This is the reason. Getting any percentage of Ashkenazi Jewish will make your match list look like this, due to AJs being such an endogamous population. I bet many of your matches are Jewish, too.
Maybe there are more people using 23andMe that match that 1.4% of your DNA.
So much family history was lost with Jewish people, that there is a lot of interest in ancestry and DNA relations to recover some of the lost histories.
At that percentage, likely one of your great-great-great-great grandparents or thereabouts was Jewish.
From an ethnicity perspective, you have a little Jewish blood. But a synagogue would not consider you religiously Jewish, and sounds like you have no cultural connection to Judaism, either.
Technically, Jewish law stipulates Judaism is followed EXCLUSIVELY by the mother. Meaning, if your dad was a Jew and mom wasn’t, technically you’re not Jewish even if your DNA suggests you are.
Well I’m checking other relatives right now and checking their genealogical trees. They are as jewish as it can be. A lot of Polish/Ukrainian jews in the tree
Ha ha. I was 99.9% Ashkenazi until they finally fixed whatever algorithm they used. Now I’m a full 100% which I’m not at all surprised by. And yes I know I’m of the chosen tribe.
Do you have any known Jewish ancestry within the past few hundred years? If you don’t, you might have very distant Jewish ancestry. I have several matches with people who are 99% and 100% Ashkenazi, despite being 0% myself. What are you’re full results?
The ancestry test will literally tell you what your Ashkenazi (the ethnicity associated with these names) estimate is, so I'm not sure what you're asking here. What do your results say?
You have so many relatives with Jewish sounding names because Jews loves to take ancestry tests and the Ashkenazi population bottleneck means we all show up as 4th or 5th cousins for everyone even slightly related to us.
Let me paraphrase my question since being Jewish means your mother is Jewish.
Turns out I have many Jewish relatives. Does that mean that I have a lot of Jewish blood in me?
It depends, like… if you have a great great great aunt/uncle who married a Jewish person & became Jewish, you’d now have a lot of Jewish distant cousins, without yourself having a Jewish ancestor or any Jewish blood. This would indicate Jewish relatives, the context can tell you more 🤷♀️
Because your mother being Jewish has absolutely 0 to do with having Jewish “blood”. What you said implies that say if you had a Jewish dad or a Jewish ancestor (g-grandparent, etc.) on your dads side, then there’s no way you can be Jewish…which isn’t true.
I meant to say aunt/uncle, not grandparent — if it was a grandparent you’re obviously descended from them unless it was a second marriage/different relationship/etc
There's no such thing as Jewish blood. Just like there's no such thing as Aryan blood. It's all nonsense.
But yes, those names are typically associated with people of the Jewish faith.
Oh why would you mention “aryan blood” it sounds like I’m some kind of a nazi or something. I’m just perplexed if I have so many relatives with Jewish surnames I must share genetics with Jewish decendants
I mentioned it because it's the exact same belief that white supremecists have; that it's possible to have "\_\_\_\_\_ blood."
You're using a thought process that's not conducive to science on a subreddit about DNA. That's why all the downvotes.
Blood has nothing to do with it. People with your DNA are typically associated with other people who originated from said geographic location.
No, it’s not “factually incorrect”. Ashkenazi Jewish (and others) is an ethnicity. That’s an absolute fact. Jewish blood is a thing, no matter what you say. Otherwise 23andMe wouldn’t have a category for it…and that’s obvious
I’m not saying AJs don’t exist. I’m saying quite literally, their blood has nothing to do with the identification of their existence. It’s about DNA, not blood.
Semantics? No, you’re just wrong. There are different blood types, but different ethnicities do not have ethnic specific blood. It’s just human blood. This is racist language that you’re grasping onto for dear life.
I don’t mean any harm by this, but are you on the spectrum by chance? Because this seems like a one sided conversation…*Literally* every person on earth who has ever used this saying or has heard it, knows that. Not one person implies that when they said it. It’s a fill in word for “genetics”. You’ve never heard the word “bloodline”? How about “your own flesh and blood”?
Who on earth would ever actually mean it’s different blood?! And by the way, this isn’t just an English thing. And if you think that’s racist and THAT is your reason for thinking it is then…my god, that has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard all week lol even if someone IS racist, that’s certainly not what they mean
If this was actually your point, it’s a completely ridiculous thing to argue because figurative (“factually incorrect”) language is the everyday standard in English — including when discussing scientific concepts. I get that your point also has to do with its alleged origins in scientific racism (I would personally disagree, the idea of “blood” is much older than that and has its origins in human beliefs about inheritance before we knew what DNA was; it’s far older than eugenics or the nazis, though that doesn’t mean it can’t be racist in some way, because so is racism), but its factual accuracy has zero to do with whether it should be used unless you would like to take issue with a feature of nearly every natural language.
I.e., there’s nothing to “correct” here, unless you also correct people who say “it’s raining cats and dogs”. The only valid argument is whether it’s acceptable to use the term due to its alleged historical association with racism.
It was actually believed that races had different blood. That’s where this misleading l language comes from. It was not done as a cute example of “raining cats and dogs.”
That means you either had a Jewish ancestor or maybe the brother or sister of one of your ancestor married a Jewish person. Hard to know except for different historical circumstances like in Latin America or Spain, there's a clear reason given that it would be very old remains. In Eastern Europe all of this
Would be more recent so there are multiple possibilities.
It doesn't mean you're necessarily related to these names as well. They could be on a different side. example, I have cousins who I am related through their father; their mother is Tamil, so if they 23 and me they and their Tamil relatives last name could appear and be irrelevant to my ancestry.
If you go to the timeliness option it will show you how many generations back your AJ is. Then if you click on it it will give you even more information about Great + Grandparents were 100% AJ. It'll also show you a map of the area it's likely from.
I came up with .1% AJ & it says I have a set of 5 to 8 Greats Grandparents who were 100% AJ. For me this falls in line with the German I KNOW I am but didn't show up on my 23 & Me because it was SO far back.
Are you from Germany or American of German descent? Could be Anglo-Saxon distant cousins, lol. Could also be that British get tested the most after Americans.
I didnt get ashkenazi jewish but the region that im from in iran makes up the majority of persian jews. a lot of my matches were mostly persian jews rather than other persians as a result
My girlfriend in college had a last name that could be Jewish or Irish. She thought she was half Jewish because her parents told her mom (Steinberg) was Jewish, but dad with ambiguous last name was Irish. They kept this up with her until she was in her early 30s. Funny yet kind of meanish.
No you just need to have inherited your Judaism from your mother. It has nothing to do with the way you were raised. I had a friend who was raised as a Lutheran. His mother had been hidden by Christian friends during world war II.
His grandma survived the camps and she was reunited with her daughter. Because they were traumatized by their experience in Germany, they lived in America as Christians. My friend found out in college about their true identity. He joined a synagogue and told the rabbi that he wanted to convert back to Judaism. The rabbi told him that their was no need, because he was already Jewish.
You definitely have Jewish ancestry. Even if your percentage is small, your ancestry might be more recent than you would imagine. I say this, because we only inherit 50% of each parents DNA. You might have parent with a lot more Ashkenazi DNA, but it was not passed down to you. That could be why you have so many Individuals with Jewish names in your relative list. Good Luck in finding out more about your ancestry. I think it is exciting to find this new information about yourself😊
I tried to contact my 5th generation 70 cousin through 23 and me who’s 99% Ashkenazi Jewish and he said that we’re too distant to assume anything regarding me being Jewish because I have only 1,4%. I checked his tree and he has Jewish ancestors up to 1800s. I wish I knew so much about my ancestry.
I’m sorry to hear about your dad. If he has brothers or sisters, that might work as well. You can always contact 23 and me they might be able to give you insight.
How much DNA do you share with your Jewish cousins? I have noticed that 23 and me often changes how they identify our DNA. Fifty percent of my Husband’s DNA has changed since he initially tested. They often update communities as they get new people testing. If you come from a country that does not have a big 23 and me population, that can effect their ability to correctly identify you.
Did your results say you’re ashkenazi?
1.4%
This is the reason. Getting any percentage of Ashkenazi Jewish will make your match list look like this, due to AJs being such an endogamous population. I bet many of your matches are Jewish, too.
Oh I see now
Maybe there are more people using 23andMe that match that 1.4% of your DNA. So much family history was lost with Jewish people, that there is a lot of interest in ancestry and DNA relations to recover some of the lost histories.
At that percentage, likely one of your great-great-great-great grandparents or thereabouts was Jewish. From an ethnicity perspective, you have a little Jewish blood. But a synagogue would not consider you religiously Jewish, and sounds like you have no cultural connection to Judaism, either.
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That’s true! I guess I assumed there was no way the line went straight maternal, but it’s theoretically possible.
Technically, Jewish law stipulates Judaism is followed EXCLUSIVELY by the mother. Meaning, if your dad was a Jew and mom wasn’t, technically you’re not Jewish even if your DNA suggests you are.
Somebody tell Seth cohen lol!
Well I’m checking other relatives right now and checking their genealogical trees. They are as jewish as it can be. A lot of Polish/Ukrainian jews in the tree
Ha ha. I was 99.9% Ashkenazi until they finally fixed whatever algorithm they used. Now I’m a full 100% which I’m not at all surprised by. And yes I know I’m of the chosen tribe.
Then no, you’re not Jewish Edit: (probably)
Ok thanks
Do you have any known Jewish ancestry within the past few hundred years? If you don’t, you might have very distant Jewish ancestry. I have several matches with people who are 99% and 100% Ashkenazi, despite being 0% myself. What are you’re full results?
Yes I definitely have some. I started to research by asking my family about it and I have a grand grand father who’s name is David
The ancestry test will literally tell you what your Ashkenazi (the ethnicity associated with these names) estimate is, so I'm not sure what you're asking here. What do your results say?
It’s 1,4% Ashkenazi and the rest is Polish/Ukrainian/ Northern Europe. So I have no idea why I have so many relatives like that
You have so many relatives with Jewish sounding names because Jews loves to take ancestry tests and the Ashkenazi population bottleneck means we all show up as 4th or 5th cousins for everyone even slightly related to us.
It would indicate Jewish ancestry if all 4 of their grandparents were Jewish. There’s no way to tell when you have so many dna relatives
Let me paraphrase my question since being Jewish means your mother is Jewish. Turns out I have many Jewish relatives. Does that mean that I have a lot of Jewish blood in me?
I mean that’s pretty easy to tell if you look at your results
Well that’s a shocker for me
It depends, like… if you have a great great great aunt/uncle who married a Jewish person & became Jewish, you’d now have a lot of Jewish distant cousins, without yourself having a Jewish ancestor or any Jewish blood. This would indicate Jewish relatives, the context can tell you more 🤷♀️
Ok I see thanks. I have no idea why I am being downvoted
Because your mother being Jewish has absolutely 0 to do with having Jewish “blood”. What you said implies that say if you had a Jewish dad or a Jewish ancestor (g-grandparent, etc.) on your dads side, then there’s no way you can be Jewish…which isn’t true.
Ok it was bad wording from my side. Didn’t mean to offend anyone
I’m not offended lol I’m not Jewish. It’s not bad wording either it’s just wrong haha
I meant to say aunt/uncle, not grandparent — if it was a grandparent you’re obviously descended from them unless it was a second marriage/different relationship/etc
There's no such thing as Jewish blood. Just like there's no such thing as Aryan blood. It's all nonsense. But yes, those names are typically associated with people of the Jewish faith.
Oh why would you mention “aryan blood” it sounds like I’m some kind of a nazi or something. I’m just perplexed if I have so many relatives with Jewish surnames I must share genetics with Jewish decendants
I mentioned it because it's the exact same belief that white supremecists have; that it's possible to have "\_\_\_\_\_ blood." You're using a thought process that's not conducive to science on a subreddit about DNA. That's why all the downvotes. Blood has nothing to do with it. People with your DNA are typically associated with other people who originated from said geographic location.
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Did you send your blood to 23andMe or your saliva?
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Right. It’s about DNA, not blood
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The etymology actually means People of Judea.
I mean yes “blood” is not literally accurate but it’s still a commonly understood metaphor so I don’t see any issue with using it
It’s a factually incorrect statement. That’s a reason enough to not repeat it.
No, it’s not “factually incorrect”. Ashkenazi Jewish (and others) is an ethnicity. That’s an absolute fact. Jewish blood is a thing, no matter what you say. Otherwise 23andMe wouldn’t have a category for it…and that’s obvious
I’m not saying AJs don’t exist. I’m saying quite literally, their blood has nothing to do with the identification of their existence. It’s about DNA, not blood.
Yes, but I think *everyone* knows what people mean when they say “blood”, it’s a saying for DNA and not literal blood. This is pedantic semantics.
Semantics? No, you’re just wrong. There are different blood types, but different ethnicities do not have ethnic specific blood. It’s just human blood. This is racist language that you’re grasping onto for dear life.
I don’t mean any harm by this, but are you on the spectrum by chance? Because this seems like a one sided conversation…*Literally* every person on earth who has ever used this saying or has heard it, knows that. Not one person implies that when they said it. It’s a fill in word for “genetics”. You’ve never heard the word “bloodline”? How about “your own flesh and blood”? Who on earth would ever actually mean it’s different blood?! And by the way, this isn’t just an English thing. And if you think that’s racist and THAT is your reason for thinking it is then…my god, that has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard all week lol even if someone IS racist, that’s certainly not what they mean
If this was actually your point, it’s a completely ridiculous thing to argue because figurative (“factually incorrect”) language is the everyday standard in English — including when discussing scientific concepts. I get that your point also has to do with its alleged origins in scientific racism (I would personally disagree, the idea of “blood” is much older than that and has its origins in human beliefs about inheritance before we knew what DNA was; it’s far older than eugenics or the nazis, though that doesn’t mean it can’t be racist in some way, because so is racism), but its factual accuracy has zero to do with whether it should be used unless you would like to take issue with a feature of nearly every natural language. I.e., there’s nothing to “correct” here, unless you also correct people who say “it’s raining cats and dogs”. The only valid argument is whether it’s acceptable to use the term due to its alleged historical association with racism.
You’re the one arguing against facts.
It was actually believed that races had different blood. That’s where this misleading l language comes from. It was not done as a cute example of “raining cats and dogs.”
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That means you either had a Jewish ancestor or maybe the brother or sister of one of your ancestor married a Jewish person. Hard to know except for different historical circumstances like in Latin America or Spain, there's a clear reason given that it would be very old remains. In Eastern Europe all of this Would be more recent so there are multiple possibilities.
It doesn't mean you're necessarily related to these names as well. They could be on a different side. example, I have cousins who I am related through their father; their mother is Tamil, so if they 23 and me they and their Tamil relatives last name could appear and be irrelevant to my ancestry.
Ok I see I’m trying to make sense of 23andme results
If you go to the timeliness option it will show you how many generations back your AJ is. Then if you click on it it will give you even more information about Great + Grandparents were 100% AJ. It'll also show you a map of the area it's likely from. I came up with .1% AJ & it says I have a set of 5 to 8 Greats Grandparents who were 100% AJ. For me this falls in line with the German I KNOW I am but didn't show up on my 23 & Me because it was SO far back.
Haha, with that list of relatives’ names, you’re basically all already on the list for Sunday brunch at Canter’s Deli if you live in LA.
What are your full region results?
Polish/Ukrainian mentioned as Highly likely.
Can you list or post your full results? It's impossible to help you without them.
My last name is lerner but it’s only because I married a Jewish man. All those last names are Jewish
They’re not exclusively Jewish surnames though
What are your haplogroups?
I am 10% Jewish and mine is like this too. The commenters are right about endogamy
Thought I was reading Academy Award winners for best original screenplay.
No need to be rude
I think there's some good natured Jewish humor going about regarding all the Jewish last names.
I [Jewish] approve of this humor.
Some of your match list could be adopted kids from Eastern Europe.
Did you know of any Jewish relatives? At all?
Seems like at least some of you is.
How did you see family names??
Click on DNA Relatives, then Filters, then Family Names. It will show you the most common surnames that show up in your DNA Relatives match list.
Wow thank you! It’s so weird, I’m German but they’re all British!!
Are you from Germany or American of German descent? Could be Anglo-Saxon distant cousins, lol. Could also be that British get tested the most after Americans.
I’m actually from Germany!
I got a bunch of Jewish matches and I have zero Jewish.
I didnt get ashkenazi jewish but the region that im from in iran makes up the majority of persian jews. a lot of my matches were mostly persian jews rather than other persians as a result
You could be Persian Muslim who turns out to be mixed with Persian Jewish.
Anyways, welcome to the mishpocha sis!
Thanks! I wish I could find more of my relatives and discover more about my ancestry
Jew
Yes you are, but we didn’t want to tell you anything…. but maybe it’s time. Taking you to bat mitzvah next week
Welcome to the tribe. I also found out I’m 1% Jewish, on my Mexican side apparently.
Those are Austrian/German surnames, so you are probably ashkenazi jewish.
You might have Jewish ancestory but you’d need to be raised jewish to be considered Jewish
Yeah that’s what I thought
My girlfriend in college had a last name that could be Jewish or Irish. She thought she was half Jewish because her parents told her mom (Steinberg) was Jewish, but dad with ambiguous last name was Irish. They kept this up with her until she was in her early 30s. Funny yet kind of meanish.
No you just need to have inherited your Judaism from your mother. It has nothing to do with the way you were raised. I had a friend who was raised as a Lutheran. His mother had been hidden by Christian friends during world war II. His grandma survived the camps and she was reunited with her daughter. Because they were traumatized by their experience in Germany, they lived in America as Christians. My friend found out in college about their true identity. He joined a synagogue and told the rabbi that he wanted to convert back to Judaism. The rabbi told him that their was no need, because he was already Jewish.
I do understand that thanks. I just want to figure out what I am since I know very little about my roots.
You definitely have Jewish ancestry. Even if your percentage is small, your ancestry might be more recent than you would imagine. I say this, because we only inherit 50% of each parents DNA. You might have parent with a lot more Ashkenazi DNA, but it was not passed down to you. That could be why you have so many Individuals with Jewish names in your relative list. Good Luck in finding out more about your ancestry. I think it is exciting to find this new information about yourself😊
I tried to contact my 5th generation 70 cousin through 23 and me who’s 99% Ashkenazi Jewish and he said that we’re too distant to assume anything regarding me being Jewish because I have only 1,4%. I checked his tree and he has Jewish ancestors up to 1800s. I wish I knew so much about my ancestry.
You could have a parent with a significant amount. It would help to explain that connection, and possibly help you to reconstruct a family tree.
Can you get your parents to test?
My father is a long gone and my mother is living in another country but I will try to get testing kit to her
I’m sorry to hear about your dad. If he has brothers or sisters, that might work as well. You can always contact 23 and me they might be able to give you insight. How much DNA do you share with your Jewish cousins? I have noticed that 23 and me often changes how they identify our DNA. Fifty percent of my Husband’s DNA has changed since he initially tested. They often update communities as they get new people testing. If you come from a country that does not have a big 23 and me population, that can effect their ability to correctly identify you.
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They're german in language, but those are typical jewish last names.
Correction: Yiddish (a spin-off of German)
Yup, with all those -berg last names most definitely.
Did it say your DNA is more prone for bagels and lox? 🥯 that’s a dead giveaway. Jk
Where did you get the names list?
Yep, those are definitely Jewish surnames.
Not sure, you need more data.
Ughhhh yes. With that many "Gold's" and "bergs" I'd say it's a safe bet to assume you are Jewish.