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I think they do go back further than 1000 years. My mother's FTDNA is showing 58% British 42% Western European. GEDmatch suggests that most of that 42% is northern German. her genealogy is showing 100% British, nearly all English outside of one line of Ulster-Scots dating back to 1300 primarily. (I'm confident back to 1400-1500 records).
I was confused but I think now that northern German is Anglo-Saxon DNA markers
I think they do go back further than 1000 years. My mother's FTDNA is showing 58% British 42% Western European. GEDmatch suggests that most of that 42% is northern German. her genealogy is showing 100% British, nearly all English outside of one line of Ulster-Scots dating back to 1300 primarily. (I'm confident back to 1400-1500 records).
I was confused but I think now that northern German is Anglo-Saxon DNA markers
Again, the British and West Europeans are genetically very similar, because Britain is very Anglo-Saxon. The test doesn't so much "go back" at all - like I said before, all it's really saying is that "this percentage of your DNA is most similar to our sample groups from this region". And the sample groups come from people of today, who say all four of their grandparents were born in the same area.
The test may be representing that a large portion of your British ancestors came from Anglo-Saxon stock, and yes, the Angles and Saxons began settling in Britain more than 1000 years ago. But the Anglo-Saxon period of British history is considered to have lasted until 1066 with the Norman invasion, which is less than 1000 years ago. When they say 1000 years, it's just a rough guide to help you understand that it pre-dates your research.
Well I guess I should have prefaced my earlier statement by saying, if your ancestors were say, Anglo-Saxon then obviously even 500 years later their DNA is still going to say Anglo-Saxon largely.
I do wonder if the DNA tests have such a difficult time separating Roman Britain, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon DNA (and yes I know there are some differences).
But if you have a Saxon who marries a Briton, their child marries a Saxon, whose parents were Celtic and Briton whose child marries an Saxon, etc etc. It becomes very confusing especially over 10-20 generations.
I have wanted to say, oh my DNA is primarily English or Scottish or Welsh...and I don't think it's possible. It seems that the DNA will give you some idea but your genealogy will have to be used to generate a picture. That's why I estimate I am higher percentage English but I know my genealogy suggests that I am 80-90% British ethnically , and I have ancestors from each country in the UK.
So in the end I am an American from the south with British ancestry....I guess :P
Bernie - I was born in England. My mother is English and my dad's parents were from Scotland and England. Here is my breakdown which you might get a chuckle out of While I was shocked to see I virtually no DNA from the GB region, it's a bit misleading as the smaller % countries are often seen in people from the UK. So to be Brit could well be to be Scandinavia, Italian and the nationalities expressed in the low %'s here. I understand that as they gain more DNA samples, this could change our profile- define it more? I know very little about this stuff, am trying to learn but I have a long way to go! I have found a branch of my father's family was in Ireland way back. So this might account for my Irish %.
Ireland 40%
Europe West 30%
Scandinavia 19%
Iberian Peninsula 5%
Italy/Greece 2%
Great Britain 1%
Finland/NW Russian 1%
European Jewish 1%
Europe East 1%
Bernie - I was born in England. My mother is English and my dad's parents were from Scotland and England. Here is my breakdown which you might get a chuckle out of While I was shocked to see I virtually no DNA from the GB region, it's a bit misleading as the smaller % countries are often seen in people from the UK. So to be Brit could well be to be Scandinavia, Italian and the nationalities expressed in the low %'s here. I understand that as they gain more DNA samples, this could change our profile- define it more? I know very little about this stuff, am trying to learn but I have a long way to go! I have found a branch of my father's family was in Ireland way back. So this might account for my Irish %.
Ireland 40%
Europe West 30%
Scandinavia 19%
Iberian Peninsula 5%
Italy/Greece 2%
Great Britain 1%
Finland/NW Russian 1%
European Jewish 1%
Europe East 1%
Thanks for posting as it is interesting to see what an English person's breakdown is. It is similar with 23andMe and the British & Irish category. Irish people generally get the highest percentages of British & Irish usually in the 90% and over range. English people get a much more varied Ancestry Composition. In Ancestry the Ireland category covers Ireland, Wales and Scotland but also found in England and France. It is interesting that you only get 1% Great Britain.
You also get the 1% European Jewish that I get. It is most likely part of the Europe East as it covers much the same countries.
The question being is when it says Great Britain what does that represent in your results? Ancient Briton, Anglo-Saxon, Roman Britain, Celtic.
My Dad's GEDmatch tests show a high level of what some tests report as Western Scotland (Argyll) on one test but come back on another as Irish (history has shown a high level of migration between West Scotland and Ireland for centuries).
And as stated above, Anglo-Saxon can show as Western Europe instead of GB.
What we really can't figure out is my Dad's report states 2% (FTDNA) Middle Eastern/West Asian.
Thanks for posting as it is interesting to see what an English person's breakdown is. It is similar with 23andMe and the British & Irish category. Irish people generally get the highest percentages of British & Irish usually in the 90% and over range. English people get a much more varied Ancestry Composition. In Ancestry the Ireland category covers Ireland, Wales and Scotland but also found in England and France. It is interesting that you only get 1% Great Britain.
You also get the 1% European Jewish that I get. It is most likely part of the Europe East as it covers much the same countries.
I agree with you on the Jewish portion. And have read about the back and forth migration from Scotland to Ireland, so the Irish % makes sense in this context. This is basically what Ancestry says about the UK %:
Comparing my % GB region to the average Brit being 60%, it states: "It’s also possible, however, to find people whose DNA shows very little similarity. Since approximately 60% of the typical native’s DNA comes from this region (UK), 40% is more similar to other regions, such as Ireland, Europe West, Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula". I guess I'm in the large minority
Don't assume you don't have royal ancestry because your immediate family is low / middle class. It could be way back. Almost half of people of Western European descent is a child of Charlemagne, probably several times over.
Yep, you never know what you will find. I found that my maternal line led back to the grandmother of Elizabeth I. I thought I'd find we were all peasants, but actually some of my ancestors were landed gentry with power and titles.
Yep, you never know what you will find. I found that my maternal line led back to the grandmother of Elizabeth I. I thought I'd find we were all peasants, but actually some of my ancestors were landed gentry with power and titles.
I think if most of us could get back far enough we'd find both rich and powerful and poor and meek.
I just stumbled on an online book the other night. It's a genealogy of a family and it was published in 1903 and it's well documented. I had been searching for Emma, a plain hardworking New England pioneer woman. She turned out to be Emily. With the new Emily this book connected me to a famous family I had never even heard of that goes back to some people long, long ago. They were French and probably came with William the Conquerer to England and that's how they gained so much land back around 1066. Another reason that even though my background is mostly English--so I thought--before that it was French. My 23andMe DNA says I have French but I never knew where (except I do have another William the Conquerer knight) Their testing seems to land you about 2000 years back in time, at least probably in this case.
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While I was shocked to see I virtually no DNA from the GB region, it's a bit misleading as the smaller % countries are often seen in people from the UK. So to be Brit could well be to be Scandinavia, Italian and the nationalities expressed in the low %'s here. I understand that as they gain more DNA samples, this could change our profile- define it more? I know very little about this stuff, am trying to learn but I have a long way to go! I have found a branch of my father's family was in Ireland way back. So this might account for my Irish %. 
