I first did 23andMe back in 2015. And at that time, my ancestry composition looked like this.

At the highest level, I was 50.6% East Asian & Native American and 49.2% European. Going one level deeper, I was 43.7% Chinese, 16.5% British & Irish, 6% French & German, and 11.5% Broadly Northern European. 23andMe uses the term "broadly" when there's a DNA match across multiple places and it's not exactly sure what country or countries it might be.

Last night, I decided to log back in to 23andMe and see if anything had changed in the 8 or so years since I first did the test and, frankly, since I logged into their website. And it turns out that it has. It seemingly got more precise. I guess that's the power of more people using the product and more data. Now my ancestry composition looks like this:

So what changed? Well, at a high level I'm still half Asian and half European. But 23andMe is now telling me that my Chinese roots likely trace back to Guangdong, a southern province that borders Hong Kong. This is news to me as I'm many generations removed and I had always thought it was somewhere more northern, partially because of my height.

Apparently, I am also no longer British & Irish (0.6%). I am now 31.1% French & German and 3.3% Broadly Northwestern European (admittedly this could include Ireland). This was surprising to me since Donnelly is clearly an Irish last name. Though, my maternal grandmother did indeed have direct French roots.

Along with this, I became more southern European (13%), with Spanish & Portuguese being the most common match (5.6%). So am I more this than Irish? I don't know, these matches are pretty far removed and possibly go back 5-8 generations. At the great-grandparent level, I am, according to 23andMe, (1) Chinese and (2) French & German.

I find all of this extremely fascinating and so I think I'll spend more time exploring the site and my family tree. They are also telling me that it's time to order another sampling kit, since I did mine so long ago. I plan on doing that, as well as ordering two for my parents. Let's see what that does to my ancestry composition.

Have any of you used 23andMe and found surprising results?

People often ask me about “my background”. When I’m feeling cheeky, I usually just say that I’m Canadian or that I was born in Toronto (because that’s what I culturally self-identify with). But that’s not what most people want to hear.

The short answer I usually give is Eurasian (European + Asian) or Chirish (Chinese + Irish). Although I recently learned that Chirish means something else to people from Chicago.

But now, thanks to 23andMe’s DNA test, I can give a much more specific answer. Here’s the full chart:

Now I can say that I’m 50.6% East Asian & Native American and 49.2% European. 

More specifically, I can say that I’m 43.7% Chinese, 2.0% Broadly East Asian, 2.1% Southeast Asian, 1.5% Native American, 1.4% Broadly East Asian and Native American, 16.5% British & Irish, 6.0% French & German, 11.5% Broadly Northern European, 1.7% Iberian, 1.7% Italian, 6.9% Broadly Southern European, 1.5% Eastern European, and 3.4% Broadly European.

But the interesting thing is that I don’t really feel any cultural affinity towards any of the regions or countries listed above (except for maybe France since I grew up going to a French school based off the French schooling system). For me, I identify as being Canadian. That’s more than enough for me.

Now it’s your turn. 

What’s your “background” and how do you self-identify? I think this is an interesting discussion given that we are now an incredibly mobile world. What your DNA says and how you feel about yourself, could be two totally different things.

I first did 23andMe back in 2015. And at that time, my ancestry composition looked like this.

At the highest level, I was 50.6% East Asian & Native American and 49.2% European. Going one level deeper, I was 43.7% Chinese, 16.5% British & Irish, 6% French & German, and 11.5% Broadly Northern European. 23andMe uses the term "broadly" when there's a DNA match across multiple places and it's not exactly sure what country or countries it might be.

Last night, I decided to log back in to 23andMe and see if anything had changed in the 8 or so years since I first did the test and, frankly, since I logged into their website. And it turns out that it has. It seemingly got more precise. I guess that's the power of more people using the product and more data. Now my ancestry composition looks like this:

So what changed? Well, at a high level I'm still half Asian and half European. But 23andMe is now telling me that my Chinese roots likely trace back to Guangdong, a southern province that borders Hong Kong. This is news to me as I'm many generations removed and I had always thought it was somewhere more northern, partially because of my height.

Apparently, I am also no longer British & Irish (0.6%). I am now 31.1% French & German and 3.3% Broadly Northwestern European (admittedly this could include Ireland). This was surprising to me since Donnelly is clearly an Irish last name. Though, my maternal grandmother did indeed have direct French roots.

Along with this, I became more southern European (13%), with Spanish & Portuguese being the most common match (5.6%). So am I more this than Irish? I don't know, these matches are pretty far removed and possibly go back 5-8 generations. At the great-grandparent level, I am, according to 23andMe, (1) Chinese and (2) French & German.

I find all of this extremely fascinating and so I think I'll spend more time exploring the site and my family tree. They are also telling me that it's time to order another sampling kit, since I did mine so long ago. I plan on doing that, as well as ordering two for my parents. Let's see what that does to my ancestry composition.

Have any of you used 23andMe and found surprising results?

People often ask me about “my background”. When I’m feeling cheeky, I usually just say that I’m Canadian or that I was born in Toronto (because that’s what I culturally self-identify with). But that’s not what most people want to hear.

The short answer I usually give is Eurasian (European + Asian) or Chirish (Chinese + Irish). Although I recently learned that Chirish means something else to people from Chicago.

But now, thanks to 23andMe’s DNA test, I can give a much more specific answer. Here’s the full chart:

Now I can say that I’m 50.6% East Asian & Native American and 49.2% European. 

More specifically, I can say that I’m 43.7% Chinese, 2.0% Broadly East Asian, 2.1% Southeast Asian, 1.5% Native American, 1.4% Broadly East Asian and Native American, 16.5% British & Irish, 6.0% French & German, 11.5% Broadly Northern European, 1.7% Iberian, 1.7% Italian, 6.9% Broadly Southern European, 1.5% Eastern European, and 3.4% Broadly European.

But the interesting thing is that I don’t really feel any cultural affinity towards any of the regions or countries listed above (except for maybe France since I grew up going to a French school based off the French schooling system). For me, I identify as being Canadian. That’s more than enough for me.

Now it’s your turn. 

What’s your “background” and how do you self-identify? I think this is an interesting discussion given that we are now an incredibly mobile world. What your DNA says and how you feel about yourself, could be two totally different things.