One of the greatest advantages of MyHeritage DNA is its full integration into our powerful family history research site. To make the most of your Ethnicity Estimate and DNA Matches, start by building a family tree for free. Even if you only include the names and birthdates of a few close relatives, our algorithms will start automatically searching billions of historical records and millions of family trees to find discoveries about your ancestors for you. This will enrich your tree and, in turn, give you many more clues about your relationships with your DNA Matches. Your Ethnicity Estimate can also provide hints as to how branches of your tree fit together. In short, DNA results improve your tree and your tree increases the value of your DNA results!
If you already have DNA results, a family tree can:
Improve the accuracy of relationship estimates by providing our algorithms with more information
Allow DNA Matches to trace back to common ancestors to uncover how exactly you are related
Increase the chances DNA Matches will contact you
Help you identify the family members whose DNA results would contribute the most value to your research so you can decide for whom you should get a DNA test kit
Open access to additional DNA features that are based on information in family trees
For further instructions, please read these articles:
How do I create my family tree on MyHeritage?
How do I bring my family tree information from another genealogy program to MyHeritage?
Family tree-based DNA features
MyHeritage offers valuable tools for tracing your roots back to the common ancestors shared in common with your DNA Matches. These tools use information from your family tree and the family tree your DNA Match appears in to give you more clues about your connection.
Shared ancestral surnames are surnames that appear both in your family tree and in the family tree of your DNA Match, going back up to 10 generations. An ancestral surname that you share with your DNA Match could point to the identity of the shared ancestor from which both of you inherited the same DNA segments.
The Pedigree Charts feature shows the direct ancestors of your DNA Match alongside your own direct ancestors. It is a helpful tool when looking for common ancestors and for detecting familiar names that can give you an idea of how you are related.
Your Ethnicity Estimate also integrates information from your family tree, if you have one. On your Ethnicity Estimate results page, under the map, check the box “Show events from your family tree”. This adds to the map of the main life events of your direct ancestors, such as births, marriages, and deaths. This allows you to compare the regions in the family tree to the ethnic regions estimated by DNA, and help you identify the lines that contributed each part of your ethnic breakdown. Keep in mind that, due to immigration, the locations of these events might not correspond to the regions of ethnic origin.
Building a family tree is free and adds a lot of value to your DNA test. To get more from your DNA results quickly and easily, start or grow your family tree now.
To learn more about this topic, read this article on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base:
Why Building Your Family Tree Helps You Make the Most of Your MyHeritage DNA Results. On the MyHeritage Knowledge Base, you'll find additional articles, webinars, and how-to videos that can help you master your genealogy skills.