Middle Eastern/Jewish mixup?

[JamesBianco]

Something strange has happened with the new My Origins release. I have one grandfather born in Iran and of Middle Eastern/Turk ancestry, and I previously was shown to be roughly 17% Middle Eastern with FTDNA and 9% Jewish Diaspora. My mother was shown 11% Jewish diaspora and my father no Jewish. The new release now shows me to be only 6% Middle Eastern and 11% Sephardic Jew. My half sister (same Iranian Grandfather) shows still about 16% Middle East and no Jewish.

What makes this the strangest of all is that my father (son of the Iranian grandfather) now shows 64% Middle East and zero Jewish and my mother (half French/half Sicilian) shows zero Jewish. How then did I come to be 11% Sephardic Jew and yet neither parent shows any Jewish Diaspora at all?

[josh w.]

Something strange has happened with the new My Origins release. I have one grandfather born in Iran and of Middle Eastern/Turk ancestry, and I previously was shown to be roughly 17% Middle Eastern with FTDNA and 9% Jewish Diaspora. My mother was shown 11% Jewish diaspora and my father no Jewish. The new release now shows me to be only 6% Middle Eastern and 11% Sephardic Jew. My half sister (same Iranian Grandfather) shows still about 16% Middle East and no Jewish.

What makes this the strangest of all is that my father (son of the Iranian grandfather) now shows 64% Middle East and zero Jewish and my mother (half French/half Sicilian) shows zero Jewish. How then did I come to be 11% Sephardic Jew and yet neither parent shows any Jewish Diaspora at all?

At this point, I would trust MO1 over MO2

[Scott Ritchie]

At this point, I would trust MO1 over MO2

I agree, the old 1.0 version was way more accurate to my overall known ancestry.

[MMaddi]

At this point, I would trust MO1 over MO2

Since the first version of myOrigins didn't include a Sephardic category, we're in uncharted territory. However, given all the problems with the new version seen in several threads and numerous posts, FTDNA needs to verify that the new Sephardic category is accurate, since there are serious questions about the accuracy of the new version in general. It would be helpful if FTDNA provided us with information about how they were able to create a new Sephardic category, such as what is their reference population for that category and how it was assembled.

[Miamio]

I agree.Everywhere except My Origins has me as Sephardic. They use North Africa instead.Others might use EastWestMed.I am indeed Sephardic but from Italy,not Sardinia or North Africa. It gets very jumbled up.I wish they would designate a real Sephardic,when they give you anything in the area,since you are jewish

[nergui]

Since the first version of myOrigins didn't include a Sephardic category, we're in uncharted territory. However, given all the problems with the new version seen in several threads and numerous posts, FTDNA needs to verify that the new Sephardic category is accurate, since there are serious questions about the accuracy of the new version in general. It would be helpful if FTDNA provided us with information about how they were able to create a new Sephardic category, such as what is their reference population for that category and how it was assembled.

I've come back as 7% Sephardic, even though neither of my parents come back with any Jewish ancestry (and ftDNA identifies them as my biological parents). Nor has any of the dozen or so other ancestry calculators I have used. The rest of our results are also not in alignment with other tests or the paper trail.

[josh w.]

I agree.Everywhere except My Origins has me as Sephardic. They use North Africa instead.Others might use EastWestMed.I am indeed Sephardic but from Italy,not Sardinia or North Africa. It gets very jumbled up.I wish they would designate a real Sephardic,when they give you anything in the area,since you are jewish

The MO Sephardic probably comes from the East Med including Sicily. I am not aware of a good West Med Sephardic autosomal sample. MO does not show a spreadsheet but my hunch is that other East Med peoples show some MO Sephardic.