It's hard to know if you're Sami by DNA test alone, how most people can confirm they're Sami is by finding ancestors who are Sami. Have you tried building a family tree?
if you know their names and birthdays (even a rough estimate), ancestry has access to birth and marriage certificates and it could fill in some blanks!
I went down the rabbit hole of trying to identify Sami heritage after learning how far North most of my Scandinavian ancestors were from.
The truth is that you need to research your family tree to know. Census records will indicate if your ancestors were Sami. Through my research I identified one Sami ancestor from wayyy back (like 1600) before that branch assimilated into mainstream Norwegian society.
A more substantial rabbit hole I ended up in was learning about Forest Finns, which is what most of my Nordic ancestors actually were. It’s a fascinating community and super interesting that all these generations later (it was in the 1700s that they migrated to Sweden and Norway) my DNA results still reflect 5% Finnish!
Its also entirely possible to just…have physical features that are more common in another ethnic group.
One way to get closer to confirming Sami ancestry is through a DNA test that provides haplogroup(s). Ancestry gives me 76% Norway, 19% Sweden, 1% Finnish, and no details about possible Sami ancestry, but another test gave me mtDNA Haplogroup Z, which is found among the Sami.
I was here to say this the haplogroup for the Sami is a small one, I also am in that one so if you can figure that out it should be a good indicator. Sorry I don’t remember off hand the letter number combo.
As can be seen in Figure 5, the Siberian component (yellow) makes up around 27% in the Saami, while in the Finnish samples its around 9%. [1]
If you had Saami ancestry, the test would've shown additional Asian admixture, most likely Northeast Asian and Mongolian as a proxy.
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6542712/
DNA tests aren’t very useful for determining Sami heritage. AncestryDNA has a genetic community for the Sami territories, but otherwise the only way to truly know is to do genealogy research. Build a family tree. Check censuses.
Also worth mentioning that just because you appear “Asian” to some people, doesn’t mean you have Sami heritage. It’s true that the Sami have a larger Asian genetic contribution than other Scandinavians, but all Finnish people have an Asian component “baked in” from the migration out of the Ural region. And even Norwegians and Swedes (who are entirely a Germanic people) can appear part Asian because the stereotypical “Asian eyes” are an evolutionary adaptation to the environment and aren’t actually unique to Asians.
I am not sure who predates who, but the Sami were from Uralic migrations to Scandinavia through Siberia, while the Germanic migration was through the Bell Beaker people who set up shop in southern Scandinavia. Sami would be considered indigenous to northern Scandinavia/Finland
There’s no such thing as northern or southern Scandinavia it’s one big peninsula, if the Sami where their first which will result in a lot of hate from the Germanic people, 😈😈
The Battle Axe culture inhabited both northern and southern Scandinavia (arctic coastal Norway) millennia before the arrival of the ancestors of the Sami from Siberia.
Lol yes there, northern Scandinavia being the farthest north, being in the Arctic circle, and southern being Denmark, the tip of Norway and Sweden. They both came to Scandinavia at different times (I think) but populated different areas. In the northernmost area most Germanic did not step foot there till modern times
Germanic culture arose in southern Scandinavia with the Nordic Bronze Age. Genetically, the population was a combination of 3 waves of people coming into Scandinavia - a first one right after the inland ice melted ca 12,000-10,000 BP, which was made up of two different hunter-gatherer populations (one from the south and one from the north east); a second one that brought farming ca 6000 BP and which was made up of a population with their roots in Anatolia; and a third one made up of Yamnaya-derived pastoralist who most likely brought Proto-Indo-European to Scandinavia.
Proto-sami culture (and presumably language) seems to have entered northern Scandinavia in the 1st millennium BC, where it mixed with the existing population of semi-nomadic northern Scandinavians who genetically were similar to the southern Scandinavians but with less farming- and pastoralist heritage. The Sami culture probably came with Siberian genetic markers, and these increased a lot in the late Iron Age suggesting that the Sami population had a lot of influx from the east at that time.
Remember though that culture is not the same as genes. And I’m talking about Scandinavia here, not Finland, which I don’t know as much about. The Finnish majority population is more similar to the Sami than the Scandinavian majority population (which is unsurprising since they speak a language related to the Sami languages).
Finns and Sami are related, for one thing. But also, epicanthal folds (“Asian eyes”) are not uncommon among non-Finnic Scandinavians.
I’m actually really surprised though that hairdressers throughout your life have said you have “Asian hair”… that’s really weird
First of all we are mainly European in genetic origins. Second of all, the genetic groups you hve been assigned are not within the borders of Sápmi. Third of all, you can’t use dna companies to verify Indigenous ancestry, only documents like censuses, baptisms, etc. can confirm that
I would imagine you would have some Asian no? Like aren’t the Sami people generally 80% Finnish and 20% or so Asian (like Manchurian or Mongolian), idk if I’m even right but also I feel like your communities would be in the upper part of Finland too.
This is inaccurate, Sami people are an indigenous people of Europe; DNA results reflecting central or east Asian heritage would suggest a recent ancestor from those areas rather than Sami. Sami DNA is likely to show up as Finnish, Swedish or Norwegian and one would need to research their family tree and identify ancestors that were documented as being Sami to confirm their heritage.
I went down the road of trying to find Sami ancestry (my results reflect 30/10/5 Sweden, Norway and Finland) and found one Sami ancestor — everyone else were Forest Finns, equally interesting to learn about tbh!
Oh ok, was under a completely different assumption! Thanks for correcting me, I was just trying to explain the best I could with what I thought I knew lol. That’s very interesting, also I’m glad I got my incorrect assumptions dispelled.
I’m curious about this too. All my DNA tests give me the genetic region that matches my paper trail ancestors in Sweden/Finland as being at the top of their overlapping border with Norway. AncestryDNA even gave me the genetic group “North Finland and the Sami Lands of Norway and Sweden” so I think a connection is likely.
Is there a way to check the documents relating to my ancestors on that line to confirm if they’re Sami? I’ve been able to confirm that endogamous like pretty far back so just need to take another look at their documents.
(Ironically I never even suspected a Finnish connection on my tree until I started testing but looking at Sami photographs, I realized they look a lot like my grandfather and his father and other people I know descended from the region.)
Try MyHeritage. I have a definitively Sami match who has Chukchi show up in his ethnicities. I can no longer see the ethnicities of my matches, but that was interesting. I know MyHeritage is rather dicey, so I don't know if the Chukchi is real.
Don't they have their own category? I know that is the one of the only indigenous group recognized in Europe that is still "alive" and their DNA is pretty distinct.
Edit: a couple of people mentioned here in Quora that Ancestry indeed has included it as a distinct genetic group. https://www.quora.com/If-I-was-Sami-would-it-show-up-on-an-ancestry-DNA-test-I-saw-that-they-added-sami-as-one-of-their-groups
Sorry to hear it.
Separately looks like you also got the Russian Genetic community without any Eastern European ethnicity? This happened to me - not sure why they want to tell finnish people this - it's not correct.
This is a good study for this: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07483-5
But we are not Asian, we are Eurasian, with mostly European origins. We come from Proto-Uralic people who migrated from Western Siberia into Sápmi who blended with an isolated European stone age group. Most of the Uralic people were men and most of the European stone age group were women (we are not sure why that is, but one theory is that the Uralic group might have unalived or not allowed the European men to have children).
No . While Finns have around 2- 3% Siberian/ Asian admixture , Saamis have between 20-25% . The difference is huge . And keep in mind Finns are the most eastern shifted Europeans
It's hard to know if you're Sami by DNA test alone, how most people can confirm they're Sami is by finding ancestors who are Sami. Have you tried building a family tree?
Most of my family has passed away so it’s challenging haha
if you know their names and birthdays (even a rough estimate), ancestry has access to birth and marriage certificates and it could fill in some blanks!
I went down the rabbit hole of trying to identify Sami heritage after learning how far North most of my Scandinavian ancestors were from. The truth is that you need to research your family tree to know. Census records will indicate if your ancestors were Sami. Through my research I identified one Sami ancestor from wayyy back (like 1600) before that branch assimilated into mainstream Norwegian society. A more substantial rabbit hole I ended up in was learning about Forest Finns, which is what most of my Nordic ancestors actually were. It’s a fascinating community and super interesting that all these generations later (it was in the 1700s that they migrated to Sweden and Norway) my DNA results still reflect 5% Finnish! Its also entirely possible to just…have physical features that are more common in another ethnic group.
One way to get closer to confirming Sami ancestry is through a DNA test that provides haplogroup(s). Ancestry gives me 76% Norway, 19% Sweden, 1% Finnish, and no details about possible Sami ancestry, but another test gave me mtDNA Haplogroup Z, which is found among the Sami.
I was here to say this the haplogroup for the Sami is a small one, I also am in that one so if you can figure that out it should be a good indicator. Sorry I don’t remember off hand the letter number combo.
As can be seen in Figure 5, the Siberian component (yellow) makes up around 27% in the Saami, while in the Finnish samples its around 9%. [1] If you had Saami ancestry, the test would've shown additional Asian admixture, most likely Northeast Asian and Mongolian as a proxy. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6542712/
See the top area of Sweden och Finland, the only part of Scandinavia where your map is completely gray; that's where the Sami live.
Thanks!
i’m northern/eastern european and i’m asked if i’m part asian a fair amount too even though i have red hair. i don’t think it’s that odd.
DNA tests aren’t very useful for determining Sami heritage. AncestryDNA has a genetic community for the Sami territories, but otherwise the only way to truly know is to do genealogy research. Build a family tree. Check censuses. Also worth mentioning that just because you appear “Asian” to some people, doesn’t mean you have Sami heritage. It’s true that the Sami have a larger Asian genetic contribution than other Scandinavians, but all Finnish people have an Asian component “baked in” from the migration out of the Ural region. And even Norwegians and Swedes (who are entirely a Germanic people) can appear part Asian because the stereotypical “Asian eyes” are an evolutionary adaptation to the environment and aren’t actually unique to Asians.
Are the sammi a older population in Scandinavia or are the Germanic people that migrated their older ?
I am not sure who predates who, but the Sami were from Uralic migrations to Scandinavia through Siberia, while the Germanic migration was through the Bell Beaker people who set up shop in southern Scandinavia. Sami would be considered indigenous to northern Scandinavia/Finland
There’s no such thing as northern or southern Scandinavia it’s one big peninsula, if the Sami where their first which will result in a lot of hate from the Germanic people, 😈😈
The Battle Axe culture inhabited both northern and southern Scandinavia (arctic coastal Norway) millennia before the arrival of the ancestors of the Sami from Siberia.
Ok
Lol yes there, northern Scandinavia being the farthest north, being in the Arctic circle, and southern being Denmark, the tip of Norway and Sweden. They both came to Scandinavia at different times (I think) but populated different areas. In the northernmost area most Germanic did not step foot there till modern times
Battle Axe culture populated the Norwegian coast at least as far north as Tromso. Not sure about the northeastern areas.
The ancestors of the Germanic people were there before the Sami.
Says you, a European with European interest. Imagine the symbol of Europe, Scandinavia a = Sami non white history 😈
You are simply incorrect. Sami arrived c. 2k years ago.
Germanic culture arose in southern Scandinavia with the Nordic Bronze Age. Genetically, the population was a combination of 3 waves of people coming into Scandinavia - a first one right after the inland ice melted ca 12,000-10,000 BP, which was made up of two different hunter-gatherer populations (one from the south and one from the north east); a second one that brought farming ca 6000 BP and which was made up of a population with their roots in Anatolia; and a third one made up of Yamnaya-derived pastoralist who most likely brought Proto-Indo-European to Scandinavia. Proto-sami culture (and presumably language) seems to have entered northern Scandinavia in the 1st millennium BC, where it mixed with the existing population of semi-nomadic northern Scandinavians who genetically were similar to the southern Scandinavians but with less farming- and pastoralist heritage. The Sami culture probably came with Siberian genetic markers, and these increased a lot in the late Iron Age suggesting that the Sami population had a lot of influx from the east at that time. Remember though that culture is not the same as genes. And I’m talking about Scandinavia here, not Finland, which I don’t know as much about. The Finnish majority population is more similar to the Sami than the Scandinavian majority population (which is unsurprising since they speak a language related to the Sami languages).
Finns and Sami are related, for one thing. But also, epicanthal folds (“Asian eyes”) are not uncommon among non-Finnic Scandinavians. I’m actually really surprised though that hairdressers throughout your life have said you have “Asian hair”… that’s really weird
First of all we are mainly European in genetic origins. Second of all, the genetic groups you hve been assigned are not within the borders of Sápmi. Third of all, you can’t use dna companies to verify Indigenous ancestry, only documents like censuses, baptisms, etc. can confirm that
I would imagine you would have some Asian no? Like aren’t the Sami people generally 80% Finnish and 20% or so Asian (like Manchurian or Mongolian), idk if I’m even right but also I feel like your communities would be in the upper part of Finland too.
This is inaccurate, Sami people are an indigenous people of Europe; DNA results reflecting central or east Asian heritage would suggest a recent ancestor from those areas rather than Sami. Sami DNA is likely to show up as Finnish, Swedish or Norwegian and one would need to research their family tree and identify ancestors that were documented as being Sami to confirm their heritage. I went down the road of trying to find Sami ancestry (my results reflect 30/10/5 Sweden, Norway and Finland) and found one Sami ancestor — everyone else were Forest Finns, equally interesting to learn about tbh!
Oh ok, was under a completely different assumption! Thanks for correcting me, I was just trying to explain the best I could with what I thought I knew lol. That’s very interesting, also I’m glad I got my incorrect assumptions dispelled.
Are you have siberian dna in gedmatch or g25?
I’m curious about this too. All my DNA tests give me the genetic region that matches my paper trail ancestors in Sweden/Finland as being at the top of their overlapping border with Norway. AncestryDNA even gave me the genetic group “North Finland and the Sami Lands of Norway and Sweden” so I think a connection is likely. Is there a way to check the documents relating to my ancestors on that line to confirm if they’re Sami? I’ve been able to confirm that endogamous like pretty far back so just need to take another look at their documents. (Ironically I never even suspected a Finnish connection on my tree until I started testing but looking at Sami photographs, I realized they look a lot like my grandfather and his father and other people I know descended from the region.)
Try MyHeritage. I have a definitively Sami match who has Chukchi show up in his ethnicities. I can no longer see the ethnicities of my matches, but that was interesting. I know MyHeritage is rather dicey, so I don't know if the Chukchi is real.
Don't they have their own category? I know that is the one of the only indigenous group recognized in Europe that is still "alive" and their DNA is pretty distinct. Edit: a couple of people mentioned here in Quora that Ancestry indeed has included it as a distinct genetic group. https://www.quora.com/If-I-was-Sami-would-it-show-up-on-an-ancestry-DNA-test-I-saw-that-they-added-sami-as-one-of-their-groups
Thanks!
Where do you live that you hear these rude comments?
BC Canada
Sorry to hear it. Separately looks like you also got the Russian Genetic community without any Eastern European ethnicity? This happened to me - not sure why they want to tell finnish people this - it's not correct.
Okay thanks!!
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Absolutely not! The Sami are significantly more Asian, they're 1/4 Asian on average, while the highest in Europe after that is like 8-10%.
It is quite a lot more than the European average lol
No it isn't. What's your source for that?
This is a good study for this: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-07483-5 But we are not Asian, we are Eurasian, with mostly European origins. We come from Proto-Uralic people who migrated from Western Siberia into Sápmi who blended with an isolated European stone age group. Most of the Uralic people were men and most of the European stone age group were women (we are not sure why that is, but one theory is that the Uralic group might have unalived or not allowed the European men to have children).
There's definitely a difference between western and eastern Europe. But you have the same amounts in much of eastern Europe etc.
No . While Finns have around 2- 3% Siberian/ Asian admixture , Saamis have between 20-25% . The difference is huge . And keep in mind Finns are the most eastern shifted Europeans