When You're Not Who You Thought You Are

A few months ago, on a whim, I decided to get the Ancestry DNA kit. I always knew I was Italian and Irish, but I wanted to find out what else I was. I really didn't know what to expect, but the results (which came in today) blew me away. According to my "DNA estimate", I'm not Italian at all, or if I am it's only a trace of my heritage. How can that be? Here's my breakdown: Irish, 37%; Scandinavian, 27%; Iberian, 19% (the Iberian Peninsula includes part of Italy but not Sicily, which I thought would be the highest percentage in the bunch); and "Great British", 6%. The remaining 8% comes from these regions: Western Europe, Italy/Greece (a whopping 3%), Eastern Europe, and a few traces of North Africa (Turkey and/or Morroco, as far as I could tell) and Western Asia.

I'm not sure what to do with this new information. People have often said, "You don't look Italian!" but I disregarded those comments. My father and most of his family are dark -- at least in hair and eye color -- and I had heard that my maternal grandfather's family was Northern Italian, which I assumed placed them near the Scandinavian countries. However, when I look at the "DNA map", it puts me more squarely in Norway/Sweden -- nowhere near Italy.My mother and maternal grandmother were both blonde and blue-eyed, so I guess it kind of makes sense.

Maybe I should feel less Italian now, but I don't. How could I? It's been such a huge part of my identity my entire life. I'm not sure how much to trust this "DNA estimate", but even if it's right I'm pretty sure my sense of self is too established at this point in my life to change it. I will say, though, as I sit here (by pure coincidence) in my Ciao Bella t-shirt, that I'm rethinking a lot of family history.