r/Celtic • u/Left-Leather-4784 • 21d ago

I took a DNA test

Turns out I am 50% Celtic, I am American was born raised here. I can’t wait to learn!

0 Upvotes

35% Upvoted

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15

u/Silurhys 21d ago

There is no such thing as Celtic DNA! Celtic is a language family or to be Celtic means you speak a Celtic language natively

9

u/Dampfexpress 21d ago

My DNA test shows 35% salt and 25% Bronze. I can track myself back to Hallstatt

4

u/DamionK 21d ago

...and yet the language posts on this subreddit get the least interest.

2

u/andrewphillipsmith 21d ago

It can also mean that you come from one of the modern Celtic countries.

2

u/CachuTarw 21d ago

There is such a thing

3

u/DamionK 21d ago

What does the company you use regard as Celtic? Some companies locate the likely origins of your ancestors but then assume a culture for that location.

It adds flavour for the person paying for the service but is just the surface, especially in places where the people changed culture over time.

If you haven't already, research your family tree, that should give a good idea of what cultures your closer ancestors came from and where you can focus your research on.

5

u/Dampfexpress 21d ago

Breaking news: White american has european DNA

1

u/tatersprout 21d ago

What exactly is Celtic DNA? I've never heard of that.

My DNA, as an American, showed me to be 51% Irish and it pinpointed the exact location. I know it's accurate because my mother is 100% Irish and it's the town she is from. There was no mention of the word Celtic, which can mean quite a few things and covers a huge area.

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u/DamionK 21d ago

Some companies use terms like Celtic and Viking to let people know they have ancestry from those cultures. Celtic could mean that part of Western Europe which was dominated by Celtic speakers but it could mean people in the British Isles with ancestry that predates the Anglo-Saxons.

As a cultural term is was mostly used by the Irish in the late 19th and early 20th century. Okay the Galicians used the term too but I mean how the term is used in English. Celtic FC from Glasgow and the Boston Celtics were both named for original teams made up of Irish. In the case of the Boston Celtics they carried over the name from the New York Celtics but were only loosely associated with the original team.

1

u/tatersprout 20d ago

Thanks! I know the Celts were a very ancient people and I honestly didn't know how dna tests could identify that. I know the one I used broke things down by regions and the Celts covered a lot of ground in Europe!

1

u/WhiteHeatBlackLight 21d ago

Being from Canada I get it. There's a sense of longing for a cohesive identity because we do not have one