r/MyHeritage

I was recently tested and have received my results. The purpose of the test was to clarify my Balkan background, as it has always been an unsolved mystery to me. My paternal surname (the one I was born with) is Yugoslavian and quite ancient—Montenegrins claim it as their own, while Croats say the opposite—so I wanted to pinpoint my true origins.

Here is what I knew beforehand:

1. Maternal grandfather: Volga Russian
2. Maternal grandmother: Volga Tatar
3. Paternal grandfather: 50% unknown, 50% from former Yugoslavia
4. Paternal grandmother: Ukrainian (based on her surname and the language she spoke)

Here is what I have gathered so far: MyHeritage, GEDmatch K15, and GEDmatch K13.

Based on my research into the MyHeritage and GEDmatch matches, I see that I have many Ukrainian, German, Croatian, and Tatar matches with long segments (>20 cM). Additionally, my GEDmatch calculator results show exclusively Croatian ancestry, with distances ranging from 10 to 11. I have matches with several Croats (with segments around 28 cM) and have studied their family trees, which are mostly Croatian. I also noticed many matches with Volga Germans, which makes sense given my maternal grandfather’s birthplace near Saratov. I was quite surprised to see that my Tatar roots are scoring somewhat low, as that was the only 25% of my heritage I was entirely certain about.

I don’t know if my "Yugoslavian mystery" is fully solved, but I think the test helped clarify my roots. I also have a question—perhaps someone here can clarify this:

Why is my Ukrainian score consistently ranking first across almost all calculators with such small genetic distances? I’m starting to wonder if there might be some undetected Ukrainian ancestry on my mother's side as well

Thanks in advance!

48.6 % Turkish

22.0 % Central Asian

20.2 % South Italian

8.2 % Persian and Kurdish

1.0 % Greek and Albanian

Mersin is a port city located south of Turkey.

What do you think of my results for a French person please ? Are they norma l?

His roots are mostly in Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse

A relatively high amount of Dutch compared to other people I know.

These results are pretty much what I expected. MyHeritage seems to put many people from Serbia into the same broad genetic clusters: mostly Balkans, some Greek & Albanian (which I assume reflects older Balkan ancestry rather than recent ancestors from those populations), and a broader Eastern European component with a small Baltic percentage.

Nothing unusual here -- I just wish the regional breakdowns were more refined and reflected more recent ancestry. In my experience, AncestryDNA and 23andMe did a much better job with that.

I was born outside of Spain but my whole family on both sides is from Galicia on the Atlantic coast of Spain. We’ve documented ancestors there on most lines for a few centuries. We had a few family members who went to Cuba, Brazil and Argentina but my branches stayed in Galicia. A few of us went to the UK and Germany, but we’re pretty much your average white people from southern Europe.

I just don't understand the 'additional genetic groups', it was my first exam like that