Do I have some British ancestry?

[Dora]

Hi all,

Does anyone know how accurate are those MDLP K tests on Gedmatch? It's a curious thing to me that my father comes out a little bit British in those tests ( and some others), which of course is possible but just a little surprising. Can anybody tell me if those results really indicate some British ancestry or not? Here are some of my results: Thanks!

MDLP K=10 Admixture Proportions:

Population
Altaic_Turkic -
South_Central_Asian 0.56
Paleo_North_European 2.93
Paleo_Mediterranean 17.18
Iberian 10.59
Caucasian 8.13
East_European 35.99
Paleo_Balkanic 0.88
British 21.81
Volga_Finnic 1.92


# Primary Population (source) Secondary Population (source) Distance

1 60.4% UKR (Ukrainian) + 39.6% FRN (French) @ 2.35
2 63.1% WUKR (West-Ukrainian) + 36.9% FRN (French) @ 2.68
3 95.4% HNG (Hungarian) + 4.6% BASQ (Basque) @ 2.86
4 53.9% SRUS (South-Russian) + 46.1% FRN (French) @ 3.1
5 57% CUKR (Central-Ukrainian) + 43% FRN (French) @ 3.22
6 56.9% EUKR (East-Ukrainian) + 43.1% FRN (French) @ 3.39
7 70.1% SLV (Slovenian) + 29.9% GER (German) @ 3.54
8 87.8% SLV (Slovenian) + 12.2% GBRARG (British from Argyle) @ 3.61
9 56.9% ETN (Estonian) + 43.1% NITAL (North-Italian) @ 3.7
10 78.2% SLK (Slovak) + 21.8% SPN (Spaniard) @ 3.82
11 54% CRT (Croat) + 46% GER (German) @ 3.9
12 87.2% SLV (Slovenian) + 12.8% GBRKN (British from Kent) @ 3.96
13 78.5% SLK (Slovak) + 21.5% IBR (Iberian) @ 4.02
14 86.3% SLV (Slovenian) + 13.7% GBRWAL (Welsh) @ 4.02
15 91.7% HNG (Hungarian) + 8.3% SPN (Spaniard) @ 4.02
16 53.5% CRUS (Central-Russian) + 46.5% FRN (French) @ 4.03
17 88.1% SLV (Slovenian) + 11.9% GBRCORN (Cornish) @ 4.03
18 85.2% SLV (Slovenian) + 14.8% CEU (CEU) @ 4.1
19 92.2% HNG (Hungarian) + 7.8% IBR (Iberian) @ 4.17
20 50.3% BLR (Belarusian) + 49.7% FRN (French) @ 4.18

[loisrp]

These tests are mostly meaningless when it comes to tracing specific countries in people of mixed European heritage. This particular test suggests that the closest fit they can come up with, on Line #1, when using exactly two population samples only, is 60% Ukrainian and 40% French. Line #8, 88% Slovenian + 12% Great Britain, is a worse fit.

My guess is that you have more than two populations in your ancestry, so guesstimating with only two populations will just give a crude approximation. I think the test does strongly suggest your father has at least one or more Central/Eastern European grandparents--is that the case?

Your father could be a bit British, but quite likely not, and there's nothing in these results to indicate he is.

[Dora]

Loisrp,

Thank you so much for your answer! Yes, I have a mixed ancestry on my father's side. My father's mother was Polish but his father had an Austrian father and a Polish mother ( but probably of mixed heritage as well), so yes, he has one Austrian grandfather and three mostly Polish grandparents.
I know everything about my Austrian great-grandfather but I don't know much about his parents. In many tests my father shows significant French admixture, which was a little bit new to us. We think that it's quite possible that the mother of my Austrian great-grandpa was French, but we don't know anything about her. This British admixture shows up as well in many tests, but maybe it is meaningless or something very ancient.
My thought was that maybe this British admixture has something to do with the Roman auxiliary troops who stationed in Britain...my father's Y-dna is E-L117, so it's possible that he is a descendant of a Roman soldier, but this is just a hypothesis. Some of my father's Y-dna matches are Dutch and Irish.

[loisrp]

If you have an ancestor from (for example) Alsace-Lorraine, the DNA test can't say whether this person is French or German. Similarly for someone from Brittany being French or English, etc.

DNA testing is much less frequent in France, so a lack of French matches does not rule out you having a French ancestor. But if you have any, that's definitely a clue, although of course simply having a French email address or French name does not mean they are ethnically French, or you are matching them on the French component. For that matter, a UK match does not mean the person is actually British either, of course.

[Dora]

Yes, that's exactly what my father suggested as well: that his great-grandmother might have been from Alsace-Loraine.

My great-grandpa family on the paternal line was originally from Württemberg, ( some part of Alsace-Loraine was annexed by Württemberg once), but it was for sure a German family, at least on the paternal side. Her family might have been more French though...

As for the French matches, yes, I see at least two seemingly French matches in the 4rd cousin category.

I think also that some of my ancestors could be from Brittany, that would make a lot of sense...Thank you for your answer!