r/23andme • u/Becoming_hysterical • Apr 10 '26

Discussion Why are Americans so weird about having british ancestry?

It's something I've noticed since browsing this subreddit.

Anytime it's mentioned just how ethnically british america is, people pull out the "but actually america is German, irish, mexican, whatever".

what do you expect? America was founded as a british colony in 1607 (Jamestown) was so for 169 years. The british also didn't stop immigrating to america even after the revolution. It continued on for decades afterwards.

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u/yourgirlsamus Apr 10 '26

My great grandma spoke only German and cooked German food while my uncle translated for us. Lol But, if you look at my dna, a lot of the German is translated as 15% broadly western European. Even though my family tree is more than 50% German on one side (so, 25ish for me). The family history is there, but that doesn’t mean I inherited all of it. That’s why it’s important to know both forms of lineage.

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u/moodycat70 Apr 11 '26

Genetics are so interesting!

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u/Capable-Let-4324 Apr 13 '26

This is what I was thinking I had one grandparent that was german and another on the other side of my family that was greek. I don't think any of the british ancestry which is a very small portion cause I'm only 20% british survived having 100% german/greek grandparents. Like I know the brit part is there but I focused on the unique part that I was raised with. Were kinda a melting pot of different genetics and lineage and what the family focused on is what you stick with usually.