What is your Y-DNA haplogroup ?

[Julien]

Humans presumably all descend from one common male ancestor and a common female ancestor. Geneticists have analysed Y and X chromosomes (those inherited from our father and mother, respectively) from humans all over the world, and determined that the most recent common male ancestor lived about 100,000 years ago in East Africa. From there, they have classified humans around the world based on unique mutations found only in some people. Everything is better explained on Wikipedia.

It is possible to find out who our ancestors were in ancient times thanks to an analysis of the Y chromosome (Y-DNA) or mitochondrial X chromosome (mtDNA).

For example, haplogroup R1b is thought to be the lineage of the Proto-Indo-European speakers, and therefore the ancestor of the Proto-Italo-Celts, Proto-Germans, Proto-Greeks, etc. It is the most common haplogroup in Western Europe nowadays.

But recent studies went further, subdividing haplogroups into subclades. For example, R1b has a subclade called R1b1, which has a subclade called R1b1c, which has a dozen of subclades of its own. R1b1c9 is associated with people of Germanic descent, notably North German tribes like the Anglo-Saxons or Franks. R1b1c10 represents continental European Celts. R1b1c7 is Irish, and so on.

Another typical Germanic haplogroup (more Scandinavian) is I1a. The ancient Greeks and Romans were J2. The Jews and Arabs are J1. Most Chinese and Koreans belong to haplogroup O. The Aryans/Kurgans who invaded India 5000 years ago from the Ukraine were R1a, while the original Dravidian Indians were/are L. The Ainu of Japan were D, and modern Japanese are a mix of Chinese-Korean O and Ainu D. The Mongols are/were predominantly C. Native Americans are almost all Q3.

You can see the distribution map of haplogroup in the world here (or here for the distribution of Y-DNA haplogroups in Europe and distribution of mtDNA haplogroups in Europe ). It's all very interesting. The Y-DNA line (paternal ancestry) is more instructive than the mtDNA line (maternal ancestry) because in ancient times conquerors killed the defeated men but kept the women. So mtDNA cannot be identified so easily with an ethnic group.

It is very easy to find out what your haplogroup is. It's even simpler than a blood test. All you need is to send some saliva in a test tube or on a swab to a DNA testing company. There are now dozens of them specialising on genealogy and ethnic studies. The most famous is probably 23andMe.

Please don't vote at the poll if you haven't been tested yet.

 

[Godwynn]

I don't see how anyone can choose one haplogroup with certainty. There are two Germanic and a Western European up there.

I could narrow it down to few though.

 

[Mirc]

but has anyone on this forum actually been tested for that?

 

[colontos]

What if your mother is Korean and your father is an Irish-Scottish-French-English mix?

 

[Aramazd]

What if your mother is Korean and your father is an Irish-Scottish-French-English mix?

It depends on your dad, since you inherited your Y-Chromosome from your father.

 

[Julien]

I don't see how anyone can choose one haplogroup with certainty. There are two Germanic and a Western European up there.

I could narrow it down to few though.

You don't get to choose. You get tested and you will know. I am still awaiting my results. I can take up to 3 months to get them.

 

[Julien]

What if your mother is Korean and your father is an Irish-Scottish-French-English mix?

You can only have one Y-DNA haplogroup. It is a chromosome inherited from father to son exclusively (women don't have a Y chromosome so they can only know if their father, paternal grandfather or a brother was tested). Even if someone if only 1/16, say Irish, and 15/16 black African, if the father's father's father's etc was Irish, then the haplogroup will be Irish.

As haplogroups go back thousands of years, and modern countries are mixed, the only way to know is by a DNA test. Even the Scandinavians, which are apparently relatively "pure" (little immigration or invasion in historical times) were proven to be very ethnically mixed by DNA test. They are a mix of R1b1c9, I1a and R1a mostly.

 

[luiz]

I don't know my group, but I do know this interesting anecdote:

In Brazil, genetic studies pointed out that about 90% of the population have Y-DNA halogroup of western european origin, but only some 25% have a mtDNA of european origin.

That's because more men than women came from Europe to Brazil, and they tended to have sexual relations with indian and african women. Plus your typical Sugar or Coffee baron of the colonial or imperial period would have literally dozens of kids with dozens of different slave women.

So in Brazil most people who look black actually have a white european paternal ancestor, and about half of the people who look white actually have a non-white maternal ancestor.

Which just goes to further show the stupidity of modern racial AA action programs in a country where race is meaningless.

 

[Warman17]

Couldn't tell you, I'm a mutt.

 

[GenMarshall]

To be honest, I don't know. I have Polish, French, English, and Norwegian in me.

 

[Mirc]

If only nationality would count, then I would be whatever Romanians are, since I am only from here from at least 150 years back. But I know it's far from that simple, and I don't look like a standard Romanian at all (everyone tells me I look more like a northern European, really light complexion, taller than most Romanians, blond hair, etc), so I would have no idea what my Y-DNA haplogroup is.

 

[Gabryel Karolin]

Some random north germanic I guess. Interessting stuff, but I doubt anyone on these forums have actually tested themselves.

You don't have blonde hair Mirc.

 

[Mirc]

Some random north germanic I guess. Interessting stuff, but I doubt anyone on these forums have actually tested themselves.

You don't have blonde hair Mirc.

Everyone seems to think so... (I mean that I do, not the other way around)

 

[holy king]

no idea, most likely one of the two germanics...

 

[Squonk]

No idea, and don't know how I can test it (I would if I could, but it must take quite some money as well as trouble).

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

If I had a good reason to get tested, I would let you all know. My last name is English, though.

 

[StarWorms]

I would pay for a test if they were cheap. However as I am studying genetics, and will hopefully be going into the mtDNA/Y-DNA area, I am leaving it until I can test my own DNA for a fraction of the price.

My GGG Grandfather was illegitimate though, so if I did do I Y-DNA test, I would have to have my results under two different surnames.

Thanks for that link to EthnoAncestry - I have not come across it before, and it seems relatively cheap compared to most places

Edit: Hang on a minute, they look at SNPs (eg change from A to T) not STRs (eg GATAGATAGATA to GATAGATAGATAGATA). Odd. Most companies test STRs because nuclear DNA has many repair mechanisms, unlike our mitochondria. This means SNPs don't occur very often. However STRs are more common, which means you can also look for close relations. ie. If they have the same number of repeats at many of the markers and share the same surname (or even if they don't).

 

[Squonk]

If only nationality would count, then I would be whatever Romanians are, since I am only from here from at least 150 years back. But I know it's far from that simple, and I don't look like a standard Romanian at all (everyone tells me I look more like a northern European, really light complexion, taller than most Romanians, blond hair, etc), so I would have no idea what my Y-DNA haplogroup is.

Perhaps You're of Saxon origin... or Hungarian

 

[Mirc]

Perhaps You're of Saxon origin... or Hungarian

That's quite possible. I'd be flattered to be of Saxon origin though.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

Which just goes to further show the stupidity of modern racial AA action programs in a country where race is meaningless.

Actually it does nothing of the sort. AA programs do not exist because people discriminate on the basis Y-DNA group. They exist because people discriminate on the basis appearance. A person who looks white could have more African DNA in him than a guy who looks black, but that's irrelevant. The black looking person is going to be treated differently within society than the white looking person. AA exists, in part, to counteract that effect. No matter their class, people growing up black in America have a uniquely different experience, an often negative one comparatively, than those who don't.

I'd be flattered to be of Saxon origin though.

Some sort of semi-master-race romanticism or something? Why would you be anymore flattered to be of Saxon origin than say Persian or African?