Ancestral Origins Revisited

FTDNA has recently provided the information that countries of origin shown on the subject report are meaningful if at least 2% of those tested in that country are a match and very meaningful at 4%. Since there are vast differences in the populations and the percentage tested between countries, I believe that such differences must be taken into account. No country rose to the level of two percent at 12/12 matches, however, at 11/12 matches these levels are of interest: England 3.8%, Wales 6.6%, France (Alsace) 4.9%, Iceland 4.4%, Ireland (including N.I.) 4.5% and Scotland 5.2%. At one step mutation, these are all very strong. Scotland, Wales,Iceland and France (Alsace) are proportionally much stronger in relation to Ireland than I would have supposed.

An anomaly is just how haplogroups and haplotypes affect the outcome of the report in terms of matches. FTDNA has also said that the matches shown on my personal results page include all haplogroups that begin with R1b1. Since mine is R1b1b2 and many others are R1b1b2a1b or greater, that leaves open the question as to which matches are truly matches.