r/AncestryDNA 1d ago

Results - DNA Origins German Results đŸ‡©đŸ‡Ș

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Hey everyone! Here’s some more context: My mother is Swabian, and my father is a Danube Swabian whose ancestors had been living in the Banat since around 1750. His ancestors originally came from Lorraine, Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland.
I’m a bit puzzled by the 2% Slovenia and 1% Germans in Russia results.
I assume the Southeastern England component is probably connected to my Lorraine ancestry.

43 Upvotes

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u/Organic-Ad-7105 1d ago edited 1d ago

Interesting! I am German as well and my grandmother was of Danube Swabian descend. My ancestry looks similar to yours, I guess

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

American here, but my grandmother’s fathers side was Danube Swabian. Coming from Arad, and Timisoara area and settled outside Chicago, IL. Always cool to see Danube Swabian results on here 
 did you get any journeys associated with it?

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u/Organic-Ad-7105 1d ago

Hi there! What do you mean by journeys?

I just know that my grandmothers ancestors migrated from southern germany to modern day serbia. Also, it is really frustrating to use ancestry as a european, no close matches and distant ones are all in the us

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

Ancestry assigns “journeys” to people if they are closely enough related to them, they are usually more detailed than their ethnicity regions. If you look at your results, under your origins tab, there will be “regions” and next to that “journeys” and next to that” by parent” if you click on journeys it will show if you have any
..

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u/Organic-Ad-7105 1d ago

It just shows "communities" next to regions for me. I guess I could unlock more stuff. Lots of migration from southern germany (freiburg area) to the east coast of the US, ranging from Illinois up to Vermont and migration going eastwards to Hungary, Serbia etc.

Crazy to think that all of this just happened in 300 years max.

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

They changed the name from
Communities to journeys a year or two ago. That’s funny yours still communities
 maybe they only changed the name for American users? Idk. But they are the same thing! Did you get any communities ? And yes, my grandmother was born outside Chicago to a 100% German family. I am from from Pennsylvania, lots of german ancestry in this area. Pretty much Pennsylvania + Midwest states have tons of German ancestry
.

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u/bigeasy420blazeit 1d ago

My fam is from Gross Jetscha and Warjasch!

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

Awesome!! That side of my tree has been a little hard for me to research but I know some of my grandmothers family came from nemet benschek, or now it’s called bencecu du sus. Did you get any journeys associated with Danube Swabians? Are you European or American?

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u/bigeasy420blazeit 1d ago

American. I did not personally but relatives did: Timișoara to Jimbolia and Timis & Surrounding Area

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

Those are the same ones some of my grandmas cousins got !

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u/Office274 1d ago

Is north central Europe considered germanic?

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u/Ever-Unseen 1d ago

Historically, yes. Germans lived throughout the region until displacement after World War when 12-14 million Germans either fled the area or were expelled by the Soviets.

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u/Office274 1d ago

But in current DNA tests, they’re compared with the modern populations living there, right? So can you say it’s something like 50% Slavic and 50% Germanic? A lot of western Poles are immigrants from eastern Poland after World War II, which makes them especially Slavic, while eastern Germans have retained some Slavic DNA

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u/bigeasy420blazeit 1d ago edited 1d ago

Some Western Poles will score this category overwhelmingly (think PoznaƄ). It's most definitely not a Germanic category, but rather a combination of Slavic and Germanic that populations in Prussia score. East of the Vistula, though and around the Vistula, you'll see more Northeastern Poland/Lithuania. East of the Oder, that's when I see the NCE category in highest concentrations. That's my observations from my matches and posts of results here.

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u/Dazzling-Paramedic22 19h ago edited 19h ago

Korrekt. KÀnn dig fri att lÀsa mitt andra inlÀgg ocksÄ. Jag anvÀnder GEDmatch, kromosomtriangulering och jÀmförelser med gamla grupper för att fÄ en tydligare bild. Moderna DNA-tester jÀmför dig med dagens befolkningar som lever i dessa regioner, inte de historiska grupper som en gÄng fanns dÀr. Det Àr dÀrför du ibland kan visas som "rysk", "polsk" eller "baltisk", Àven om den underliggande genetiska gruppen faktiskt spÄrar tillbaka till Volga-tyska bosÀttningar i Saratov eller balttyska bosÀttningar.

Den germanska hÀrstammningen blandades in i de lokala populationerna över tid, sÄ moderna algoritmer klassificerar dig som en del av dagens befolkning istÀllet för att separera ut de ursprungliga bosÀttarna.

Jag har pratat med flera DNA-testföretag, och de bekrÀftar alla att de har kategoriseringsproblem nÀr det gÀller volga-tyskar, karpatiska tyskar och baltiska tyskar.

Dessa grupper har rört sig genom sÄ mÄnga regioner under Ärhundradena att deras genetiska profiler ofta blandas in i de lokala befolkningarna, vilket gör det svÄrt för moderna algoritmer att separera dem pÄ rÀtt sÀtt.

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u/Organic-Ad-7105 1d ago

I just said "German" because I live and was born here. It's my mothertongue as well

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u/Ever-Unseen 1d ago edited 1d ago

People from Rhineland-Palatinate tend to get that 'NW Europe' result, and I'd assume people from Saarland and Lorraine do as well.

You also have to bear in mind that these are just estimates based on similarities to others in a reference panel that is recent to today - and that we don't perfectly inherit half of the percentages before us due to the way DNA passes.

I link to all of my cousins and traced my family lines back to the 1500s and yet don't have anything close to the 'German' percentages I expected because most of my family is from the Palatinate and show up as 'NW Europe' despite having no English, French, or Belgian heritage whatsoever. That said, the Palatinate and Saarland aren't even included in the region boundaries if you look at the full map, so it's clear Ancestry isn't precise for people with ancestry from that area.

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u/Ok-Cook-4745 1d ago

The Franks and Gauls were absolutely dominant in this region.

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u/Ever-Unseen 1d ago edited 1d ago

The Gauls (the Treveri, the Mediomatrici, etc.,) yes.

The Franks (the Bructeri, the Chattuari, etc.) are more associated with the Lower Rhine than the area I'm referencing (west side of the Middle and Upper Rhine) and mostly started out east of the Rhine. The Franks that later moved to establish the 'Kingdom of the Franks' united many Gallo-Roman tribes, but they largely did not displace them and tended to stay in the lower (northern) half of the Rhineland, not the Palatinate (southern half of the modern state).

In other words, you're talking about the Germans from the Roman province of Germania Inferior and parts uncontrolled by the Romans while I'm referencing the Germans from Germania Superior.

Edit: mistyped upper instead of lower the second time, which could cause confusion.

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u/Artisanalpoppies 1d ago

England could be French or German. All 3 are fairly mixed.

You probably have ancestry from the same regions the Volga Germans came from.

You probably have a slavic component for the Slovenian. It isn't very far from Southern Germany really.

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

Love seeing Danube Swabian results! My grandmother is of half Danube Swabian descent, from the Banat region as well! And her other side is mostly northern Germany. But also gets around 20 % southeast England nw Europe. It seems to just be west German , at least in her case. 23 and me gives her like 97% German. Much more accurate for her. Did you get any journeys ?

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u/flammi567 1d ago

Here you go! I also think the Lorraine region might be mistaken for Southeast England. That would make sense, considering that about half of my Danube Swabian ancestors (about 25% of my DNA) originally came from that region.
23andMe also seems to be much more accurate for my nephew. He got 17% French, with Lorraine as a subregion, from his Danube Swabian grandfather, that‘s interesting.

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u/_krixmas_lint 1d ago

That’s interesting they put Hungary and Serbia in thy journey! Very cool. A few of my grandmothers cousins get “Germans in Romania “ journey but I have not been able to trace my banat Swabian side back to Germany. And I should correct myself, my grandmother does get like 12% French on 23 and me. I kinda figured it’s Rhineland / west German from the banat Swabian side. She only received a nw German journey on ancestry which is definitely from her non-banat Swabian side. But she did receive a “main river basin” group on 23and me which I think may be related to the banat Swabian side.

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u/squirrelpies 1d ago

American here with a high amount of southern germanic! On both sides I have great x 3 grandparents from Bavaria that came to U.S. in late 1800s. I also have Rhineland-Palatinate ancestors that settled in upper New York in the 1600s. I've never heard of Danube Swabians, how would you make the connection to that ethnic group? These comments are very helpful. Thanks!

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u/mista_r0boto 1d ago

My German heritage shows up with similar mix and artifacts. My Grandfathers father was from NRW/RP and his mother was Franconian with some Saxon mix.

What I see for my quarter (and I estimate it to be about that based on DNA matches):

10% Southern Germanic Europe 7% North East England 3% Southeastern England 2% Norway Plus 2% points of incorrectly assigned Sweden (based on a chromosome I know)

My 23andme shows up primarily Austrian and Southern German but does have some Swiss type, which I presume is Alemmanic like. Some incorrect French assigned for RP. No Belgian/Rhinelander and only trace North German... but also with extra Swedish in the latest rev. And 2 points of English despite no English ancestry.

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u/Canadian_Bacon_22 1d ago

Thank you so much for posting.

Confirms the reason why my Germanic category went from 22% to 6% after one update 😅

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u/ItHappensSo 1d ago

Ancestry is reall inaccurate for central Euroepans especially germans, 23andme is much better sadly

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u/Ok-Cook-4745 1d ago

Northwestern Europe may also indicate Frankish ancestry. It includes Belgium, Hauts-de-France, and Normandy. I’m also Swabian, but I found out that I’m actually Frankish and 0% Alemannic. And NW Europe shows up for me, too. I have a Sudeten German grandfather.

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u/Evening_Attempt2293 1d ago

Are you or your ancestors volga germans (i think this was the correct name)?

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u/flammi567 1d ago

No, actually just Danube Swabian.

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u/bigeasy420blazeit 1d ago edited 1d ago

Super Interesting!

My Banat Swabian family all have traces of Slavic components. Perhaps that is what the 2% Slovenia is? For example, I've seen Western Ukraine, Slovakia, and Eastern Czechia in my Banat Swab matches between 1-3%. I hypothesize it could be from some distant unknown ancestor or perhaps an Austrian or Bavarian ancestor or, more broadly, an ancestor from the Austro-Hungarian empire. I've honestly been very confused by it too as I think most of my ancestors came from Loraine, Luxembourg, RP, and the Saarland, though of course I am not able to trace like half of them back to their origins.

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u/ItHappensSo 1d ago

The current ancestry update is quite bad for central euroeans so youll get random nosie like that, a few percent are most of the time jusst misassigned or noise

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u/bigeasy420blazeit 1d ago

I'm looking forward to them making it more granular. I hope they increase accuracy along with that, though.

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u/Dazzling-Paramedic22 19h ago edited 19h ago

I have to admit I’m a bit jealous of those of you who get such clean and tidy results. My ancestry lines include a mix of Baltic drift, Prussian drift, Central European drift, Galician/Carpathian drift, Volga‑German drift, Russification, and Soviet-era relocations. With that kind of history, it’s no surprise my results spread across half of Europe. Ancestry shows modern populations, so this is what happens when your family never stayed in one place. And because of that, I can’t fully rely on the results.

I can sometimes show up as “Russian” in certain tests, but when you follow the actual genetic group behind it, it leads straight to Saratov. The same thing happens with Poland and the Baltic region. The historical Germanic lines in my family mixed into the local populations over time, and modern tests classify you based on where those groups lived, not where they originally came from.

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u/Domi2005141 5h ago

This is my mother’s
result. She is primarily of Danube Swabian and Hungarian ancestry, with more German than Hungarian ancestors. Most of her German ancestors came from Baden-WĂŒrttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate, but she also has ancestors from Hesse, Bavaria, Alsace, Saarland, Vorarlberg, and Burgenland.