YDNA 12 marker vs 25 marker

[Tyler89]

Hello I would like some clarification about my results and perhaps so if other have the same question they can find it as i haven't been able to find what i was wanting to know yet.

My question is:
On my 12 marker test i had a genetic distance of 1 and the country of origin was Wales.
On the 25 marker test I had a genetic distance of 2 and the country of origin was Germany.
I just ordered an upgrade for 37 marker test.

I am not 100% sure concerning the genetic distance.

Although I would like to know if I am more German than Welsh.
Also how do the countries change when you add more markers?

[Jim Barrett]

Although I would like to know if I am more German than Welsh.
Also how do the countries change when you add more markers?

Maybe the countries didn't change. Maybe the change was in the people you were being compared to with the additional markers.

[Tyler89]

Ok so with the additional markers it can not tell me where my ancestors from past generations came it merely shows me with the additional markers which group of people my dna is most like?

[MMaddi]

Ok so with the additional markers it can not tell me where my ancestors from past generations came it merely shows me with the additional markers which group of people my dna is most like?

That's right. In most cases, there's not much specific geographic ancestry information that can be read from yDNA results. That's especially the case if your haplogroup is R1b of some sort. About half of European men have that haplogroup. It's higher along the Atlantic coast from Spain to the British Isles, up to 80% in some areas there. And R1b is a relatively young haplogroup, so there's generally not much difference in marker values between an R1b from Germany and Wales or other parts of the British Isles.

One exception is if you're R1b-U106 of some sort; that subclade is fairly common among German men, but not so common among Welsh men. To find out if you're R1b-U106, you'd have to order a SNP test.

If you're interested in your overall (not just paternal line, yDNA) geographic ancestry, then you need to take an autosomal test. FTDNA's Family Finder autosomal test includes Population Finder (PF). PF gives you estimated percentages of ethnic/geographic ancestry across all your lines, not just the paternal line. However, it doesn't do a very good job of it, due to the lack of reference population samples. FTDNA is expected to add reference populations and improve PF in the next several months. Also, you can upload your raw Family Finder data to www.gedmatch.com and use the admixture calculators there for free. The various calculators give a pretty good estimate of geographic ancestry.

[Tyler89]

Thanks for your feedback.

My haplogroup is E-m35.1

not sure what that means...

And i have taken a couple autosomal dna tests already.. one that showed me i was german irish like my dad always said. and it even had several frequencies showing scandinavian heritage too i am thinking about going back to that company.

Although ancestry.com is from what i have heard the walmart of genetic testing so there results my be very cheap and generic imo.