Greetings! I am a long-time lurker, finally registered!

**Melkiirs** · 11-13-2023, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by CosmoLady

Can mtDNA really tell me about my specific ancestry, or will it give me a region, such as Northwest Germany or Scandinavia?

What if my ancestry is mixed? Will an mtDNA test give me 'percentages' from each region?

(As a female I cannot have a y-DNA test)

Haplogroups can help to trace long term migrations through lineages. Autosomal calculators including commercial tests can help estimate admixture.

As an orphan perhaps you want to find biological relatives? That might lead you to more specific information. Finding genetic matches is another reason to use commercial testing.

**Nurzat** · 11-13-2023, 03:17 PM

Brits, Dutch, Germans all overlap each other quite extensively on principal component analysis plots, which is where you can visualize your genetic cluster/group on a two-dimensional graph, so if you have such ancestry it could be quite inconclusive. haplogroups alone don't say much usually neither, especially maternal ones, which have a much less uniform and much more scattered distribution than paternal ones. it could help if you'd find some closer relatives through the DNA test, on your DNA matches

**rothaer** · 11-13-2023, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by CosmoLady

Thank you very much for the replies!

I have never done a DNA test to find my ancestry, I am considering it

In your case particularly a 23andMe test would be suitable. It reasonably well distinguishes British Isles from continental Germanics and it's also reliable in the matter of trace ancestry which may be additionally helpful and telling regarding the background of White South Africans.

**Mopi Licinius Crassus** · 11-13-2023, 03:30 PM

welcome CosmoLady

if you need any help around the forum, just let me know

**Kess** · 11-13-2023, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by CosmoLady

Thank you very much for the replies!

I have never done a DNA test to find my ancestry, I am considering it

You can consider family tree DNA; they provide you with a relative list after analyzing your sample, but I don't know how accurate it is to find your family members.

**Loki** · 11-13-2023, 04:18 PM

Welkom!

You can feel welcome on this forum, and I hope you enjoy it. There are some good members on here, generally speaking, but we also get the odd troll. So, if you need anything, just ask!

I would recommend a 23andme test... Your results should be similar to most white South Africans. It can give you a detailed analysis and, for example, my majority result says "French & German", under which Dutch falls. They also suggest that more specifically, my ancestry is likely Dutch. So yours would be similar I guess, because we come from a relatively small gene pool, and most of us are cousins. Not first cousins, but from second to fourth cousins usually.