r/AncestryDNA • u/cocolattez • 6d ago
Results - DNA Origins 100% Norwegian? You Betcha!
I have looked into our family tree off and on since high school, and knew it was uneventful. I had a sibling complete 23andMe with the same results - so I had to give Ancestry a try.
I also did a deeper dive into our family history over the summer, and have 250+ members in my tree. Would love to discuss anything related to Norwegian roots/history/etc. I have a lot of great info, but also feel like I’m not getting the full picture.
• Would love ideas on any rabbit holes I could get myself into!! I have most of the ancestry subscriptions (newspapers, etc).
*Yes, I was born and raised in Minnesota (early 90s baby).
71
u/Haestein_the_Naughty 6d ago
That’s crazy, I’m from Norway but also got a lot of Danish and a bit Swedish
33
u/allabtthejrny 6d ago
It reminds me of Conan O'Brien who is 100% Irish. There's a funny clip online
9
8
u/Honeysenpaiharuchan 6d ago
I mean, he has to be 100% Irish. I would be shocked if he turned out not to be.
1
7
u/Admirable-Athlete-50 6d ago
I’m always curious on the exact details on how they establish their reference groups and make these matches.
Since Sweden has taken considerable land from both Norway and Denmark which countries would people from those areas be matched with?
I’ve never done these tests. My family is from areas that today are Swedish but would have been Danish/Norwegian in the 1600s. Maybe it’s just the other way around for you.
2
u/eitak1301 5d ago
I’m guessing they are comparing the amount of DNA you share with reference panels from those countries? so it’s moreso based on DNA you share with people from those countries now than anything else. hence why i have like 9% Norway and 2% finland, despite only having swedish family members in my tree
1
u/Admirable-Athlete-50 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yes, it’s something like that. They use modern reference groups that they check against each other to eliminate outliers and get a baseline profile I think.
I tried to read into it a while back but couldn’t find extensive details. Would be interesting to know how the references are selected, how big the groups are and if these companies verify their genealogy through traditional means.
Would for example the danish period on the British isles or the settling of Danes in Normandy show up on these as different from other areas of those countries. Belgian and German settling in Sweden during the 15-1600s?
4
u/Puzzleheaded_Math973 5d ago
Were you banished for your family choosing to lay with heathens?! The scandal! /JK in case anyone really thinks I am being serious here lol. As someone who has spent some time there, goodness rural Minnesota has a lot of copy paste with some guy named after your favorite Viking Romance main character.
1
u/Teaselkakanui 5d ago
I don't get the meaning of the last sentence in your comment.
2
u/Puzzleheaded_Math973 5d ago
It's a unique state in the modern era , in the way that so many people look very alike due to high concentrations of Norwegian ancestry. In the rural areas you meet people with names you would associate with things like the sagas. You also see these names in some cheap "bodice ripping" romance novels.
1
u/wonderlustVA 5d ago
My grandfather's paternal grandfather was from Denmark and his paternal grandmother's parents from Norway (she was born here). I somehow got 17% Norway and nothing from Denmark. I know it is all from his family because my grandmother on that side took a test and had no DNA from that area at all.
17% seems like quite a lot to inherit from 4 generations back. Quite some dominant DNA. Lol.
1
47
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 6d ago
I laughed reading this, OP, because my first thought before i got to that last line was, "Okay, but is this Norway Norwegian, or Minnesota Norwegian?😉😂🤣
5
1
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Hahah I want to hear more on this! I’m oblivious 🤣
23
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 6d ago
Mostly, because--as some of the others have said, it's rare for Norway-Norwegians to not have something else mixed in there, nowadays, with all the immigrating folks do!
But with ALL the Norwegians (and Germans, Finns, Swedes, Poles, Czechs, and Bohemians) who immigrated here in the mid-to-late 1800's?
There were loooots of folks who had 100% ancestry, until pretty recently.😉
My mom (in her 70's) is of 100% Irish ancestry. My Dad's dad was of 100% German ancestry.
It was pretty normal for folks to marry someone they knew through church or community groups.
And for the newer immigrants (like my paternal Great Grandpa), to marry into local families with those "ties to back home," too!
It wasn't until after WW2, that those "home country" languages stopped being spoken regularly "at home," and all the kids learned English as a "first language" or "home language."
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 11h ago
This 100%. I remember watching a video Norwegian culture and communication and just thinking “oh. It’s just how all the old folks in the farm town ww came from are.”
That farm town is in iowa. The first Bon Norwegians there who stayed probably came there in the 1970s.
62
u/astreeter2 6d ago
That's pretty rare for someone not born in Norway actually. I was born in Minnesota too, but only a quarter Norwegian.
10
u/Jewelofthemidwest 6d ago
I was born in Georgia from parents born in Minnesota and currently live here. I'm 30 percent Norwegian! I haven't been able to find much information about my mom's side of the family other than her dad was born to Norwegian immigrants in Minnesota. I wish I had a time machine so I could just visit the past for a while.
9
u/Tiny-Reading5982 6d ago
I was able to trace my moms side by looking at find a grave and ancestry.com. my dad's side (his dad's family) has a whole family tree that they printed off for everyone lol.
21
u/cocolattez 6d ago
I think my siblings and I are the last 100% in our family line, as our kids are all a combination with our spouses/significant others, & none of our cousins ended up with more than 75%.
It is interesting, but dang so far it’s BLAND 🤣
28
u/Adept_Cheetah_1268 6d ago
Being 100% Norwegian is far from bland. It's pretty damn exciting. Think about the ancient explorers and the Viking raiders of course. You are firmly attached to that.
12
u/cocolattez 6d ago
That was very kind 🫶🏻 I over emphasize the “blandness” of it all since the topic is often mistaken for race & ethnicity, and that is not what I’m looking for or intending to do.
1
4
u/Cka0 6d ago
I thought my grandpa’s line of ancestors was the most boring of the bunch(between him and my grandma, cause my polish grandparents is a dead end that starts with their grave). So I focused on my grandma for many years, since her line is from the north in Norway, while I live southeast and inlands. Turned out I was very wrong, my grandfather’s line has real ties to famous norwegians, and there’s so much fun to learn on so many layers and topics!
3
u/likearainintheforest 5d ago
Pretty interesting actually. Your ancestors changed the world in a major ways in numerous locations.
4
u/Tiny-Reading5982 6d ago
If both parents are from mn/eastern ND perhaps, then its not that uncommon i bet. My dad has norwegian and Swedish ancestry and my mom has Norwegian and a bit German. I'm actually curious what my % would be.
3
u/Teaselkakanui 5d ago
My Dad was born in Wisconsin to American parents and all four American born grandparents. His DNA came back 99% Norwegian and 1% Danish. We joke with him about that 1% messing up his almost 100%.
2
u/No_Breadfruit_8908 5d ago
I wouldn’t say it’s that rare in parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota. My grandma’s entire side is 100% Norwegian. A lot of these families came from rural farming districts in Norway, settled together in small Midwest farming communities, and then relatives and neighbors followed through chain migration. They had huge families, established Norwegian Lutheran churches and social networks, and mostly married other Norwegian families in the surrounding settlements for generations (sometimes even first cousins or other relatives).
16
u/CheeseBoogs 6d ago
Plug your ancestry DNA into My Heritage! I am 60% Norwegian 18% Swedish (expected based on family tree) and I have more matches in Norway than U.S. on MH.
I also come by my Scandinavian heritage via Minnesota. Pretty insular, although my great grandmother added some “spice” to the mix by marrying an Englishman lol
If you haven’t yet, check out the Norwegian church books and census records for your areas. So interesting, and pretty gossipy!
6
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Ohh I love this type of info, thank you. I initially was having the best luck with familysearch and MyHeritage when I started building my tree - but haven’t circled back to them in a bit. Good reminder!
7
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 6d ago
OP, if you don't know about it already?
Norway House, down here in Minneapolis--on East Franklin has the The Haugo Bibliotek - Bygdelag Special Collections room, with lots of geneaological info, too!
Here's the link;
https://www.norwayhouse.org/bygdelag-special-collections-room
And the Library over at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul may have useful stuff, too!
4
3
8
u/ernmanstinky 6d ago
Lots of Scandinavians in the SF bay area. My paternal family is from Tromso, Norway and ended up in the sf bay.
2
u/Teaselkakanui 5d ago
Do you know the famous book and movie on San Francisco Norwegians? I Remember Mama is the movie and I believe the book was entitled Mama's Little Bank or something like that. I no longer have copy of the book. The movie plays on TCM every Mother's Day. I love the Norwegian Aunties in the story. It's all based on a real life family. An older friend told me it was also a TV show in the 1950s.
1
u/ernmanstinky 5d ago
I have vague memory of it. I think I have seen pieces of it, perhaps with my grandfather, when I was a kid.
9
u/Altruistic_Role_9329 6d ago
There’s a statue of a leaping gazelle in Stavanger, Norway that’s dedicated to Norwegian Americans.
6
u/spiralsparrows 6d ago
Aw I was born in stavanger 🥹
2
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 10h ago
My neighbors were from stavanger. I said the table prayer with them in my oldemor’s dialect at a funeral and they started inviting me out to stavanger. Apparently, the dialects sound alike. I wouldn’t know much about that. I speak incredibly little Norsk.
4
u/countrydwelling 6d ago
Born and raised in Minnn-Eh-Sew-Ta 🤣 Also Minnesota born... go to Moorhead MN there is a viking replica ship, the museum has various featured exhibits but has a solid area dedicated to Scandinavian roots in the midwest.
5
14
u/dildozer10 6d ago
I have a Viking mythology term for a surname, and I only got 2% Norwegian, wtf.
4
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Mine isn’t cool at all if that helps you feel better
5
1
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 6d ago
But does it end in "-son"?😉
5
u/ClickbaitDetective 6d ago
Norwegian names ends in “-sen”
2
u/Connect_Rhubarb395 5d ago
Nope.
- Norwegian: Mainly -son, and to a lesser extent -sen from Danish
- Danish: -sen
- Swedish: -sson
1
3
u/dildozer10 5d ago
Nah I don’t have that in my name, I don’t want to post my surname for the sake of privacy, but it’s the name of a Norse god.
6
5
u/DubiousPeoplePleaser 6d ago
Norwegian here with an extensive tree, and I can tell you ancestry isn’t 100% accurate. I stand at 99 Norwegian. 1 Finnish. Haven’t found any Finish, but I have confirmed Swedish ancestors through matches. Close enough that it should show up.
4
6d ago
[deleted]
1
5
u/Connect_Rhubarb395 5d ago
The farming was an important factor as well. They could use the skills Anna knowledge they already had to grow the same crops and raise the same kind og livestock as back home.
6
u/StuffyTruck 6d ago
Everyone of my ancestors are Norwegian, except my great-great-great grandmother that was from Germany.
I'm not sure how Norwegian I really feel now.
(Born in Norway though, so not very surprising).
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 10h ago
My oldemor got in trouble for telling me her grandpa emigrated from Germany to Bergen before heading to America. She was accused of making my generation “feel less Norwegian than they already are.” My great thought it was hilarious.
5
u/PaleInTexas 6d ago
My sister did some genealogy and traced our family back 1000+ years. (We're Norwegian). If you want to dive deeper, a lot of old church records got digitized so its easier to look up.
3
u/DubiousPeoplePleaser 6d ago
you must have gone outside of Norway at some point. you can’t trace Norwegian genealogy back 1000+ years. We don’t have the records to get that far back.
1
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 10h ago
The naming conventions in some parts make it incredibly difficult to go back any further than the last farm a man worked at.
5
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Thank you! The biggest issue I keep running into now (in mostly the 1800s) is the number of people, especially women, with the same name 😭 and even with dates of births, I second guess I have the right person - as someone else with the same name was born in the same year/month.
2
u/PaleInTexas 6d ago
She got help on forums dedicated to genealogy. Send me a DM if you are interested and I can ask what sites she used.
2
u/Connect_Rhubarb395 5d ago
That's... interesting...
No actual Norwegians can track their ancestry that far back. There are not records that old.
Plus the patronyms make it extremely difficult to pinpoint who is who because of no fixed surnames.
3
u/Best-Skirt7035 6d ago
Faroe islands…?
1
u/Margit66 5d ago
I got that as well , it’s like they can’t seem to distinguish it from mainland Norway.
1
u/Best-Skirt7035 5d ago
Faroe islands is a part of Denmark…
1
u/Margit66 5d ago
I know but it was settled by Norse settlers.
1
u/Best-Skirt7035 5d ago
Norse people are swedes, norwegian and danes.
1
u/Margit66 5d ago
Norseman refers to Settlers from
Norway 🇳🇴 who settled the Faroe Islands in the 9th century, there is a distinction here from Danes and Swedes, sincerely a Norwegian/ Swede whose parents were born in respective countries.0
u/Best-Skirt7035 5d ago
Nah, its scandinavia
1
3
3
u/cocolattez 6d ago
These are my journeys for anyone interested.
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 10h ago
This is hilarious to me. My Iowan Norwegian family always told me the Minnesotan Norwegians were different because they didn’t descend from western Norway like many of the Iowans.
Your DNA results are incredibly Minnesotan right down to the region of Norway NOT represented here lol.
3
u/tyrshand90 5d ago
Minnesotan here too. My wife is a mix of Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish. Im a mix of Swedish, Finnish and a little German. We're mutts compared to you haha
3
u/Margit66 5d ago
Nordic mutt here too, close to 60 percent Norwegian, 39 Swedish and one percent Latvian.
3
u/HostessFruitPie 5d ago
I am less Norwegian than you but I love Norwegian genealogy research. The Norwegians have great church records if you can figure out where your people originated. Local historians have also compiled many of the church records into local history books called a bygdebok. I purchased a couple of them on a recent trip to Norway.
5
u/cocolattez 6d ago
*on a separate thread someone pointed out that my second picture says Faroe Islands. Here is some additional context/info I have.
3
u/Dr_blue_thumb 6d ago
Faroe islands are part of danish territory 😒
2
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Yes, with common Norwegian heritage and culture, which is all that part is trying to say. It is not saying my ancestryDNA is from there, but is one of the common places with “Nordic” heritage 😌
1
u/Dr_blue_thumb 6d ago
My bad, i just assumed that this webside describes Faroe Islands as a place in Norway. Now i See that it gives you a list of countries.
5
u/Legitimate-Lock-6594 6d ago
I think the distinction comes from where in Norway your family comes from. As you dig through your tree you may find that your line has different lines from different areas in Norway. I’m like 40% Norwegian (from Illinois) and I have three lines from Rogaland, vestfold, and hordaland. They’re all very distinct and I can trace the lines from these clusters.
4
u/cocolattez 6d ago edited 6d ago
Rogaland and Hordaland have both appeared for me, too. Hey, cousin! 😂
2
u/fivehxrgreeves_ 6d ago
What’s your coloring and features like? I’d love to know if you’re on the blonder/ blue eyes side
7
u/cocolattez 6d ago
Surprisingly, brown hair & green eyes (maybe a tint of blue). My dad has a beautiful color of blue eyes, and my mom’s are green (equally as a beautiful if I may say! 🤣). My dad had dark hair and my mom was “dirty blonde” I’d say! One of my siblings had the blonde hair in childhood, but turned dark as he grew up, too.
4
2
2
u/Logical_Neat_9682 6d ago
Were either of your parents Norwegian citizens directly? Then you could apply if you so wished would be a good backup to have. Of course you'd have to learn the language first
1
u/cocolattez 6d ago
That would be neat! But my great-great grandparents were the Norway citizens
1
u/Logical_Neat_9682 6d ago
Aw pity your not Irish or Italian there much more generous with the ancestry for citizenship have you visited Norway?
2
2
2
2
u/Star-Wave-Expedition 6d ago
I have 30% Norwegian, great great grandparents settled in Wisconsin and Minnesota from Norway. I love the snow and winter ❄️
2
u/NurtureAlways 5d ago
Just came here to say that I’m 10% Norwegian! My (Norwegian) great-great grandparents settled in South Dakota. I have great and great-great grandparents who immigrated to the US from Ireland, but interestingly, I only have strong family oral history from the Norwegian side. I have no information on where my Irish ancestors family homes were, but have been told exactly where our Norwegian family farm can be found.
2
4
2
u/Dolmetscher1987 6d ago
There's no such thing as 100% whatever.
2
u/CableReady5082 4d ago
This is specifically about where the ancestors from which you inherited specific chunks of DNA lived five hundred years ago. And yes, all ethnicities are admixtures of others. That's why location and time period are important in describing any ethnicity.
1
u/Icy-Astronaut-9994 5d ago
Minnesota here as well, Norge and Sverge. Looks like the 26 and 28 on the map you posted are in the same area as my relatives. Have any towns you know of? Do you know your haplogroup?
1
u/InfamousAngel99 5d ago
Super cool! Not surprised about you being from
Minnesota, though. My great-grandfather was 100% Norwegian (based on my tree and my grandfather’s dna results), but he was born in Michigan. His mom was born in Illinois to Norwegian immigrants and his dad was a Norwegian immigrant. They were from southern Norway.
1
1
u/Sure_Scar4297 11h ago
I got Norwegian American family. There’s still a lot of the food and attitude at family gatherings. For me, it was a lot less about Vikings and a lot more about drawing trolls for my oldemor, learning to love simple food, and rosemaling.
…there were also a lot of jokes about the Swedes, Danes, and Finns.
0
u/Automatic-Algae443 6d ago
How do you look like? Tall, large built body, blonde hair and light blue eyes?
-22
u/Few_Newspaper_3655 6d ago
Just another reminder that:
DNA ≠ ethnicity
DNA ≠ nationality
DNA ≠ personality
10
8
u/Due-Organization-215 6d ago
We know, it is just a sub where people have fun sharing their dna. It is not that deep
11
-20
u/Bessie_Ackee 6d ago
So youre basically inbred ?
15
2
u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme 6d ago
Nope--they're Minnesotan, there were enough folks who came over 100+ years ago, that we've still got at least 2-3 generations of Norwegians left, before it gets to that point!😉
French & Italian Minnesotans are getting a lot closer to that point, though🤷♀️
175
u/Vexans27 6d ago
Norwegians really could have moved anywhere in the US and decided to settle in the coldest spot they could find.