If you want to see what the Lowell Heritage Project is all about, go read the intro to Amanda’s article. Also, Amazon links in this article are affiliate links, and we may be compensated if you make a purchase through one (although there is no extra cost to you).
Guess what? I’m not Norwegian. Like, not even a little.
Yup, I staked my whole prediction on the idea that the only definite part of my heritage I knew for sure was that I was Norwegian. In the words of Maury Povich, that was a lie.
In fact, even the idea that I could be predominately English was wrong. As feared, my DNA test results reveals that I am generic and boring. No really. It does.
Two DNA Tests Show Different Results
For this project, I used two DNA tests: Ancestry and National Geographic Geno 2.0. Their results actually diverge more than I would have thought, but maybe it’s a difference in the technology they use.
Ancestry Results
First, here’s what Ancestry has to say to say about my genetic makeup:
- Europe West: 74 percent
- Ireland/Scotland/Wales: 13 percent
My Western European heritage could run anywhere from 54-94 percent, according to Ancestry and could trace back to seven countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.
Meanwhile, the amount of Irish/Scottish/Welsh in me could range from 0-27 percent. Since I’ve been told my mom’s family comes from Wales, I’m thinking that number might be at the higher end of the spectrum.
Then, Ancestry gives me a whole bunch of lower confidence results. Trace amounts of my ancestry could lead back to the following places:
- Great Britain: 3 percent
- Europe South: 3 percent (maybe my Italian gypsy ancestors?)
- European Jewish: 2 percent
- Scandinavia: 1 percent (there’s my Norwegian – seriously Ancestry??)
- Iberian Peninsula: < 1 percent
- Native American: < 1 percent
- Finland/Northwest Russia: < 1 percent
- Europe East: < 1 percent
National Geographic Geno 2.0 Results
The National Geographic test found that (shockingly) I am 97 percent European. It doesn’t guess where that remaining 3 percent is from so I suppose this is my chance to claim to be something really exotic.
The test then breaks down that European ancestry into the following regions:
- Northwestern Europe: 48 percent
- Southwestern Europe: 31 percent
- Eastern Europe: 14 percent
- Northeastern Europe: 4 percent
This analysis seems to diverge somewhat significantly from the one provided by Ancestry, but it still doesn’t provide much hope that I’m the Norwegian I so desperately want to be. I guess the only explanation (other than the results being wrong) is that although my great-grandfather came from Norway, he wasn’t actually ethnically Norwegian.
One fun aspect of the National Geographic test is that it tells you what percentage Neanderthal you may contain. Apparently, I am 1.5 percent Neanderthal while the national average is 1.3 percent. Someone told me that people with a greater percentage of Neanderthal are more intelligent. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it sounds good to me.
National Geographic also says I share distant ancestors with 8 famous people. They call them my “genius matches” and include Abraham Lincoln, Ben Franklin, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. However, our shared ancestors lived 65,000-45,000 years ago so that might not be anything to get too excited about.
The Politics of Identity
In my prediction article, I mentioned I wanted to put aside the politics of race. But let’s talk about them now.
In her article, Tina asks why our ancestry really even matters. Why do we keep looking back when we should move forward? She has a point, and I agree…in theory.
However, in reality, we all want to be part of something special and unique. It’s comforting to blend in with the crowd, but we don’t want to get lost in it. That’s why we give our kids unusual names and sometimes balk at the idea we should conform to certain standards of dress or behavior.
I think that’s also why we cling to our ethnic identity. While we are all Americans, that’s a rather large tribe – more than 320 million of us, at least. No wonder we have Danish Festivals, Pulaski Days and Cinco de Mayo celebrations. I can understand why we call ourselves Italian-Americans, Asian-Americans and African-Americans. While the American part of the equation is important, we all also want to remember what makes us unique.
At one time, I read that the idea of America’s melting pot is faulty. We shouldn’t melt together. Instead, we should be like the ingredients of a salad – each of us retaining our individual characteristics but coming together to create something new and vibrant.
I like that analogy. And I guess that’s why I’m not so geeked about my DNA results. To say I am 74 percent Western European is basically saying I am the uniform, unremarkable fondue of America’s melting pot. Even being English, which I thought I didn’t want to be labeled, is more appealing because at least that is a defined ethnicity with a defined background.
Alas, we can’t pick where we come from. However, at least my hazy background gives me license to pick some other country where I can hang my hat. So maybe I’m not Norwegian, but maybe I can be Liechtensteiner instead.
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