developed technique that focuses on the male ancestral line of DNA, which is easiest to study for mutations, which can be an excellent indicator of distant (many generations back) genealogy.
It's also important to know that national boundaries have changed through history.
The term Celtic is particularly vague.
2006-12-09 02:34:07 · answer #2 · answered by HarryTikos 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ethnicity is some thing to do with the genes. Is it not?. In India, many have English names like Stalin, George etc. Determination of ethnicity based on the name will be misleading.
2006-12-09 02:21:18 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well take for example me:
My grandparents on my mothers side were Brettenacker-German
Wilkinson-Swedish.
Plus my grandparents on my father side Butler-Irish
So I would be 25% of each because my grandparents are pure on both side.
It goes 100%, then the children are 50%, and then the grandchildren are 25%
2006-12-09 13:10:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can you tell ethnic percentages by your grandparents last name?
No. To take an extreme example, your 6th great grandfather, Lars Larson, a strapping Swede, goes to Hong Kong, marries a Chinese woman. His son does the same, his son does the same . . .
Lars Larson #6, 63/64ths Chinese, comes to London, falls in love and marries Arabelle Anderson, who is 63/64th Cherokee, HER 6th great grandfather, Ander Anderson, a strapping Swede, went to the wild west in the USA and married a Cherokee . . .
On paper they are Swedes and their children are 100% Swedish. In the flesh they are not.
2006-12-09 13:37:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
but your grandparents are not 100% scottish, english, etc., just like you aren't...
And your DNA is NOT determined by your father, where did you get that mis-information?
Basically everyone is a mix, a glorious mix of humanity! You, too!
2006-12-09 02:20:11 · answer #6 · answered by Cleo V 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Not really because those are just names. Remember Bentz can be Austrian...Just think of yourself as someone of European ancestry. You will give yourself a lot of headaches if you try to think about it too much.
2006-12-09 02:35:17 · answer #7 · answered by wil_stylz 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋