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View Full Version : Best test for Scottish/English/Irish differences?



Inquizzitor2
06-14-2023, 01:26 AM
As proud as I am of my Sicilian heritage, I am more English than anything else (though not a majority, still only a plurality of my bloodline), followed closely by Scottish. I have very distant Irish ancestry, probably less than 5% of my genetic profile, since most of my ancestors from the island of Ireland were actually just planted English and Scotch in Ulster. Which leads me to my question: WHICH is the best genetic testing out there to differentiate between the different British Isles bloodlines? I'd like to know more precisely how much of my genetic profile is Scottish and how much English? Yes I know how similar these bloodlines are blah blah blah but really just want to know if there's a test out there that's good at separating the Scottish, English and Irish. 23andMe is good at picking up my Orcadian ancestry (which accounts for about half, maybe more, of my Scottish ancestry), and is very specific about where in England and Scotland my family is from but just gives British percentage as a whole.

J. Ketch
06-14-2023, 01:45 AM
AncestryDNA is very good (the best) at distinguishing between English, Scottish, Welsh, and Irish, and LivingDNA does a fairly good job of breaking down British ancestry by region. FTDNA separates British from Irish ancestry alright but doesn't divide Britain up, and 23andme is obviously worthless for the task. MyHeritage is not even worth mentioning for a serious test.

For gedmatch tests K36 is the best at distinguishing between English and Irish/Insular Celts, but if you have significant continental ancestry that would be obscured.

~Elizabeth~
06-07-2025, 11:00 PM
FTDNA. FTDNA gave me 0% Irish while the other ones gave me a low percentage of Irish. I have some Ulster Scots ancestry.