Who are your ancestors?

[Estro Felino]

Because that is generally what (European) Americans think of: Ethnic background, usually stated in terms of nationality.

But technically, for example, my "German" side is Prussian and possibly once Jewish, and if you go back far enough who knows? My "Italian" side was only briefly Italian, and would have been some other state or principality before that. Etc.

do you know why that happens? because in some countries people believe in the tradition of their ancestry
In Italy patriotism and nation are absolute values. so, Italians almost erase their past and believe in their country.
but when they are abroad they are ashamed of their Italianness and do any thing to hide it.
do you have any idea how many American actors have actually Italian surnames?

 

[roger1440]

My parents were in the iron and steel business. My mother used to iron and my father used to steal.

 

[gsa]

do you know why that happens? because in some countries people believe in the tradition of their ancestry
In Italy patriotism and nation are absolute values. so, Italians almost erase their past and believe in their country.
but when they are abroad they are ashamed of their Italianness and do any thing to hide it.
do you have any idea how many American actors have actually Italian surnames?

Trust me, most Italians here are not ashamed of their ancestry. There was a period of time where this was true for some Italians, exacerbated by social prejudice which caused many to alter their surnames as you are probably alluding to, but most people of Italian descent in the States are not ashamed.

In America race, and the concept of being "white," became more socially significant than our ethnic backgrounds. And of course there was also the issue of intermarriage; there are far more people of mixed European descent here than people of a single ethnic background.

 

[ChristineES]

Mine come from Italy, Germany, Russia, The Four Corners area in the USA. I am 1/4 Italian, 1/4 Russian Jew and German Jew, and 1/2 Navajo.

 

[metis]

One day, I'm going to get my DNA tested.

My wife, who was born and raised in Sicily, wants to have one of her brothers dna tested as well. Even though she's from Sicily, she has light skin, red hair, and hazel eyes as does one of her brothers. Sicily was invaded by so many different groups, and the Vikings were one of them believe it or not.

One thing that was so interesting is that my wife's mother used to salt and drain her meat before cooking, which we in Judaism call "kashering", and it turns out that there may have been such an influence since Trapani, which is close to where my wife is from, used to have a large Jewish population.

 

[Godobeyer]

Arab,Jew, Amazigh, Roman , i am not sure because i have link to all of them

Arab : because i speak Arabic , some said my origine from Arabia
Jew: because some said ,there are Jews had our same family name .
Amazigh : North Africa origin residents are Amazigh
Roman :because some of us had bleu eyes ,and our region residents by Romans

accautly it's not important to me ,we are all human in end .

 

[Sultan Of Swing]

Swiss and Irish on my father's side. English, Welsh, German, French, Mexican, and Native American on my mother's side. I am getting my dna tested and can't wait to see the results.

What is the accuracy of such tests, I'd love to know my own.

Where do you even go to get these types of tests done. Walk into your local clinic and say "Hey, I want a DNA test!"?

 

[gsa]

What is the accuracy of such tests, I'd love to know my own.

Where do you even go to get these types of tests done. Walk into your local clinic and say "Hey, I want a DNA test!"?

Ancestry.com sells them.

 

[Nietzsche]

But technically, for example, my "German" side is Prussian and possibly once Jewish,.

Unless you're talking about the Baltic Prussians, "Prussian" was a state-identity not an ethnic one. Prussia was made up of Saxons, Frisians, Schlesiens, so on.

 

[nazz]

What is the accuracy of such tests, I'd love to know my own.

Where do you even go to get these types of tests done. Walk into your local clinic and say "Hey, I want a DNA test!"?

Silly me, I never even thought to research the accuracy before plopping down the hundred bucks or so. But here are a few sites which discuss that:

Geneticists sound note of caution over DNA ancestry testing | Ars Technica

A Review of AncestryDNA - Ancestry.com's New Autosomal DNA Test - The Genetic Genealogist

 

[gsa]

Unless you're talking about the Baltic Prussians, "Prussian" was a state-identity not an ethnic one. Prussia was made up of Saxons, Frisians, Schlesiens, so on.

Fair enough; the point I was making was more about the conflation of ethnicity and nationality in any event.

 

[Sha'irullah]

A baboon and a tortoise

 

[Deidre]

A baboon and a tortoise

lol!

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I traced back to the Big Bang, but seem to have trouble tracing any further...

More recently, English and German, with Irish and Native American (Cheyenne we think) thrown in a little more distantly.

 

[Jainarayan]

My wife, who was born and raised in Sicily, wants to have one of her brothers dna tested as well. Even though she's from Sicily, she has light skin, red hair, and hazel eyes as does one of her brothers. Sicily was invaded by so many different groups, and the Vikings were one of them believe it or not.

Your wife is on the right track having her brother's DNA tested. It gives somewhat different information about the paternal line, which can't be gathered from female DNA. Do men and women receive different information from 23andMe? – 23andMe Customer Care I keep talking about doing the 23andMe DNA test. It's $99, but I have other bills to pay right now.

The descendants of the Vikings, the Normans (Normands, "Northmen" in Old French) are the ones, along with the Vandals (from whom we do get the words vandal and vandalism because they were so rowdy) who settled in Sicily and built almost all the cathedrals there are today. Here's a rough breakdown of genetic origins Sicilian Genetics and Anthropology - Best of Sicily - Genetics - Thalassemia, Cooley's Anemia, Genetic Genealogy in Sicily, Sickle Cell Anemia - Sicilian Ethnology - Sicilian origins in genetics and ethnic anthropology Even if I never have the test done, it's a pretty sure bet in my mind that Thorbjorn is not entirely a misnomer for me.

 

[Jainarayan]

Ancestry.com sells them.

Also https://www.23andme.com/ There is something about the Ancestry DNA test that turned me off when I was reading about it. I have to go back and compare them again.

 

[Spiderman]

yes German Dutch and Scottish means bad racial hygiene

African, going back 100,000 years....maybe even farther. Toss in some German, Dutch & Scottish pollution in the last few millennia.

 

[Spiderman]

ah the word vandalism came from the vandals interesting

 

[Revoltingest]

ah the word vandalism came from the vandals interesting

I recently saw a show about medieval Scotland & England. Back in the day, taking a bath 3 times a year was thought excessive. I honor that tradition!

 

[metis]

Your wife is on the right track having her brother's DNA tested. It gives somewhat different information about the paternal line, which can't be gathered from female DNA. Do men and women receive different information from 23andMe? – 23andMe Customer Care I keep talking about doing the 23andMe DNA test. It's $99, but I have other bills to pay right now.

The descendants of the Vikings, the Normans (Normands, "Northmen" in Old French) are the ones, along with the Vandals (from whom we do get the words vandal and vandalism because they were so rowdy) who settled in Sicily and built almost all the cathedrals there are today. Here's a rough breakdown of genetic origins Sicilian Genetics and Anthropology - Best of Sicily - Genetics - Thalassemia, Cooley's Anemia, Genetic Genealogy in Sicily, Sickle Cell Anemia - Sicilian Ethnology - Sicilian origins in genetics and ethnic anthropology Even if I never have the test done, it's a pretty sure bet in my mind that Thorbjorn is not entirely a misnomer for me.

Thanks so much for posting this as not only am I going to show my wife what's on this link but her extended family as well.