The Weirdest Things People Have Learned About Themselves From DNA Testing

Unexpected Ancestry

"So my dad is from the Philippines and my brothers and I all assumed our whole lives we are half Filipino and half Polish/German from my mom. Even my brothers married Filipino women and are very much into the family culture."

"Anyway I’m the only one who did the dna test and it came back we are only a 1/4 Filipino."

"There’s a mix—1% Japanese, 1% South American, etc...—but the big surprise was our missing 1/4 was Iranian/Romanian."

"My brothers flat out refuse to believe it."

~ Accurate-Neck6933

"Learned that I (White) had a 100% Nigerian ancestor around 130 years ago. Now I want to dig deeper to find out who it was!"

"What’s funny is that I spent a gap year in Nigeria as a teenager, and I love the culture and food and still have a lot of Nigerian friends."

"It’s still a big part of my life."

~ MPD1987

Identity Confirmed

"For 29 years, it was assumed that my dad who raised me was not my biological father, that I was the product of an affair my mother was having."

"I came out with blond hair, freckles and blue eyes. A stark difference to my tanned, dark featured dad."

"My dad chose to raise me as his own anyways, refusing paternity tests. I was never made to feel like I wasn't his."

"I took 23&Me simply out of curiosity and found out that he is in fact my biological father."

"My dad has told me he didn't want to know the results either way, but I let it slip showing my sister's the app one time at dinner."

"He didn't react, but I got an extra big bear hug getting on the train to leave that night."

"It was assumed when my mom found out she was pregnant that the pregnancy was the product of the affair. My features only solidified that assumption."

"He was already raising my mom's first daughter as his own, who he'd met when she was 2 and told my mom he wanted to keep raising the kids together. They got married and he adopted her a few months after I was born."

She was also treated so much as his that I didn't even know she was adopted by him until I was a teenager."

"My parents stayed together for 14 years, and to this day are still best friends."

~ LamePennies

"As an adult, my father-in-law found out his mother was actually his grandmother and his older sister was actually his mom."

"Things were different in the late 30's."

~ CBus660R

"I think this is quite common, especially when the real mother is still very young and in school when they get pregnant."

"The grandparents will adopt the baby and say they’re the mum’s sister/brother, and so the mum can continue their life as normal as possible."

~ _leo1st_

Adoption Answers

"The daughter I adopted and I are actually distantly related!"

~ cherrybounce

"As an adoptee who is considering doing the DNA thing, this intrigues me."

"My brother (also adopted, not a blood related sibling to me) did the DNA thing and found his birth family! I got to meet two of his half siblings. It was fascinating seeing 'nature vs nurture' in real time."

"There were certain mannerisms, etc... that all three of them did, and then other things my brother did that are definitely from the family we were raised in."

"Really cool to watch."

~ MasterChicken52

"Not me but my grandma got a DNA test done because she was sold as a baby—this happened back in the 30s (Depression Era, USA)—and never knew her biological parents, so a family member urged her to do it so we could maybe find them."

"We found both sides—a half-sister from her bio mom and a half-brother from her bio dad."

"Although it was kinda weird to realize we have family close by (only 20 miles away in one case), it was much weirder for the bio families to discover my grandma’s existence, since neither side had anything to do with the other."

"Her bio mom and bio dad seem to have crossed paths at some point in the same city. He was a married man, she was an older teen. Not sure if it was a one night stand or whatever but her bio mom was pregnant as a result of that night."

"At some point in her pregnancy, she checked into a home/hospital for pregnant unwed teen mothers (using a fake name). The bio mom was told the home would find homes for the babies, so she delivered and left."

"Bio mom went on to marry and have her own family, while bio dad likely never knew of the situation."

"As it would turn out, the home was not adopting out babies, rather selling them. Since my grandma was blonde and blue eyed she was bought quickly for a higher price by a woman."

"My grandma didn’t know until her teens that she was sold."

~ very_bored_panda

"My grandparents—they were married at the time—had a biological son they gave up for adoption before my mother was born and never told any of us about."

"Turns out some of the extended family knew my grandma had been pregnant before my mom but kept it a secret."

~ Academic_Smell

"If it was during the great depression in the US it was sadly something that happened. Not even just with babies."

"Some families had to give away their children or some of their children (I can't imagine the trauma for everyone involved) because they couldn't afford to feed themselves, let alone a child."

"My husband's grandmother told me about family members she knew who had to find new families for their children or even send them to live in an orphanage where they would at least be fed.

"Sometimes they were able to get the kids back after finances improved but not always."

~ EthelMaePotterMertz

Infidelity Exposed

"My ancestry is exactly what I grew up being told, I have several family members who were really into genealogy".

"But I found out I have a first cousin we didn't know existed."

"Apparently, my uncle had gotten married and had a son no one knew about when he was 19 and stationed across the country that he bailed on."

~ nelsonalgrencametome

"Ends up my bio dad was quite the dabbler."

"None of his relatives were surprised I existed, just that I was the only stray kid that did (so far). I keep an eye on my results for any other mystery siblings!"

"I told my new half siblings if I ever went to a family reunion I'd show up in a shirt that said 'Spare Parts' or 'I'm your plot twist'."

~ Catlore

Solving Unsolved Mysteries

"I had the same suspicions when I took my test. Turns out it was my grandmother instead with the secret babies she put up for adoption."

"Didn’t find out until 6 years after she passed away so we’re never getting answers as to what happened."

"Also got a surprise contact by the police, as I was a high match to a John Doe that was found drowned on the shores of Lake Superior in 1991."

"That was a fun family tree rabbit hole to dive down. Turned out to be a half 1st cousin from my grandmother’s firstborn."

"The local police were great about informing me and communicating. The case was assigned to them by the provincial police who were clearing out thousands of cold cases."

"I was also very excited to assist because I’d done a rather in-depth family tree about a decade prior."

"They have a team of forensic genealogists, most of them on a volunteer basis, and they were incredibly good at finding information. A lot of it was birth/marriage records and working off random dna matches to try and figure out where the Doe related to the match."

"In my case, I was a 422cm match to the deceased so we looked from my maternal great-grandparents on down."

"I assisted myself on a couple of cases afterwards, all just unidentified bodies found in water or bush, nothing criminal that would require clearance."

"To be honest, I felt a little morbid because of how interested I was in the process. I had to temper my enthusiasm when responding to the police initially."

I didn’t know the person, I had zero attachment to them and it was more of a scientific interest."

"It wasn’t until weeks later when I realized how close of a relation it was that it hit me. That plus he was likely murdered made me feel bad about my earlier enthusiasm."

"But in the cases I volunteered on, those people were loved and missed."

"One fella was a cousin of a beloved NHL enforcer that passed away a year before and I recognized the names of the immediate family we had to contact. They still had Facebook groups dedicated to searching for him with posts until the day before we contacted them."

"I’m sure there’s a relief at having answers but grief at the loss being confirmed."

~ Jrewy

More and more people are exploring their roots through DNA testing.

Have you taken a test? What was your DNA revelation?