{"id":2946,"date":"2025-10-26T10:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2025-10-26T10:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:16:10","slug":"ancestrys-regions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/26\/ancestrys-regions\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancestry’s regions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ancestry\u2019s regions \u2013 a pinch of salt and an insult<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ancestry\u2019s regions don\u2019t claim to be perfect. Here\u2019s why you shouldn\u2019t set too much store by them when it comes to your origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve taken a DNA test and uploaded the results to Ancestry, you\u2019ll have learned of a \u2018Major New Update\u2019 this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And may well be feeling confused!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve only just uploaded the results to Ancestry, without knowing the old version, you may think that what you are reading is ‘you’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, here\u2019s the thing. You shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because Ancestry\u2019s regions are very much not set in stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can be 10% Irish one day, and 2% the next!   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which would undoubtedly be news, if she were alive, to your Irish great-granny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ancestry\u2019s regions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The company works out your ancestral origins based on: a) a reference panel \u2018made up of people whose families have long-standing, documented roots in a specific area<\/em>,\u2019 and; b) \u2018groups of AncestryDNA members who likely share fairly recent ancestors from the same region or culture<\/em>\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reference panel is made up 185,063 people. Which if it sounds a lot, statistically speaking isn\u2019t. And it is split across 146 regions from around the globe \u2013 with some much better represented than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel for the Azores, for instance, is 1,501 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is a decent chunk, given the total population of the Azores in 2021 was just 236,440 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The panel for the whole of France (total population around 68 million) is just 116 people. Plus 85 for Brittany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you have Belgian ancestors, or Swiss \u2013 well tough luck: neither of those is listed in the panel at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A broad brush<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Belgium, before the October 2025 update to Ancestry\u2019s regions, may have come under \u2018Germanic Europe\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of October 2025, it comes under \u2018Southeastern England and North West Europe\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As does Normandy, and the Channel Islands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region also includes East Anglia, Essex, Hampshire, Dorset, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire\u2026 as well as Kent, Sussex and London, which are ACTUALLY South East England and were a distinct region before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if your results say you are, say, 20% Southeastern England and North West Europe, it means your ancestors could have come equally from Ely or Amiens, Canterbury or Caen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not a lot of use, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cumbria<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I can trace all my maternal lines back to the early 1700s. I can trace some of them back to the early 1600s. And one to a man who must have been born in the mid-1500s (he died in 1599). All verified by multiple sources. And all of them born in the North West of England (primarily Cumbria, but one line with roots in Lancashire) or just over the Scottish border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t impressed with Ancestry\u2019s grasp of Cumbria before the latest update. Ok, it\u2019s a small county, population-wise, probably not that many samples to go on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it used to be split between: \u2018Cumbria, East Dumfries, and Galloway\u2019, and; \u2018Lincolnshire to Cumbria\u2019. The latter a swathe of England that also took in Lancashire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can see the old Cumbria etc region in this post<\/a> I did on whether DNA tests are worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So imagine my initial surprise after the update to see my results now show me, on Mum\u2019s side, to be: 34% \u2018North East England\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at Ancestry’s regions map<\/a> (see also main image<\/em> for this post<\/em>) and \u2018North East England\u2019 includes Eastern Cumbria, and the Scottish borders (Lockerbie, Hawick, Jedburgh, Galashiels)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which may make some sense to the folk in Utah (Ancestry\u2019s base), but is tantamount to an insult to Cumbrians and Scots!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The region doesn\u2019t include the West Cumbrian coast, which doesn\u2019t seem to belong anywhere now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And west of Annan now comes under County Down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you\u2019ve gone from having Scottish ancestors yesterday to Northern Irish ones today, there\u2019s your reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least they don\u2019t think Lancashire is in the North East: I get 7% now in a region called: \u2018North Wales and North West England\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m guessing the sudden appearance of \u20182% East Midlands\u2019 is also from Lancashire. Though \u2018East Midlands\u2019 also includes most of Yorkshire! Now there\u2019s an area that you would expect to come under \u2018North East\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the other 7%on Mum\u2019s side? Well brand new is: \u20185% Munster\u2019. A region that doesn\u2019t feature at all in the 146 on the panel.  So it has to be from the Ancestry members \u2018who likely<\/em> share fairly recent ancestors from the same region or culture.\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My italics. And barring a cuckoo in the nest, more likely to be based on Ancestry members whose Irish ancestors were immigrants, or the descendants of immigrants from Scotland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the final 2% \u2018North West Germany\u2019\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which has the helpful info: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Your ancestral region estimate is 2%, but it can range from 0 to 8%<\/em>.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m taking a wild guess it\u2019s 0!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe some part-Irish, part-German man did indulge in a bit of adultery on the shores of the Solway a few generations ago. But on the whole, I\u2019ll file that under \u2018meaningless\u2019 rather than cast aspersions on any of my female forebears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More or less Scottish?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, on my dad\u2019s side, I\u2019ve gone from 9% Scottish to just 3%. However:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Your ancestral region estimate is 3%, but it can range from 0 to 12%.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So while it looks like I\u2019m suddenly 6% less Scottish, I could actually be 3% more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And of course, my (known and well-recorded) Scottish ancestors remain as Scottish in origin as they did before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the naming of Ancestry’s regions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a final note\u2026 According to their FAQs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018We have a panel of outside subject-matter experts with local and scholarly expertise who can review our names for accuracy and cultural sensitivity.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read their description of \u2018North East England\u2019 and: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018It stretches from County Durham in the south to the Scottish border in the north.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It goes on from there, but with no mention of Cumbria at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the new regions of \u2018North East England\u2019 and \u2018East Midlands,\u2019 I\u2019m guessing these \u2018culturally sensitive\u2019 experts don\u2019t hail from Jedburgh, Carlisle, or Wakefield!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ancestry\u2019s regions \u2013 a pinch of salt and an insult Ancestry\u2019s regions don\u2019t claim to be perfect. Here\u2019s why you shouldn\u2019t set too much store by them when it comes to your origins. If you\u2019ve taken a DNA test and uploaded the results to Ancestry, you\u2019ll have learned of a \u2018Major New Update\u2019 this month. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[438],"class_list":["post-2946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family-history","tag-dna"],"yoast_head":"\nAncestry's regions - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ancestry's regions (DNA results) aren't set in stone. And they're not all as 'culturally sensitive' as they think they are! 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