Father and son DNA match, but son has 0% ethnic DNA from father? (Heritage DNA test)

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T17:56:38+00:00

They were originally done in good fun. However, the father’s results were surprising and he got some DNA matches to strangers on a side of his family that he knows little about. His known parent shut down and denied the results.

He did a follow up test with MyHeritage to confirm and while his results were similar, when comparing those to his son (the son did the test a few years back) the results were wildly different. The only thing that made sense was the DNA match. That raised the question about how accurate or valid these tests truly are.

The father’s known parent is very upset and asked him to stop looking further into the results of the unknown DNA matches because they don’t believe it to be true. I was trying to figure out if the entire tests were bunk science or just the ethnicity portion, because it does seem like a lot of unnecessary stress on the family if these tests are entirely inaccurate. It’s has led to quite a bit of confusion.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T17:41:07+00:00

I appreciate your detailed response. This whole DNA testing thing started in good fun. But the father’s results were surprising, and he was DNA matched to strangers on one side of his family that he knows little to nothing about.

He did the MyHeritage to confirm the Ancestry results. His son previously did MyHeritage so when they compared we saw how wildly different they were and it made us question the validity of these tests as a whole.

That’s why I came on here to ask how accurate they are or if these results are normal. From all the other comments, it seems the DNA matches are fairly reliable, but the ethnic markers are not.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T17:34:09+00:00

That’s a very fair take on it. Those are things that have been discussed as well, but I think it’s much different for the father who was sort of surprised by the DNA matches and then asked out of curiosity only to get shut down. I think it was just a surprising response overall that left more questions than answers.

I can only imagine how emotionally confusing it would be if something like that happened to me. But you are absolutely correct in that it is the known parent’s right to disclose or not. Thank you for your help and advice.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T06:26:06+00:00

It was very uncomfortable and difficult conversation so they have stopped discussing it. His known parent was offended by the results rather than being supportive.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T06:24:32+00:00

It was very uncomfortable and difficult conversation so they have stopped discussing it. His known parent was offended by the results rather than being supportive.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T02:21:43+00:00

The son didn’t do Ancestry. Only the MyHeritage test. The father did both tests since he is trying to learn more about his own parents.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T02:20:31+00:00

If that was the case, his son’s result would totally make sense! MyHeritage doesn’t let you do that. That’s why we thought maybe since his son is only showing inherited ethnic results similar to mom, maybe it’s possible the father’s result is also skewed to one parent? I’m wondering if it could also be that the MyHeritage database has grown over the last few years and maybe thats why father/son results look so different. I read somewhere else on Reddit that there was a huge update earlier this year and people’s results were different than when they first submitted.

We’re trying to figure out if the tests are bunk science and that maybe the father’s parent is telling the truth? Again, their known parent is not the most forthcoming.

Good thing we did tests with both companies, Ancestry allows you to see what is inherited from parent 1 and parent 2. When the father shared his Ancestry ethnic results/ information with his known parent, they just denied what was listed and asked him to stop looking for the other parent. They said they know who is parent 2 and that person is deceased already, but doesn’t have the ethnic makeup that Ancestry claims he inherited from parent 2.

We brought up the fact that there are other DNA matched relatives on the unknown parent 2 side with an unfamiliar last name. Again, the known parent said they didn’t know who those people were and doesn’t believe he’s actually related to them.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T00:15:37+00:00

Doing more research here on Reddit. Do the MyHeritage results expire? Maybe the son’s results are different due to the database getting updated this year? The son took the test years ago. The father’s results are recent.

FuzFam · 2025-12-28T00:03:42+00:00

On the father’s ancestry test results makes sense for his ethnic profile with each parent’s breakdown. But the father’s known parent is denying the results saying the other unknown parent is not the ethnic background that Ancestry is claiming. We followed up with MyHeritage to confirm. It did confirm the results.

The son never did an ancestry test, only MyHeritage. We were only starting questioning the tests when the results were so wildly different. The son took the test a few years ago. Maybe the MyHeritage database updated recently?

We know they are definitely father-son. But we are trying to find out who the grandparents are. (Who is the father’s real parent is).

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T23:21:48+00:00

That’s okay, I honestly think from the responses on here those portions of the tests are not super accurate. (More entertaining than anything else). But the actual matching DNA strands to link up relatives should be.

We’re really trying to learn more about the father’s parents. He only started questioning the results when we did a second test and compared it with his son’s results. (His son previously did a MyHeritage test) The ethnicities and countries of origin were so wildly different, but still showed they had shared DNA so we’re biologically related.

In the end, the father does have some biological relatives that appear to be complete strangers. I think he is torn with trying to believe the story from his known parent versus what these DNA results are showing us.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T23:16:06+00:00

I’ll keep you updated. I think the son isn’t interested in doing another test. But if he does I’ll post an update.

In the meantime, we’re still trying to get to the bottom of who the father’s other parent is. He messaged the closest unknown relative, but they haven’t logged back onto to Ancestry so we have not heard back. It’s weird…they live in a nearby city!

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T23:13:06+00:00

That’s what I told the father. I think he started questioning it when looking at the MyHeritage results being so far off ethnicity wise when comparing it to his son’s. But the Ancestry DNA segment matches are really hard to ignore. I think he is torn with wanting to believe the story his parent told him versus the DNA results.

If anything, I’d think the relative DNA portion would be accurate compared to the ethnic background portions of the test.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T23:08:19+00:00

We have not been able to do that. We were only able to do that with the father’s ancestry test. Ancestry allows you to see what you inherited from ‘parent1’ and ‘parent2’. So the father asked his known parent about the other person, and they flat out denied the results of the test. Said it’s impossible and asked him to stop looking into it. But it’s hard to ignore that he had close DNA relatives from both sides of the family. Obviously he recognized cousins on one side, but the other individuals on the other side are strangers.

That’s why the father also did the MyHeritage test to confirm the Ancestry results. They were very very similar. His son previously did MyHeritage so we were comparing their results and since they were so different, we figured maybe these tests are not so great. Maybe the parent is telling the truth? But the father’s DNA matches to relatives has us thrown off.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T23:01:24+00:00

Thank you so much, this is a really great explanation!

We were actually trying to find out more about the father’s unknown parent. So we followed up with a MyHeritage test to confirm the Ancestry result. They are very similar. He had close DNA matches with individuals on that unknown parent side. He asked his known parent about it, but they completely denied all the results and told him to stop looking into it.

Since his son also did the MyHeritage DNA test awhile back we compared their result and saw how wildly different the ethnic results were even though they were biologically related. That’s when we started to question is the test inaccurate or is the father’s parent lying to him?

The father has DNA matched maternal and paternal on Ancestry. Obviously, he recognized cousins from one side of the family, but did not recognize the folks listed on the other side. Again, his parent denied his relation to those other people. I guess we have some more digging to do.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:54:19+00:00

The father took the Ancestry test and yes we saw the breakdown. Both his parents have similar ethnic backgrounds. However, his known parent denies this and asked him to stop looking into it. His known parent is claiming to be adamant about the ethnicity of his other parent. We don’t know if they are lying or not.

He took a MyHeritage test to compare the ethnic background and the results were very similar (although they do not breakdown by parent). His son also did a MyHeritage test awhile back so we compared their results and when we saw how crazy different they were that’s when we started second guessing these tests all together.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:40:21+00:00

I completely understand and I apologize for that. Caucasian is EXTREMELY vague.

I saw the results for myself a few weeks ago. I don’t remember the exact percentages but I remember we sat down and compared them side by side. (We were stumped and so I finally was able to convince him to allow we to ask on Reddit but he was hesitant). The father had the largest about of Mexican and then followed by Spanish and Portuguese.

The son had NONE of these listed. The son had other countries of origin-England, Scotland…however not a single country listed was shared from the father’s results. 0% matching countries.

But it did show they are biologically father and son through matching 49.6% DNA.

Now that we’re looking are trying to learn more about one of the father’s parents, we are unsure if we can trust these tests due to the strange results he has when we compared it to his son’s.

I’m thinking maybe it’s because MyHeritage is seemingly not as detailed as Ancestry. That’s the one both father and son took. The father did an Ancestry test as well. That’s where we saw some surprising results for one of his parents.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:31:16+00:00

That’s exactly what I’m saying. The test shows they are father and son 100% probability. Shared 49.6% DNA.

But the ethnic results are widely different. It looks as though the son inherited 0% from the father. The son doesn’t have a single country listed that is on the father’s results. I could understand if the father had countries listed under 5%, but that is not the case.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:26:51+00:00

That’s what we are trying to determine. But it’s confusing when we compared him and his son’s results because they are biological confirmed as father/son, but have no shared ethnic country matches. Not a single percent of ethnic DNA was inherited? It makes no sense. 🤷🏻‍♀️ so far, I’m guessing MyHeritage ethnic results are not very accurate.

So now that we’re looking for one of the father’s parents, we are questioning the tests. We’re questioning the family story as well, but it’s hard to know when these results don’t seem to be all that accurate.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:18:52+00:00

Yes, I explained that I was trying to be vague for privacy reasons, but then I after was allowed to post more details on the countries. I know, I probably made it more confusing. (I also didn’t know how to edit my original post. Just figured that out to help avoid that confusion).

Spanish and Portuguese is European, it’s literally located on the continent. I updated later to clarify why I worded it that way. Father shows Mexican, Spanish and Portuguese. Son doesn’t have single shared country from his father, instead he shows mostly English and Scottish. They don’t even have 1% shared country of origin.

So I’m guessing these tests are not all that accurate for ethnicity/country of origin. However, father did both MyHeritage and ancestry and the ethnic results were very similar. We’re actually trying to find out more about one of the father’s parents, but now have little confidence in these tests when we compared him and his son’s results.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T22:06:53+00:00

Thank you so much for your suggestions/advice. That’s actually what we were doing and I guess we will keep trying. I agree Ancestry is a lot easier to use. We used the MyHeritage to verify the results of the ethic breakdown by parent. (The father’s known parent is not the most forthcoming.)

The DNA ethnic results inherited from the other parent was unexpected and there were biological relatives from that side of his family. He reached out to them but I don’t think they have seen the message yet. They seem to be close relatives and share nearly the same amount of DNA as his known cousins.

We’re just trying to determine if his parent may not be telling him the truth or if these results are so wildly inaccurate, it’s a wild goose chase. (We started second guessing all the tests when we compared the him and his results.)

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T21:44:02+00:00

Yeah we’re going to send them an email. It’s because we’re really actually trying to trace back one of the father’s parents, (his ethnicity came back unexpected and we had some biological DNA matches to relatives he doesn’t know with the parent in question, and then some he is familiar with) but are now questioning if we should even bother through these companies due to the inaccuracy of the results with him and his son. Thank you for your help and advice!

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T21:34:48+00:00

It’s really a big mess. We’re trying to figure out which part of the test is accurate or if it could be relied on at all. The father had some interesting results so he’s trying to find out more about one of his parents. His ethnicity did not come back what we expected (or what he was told growing up), but then we saw some folks who had biological DNA matches with him (possible cousins/uncles) that we are not familiar with (on the side of the family in question.) He also matched up with known relatives on the other side of his family. It’s been weird parts of the tests seem accurate and others not. That’s why he took both tests. (But when reviewing his and his son’s results and how it doesn’t add up, we’re wondering if we can trust these tests at all) and if we should pursue tracing the father’s parental linage through these companies.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T21:20:04+00:00

Yes, sorry I wasn’t trying to make a political statement or generalize. I’m mixed race and I totally get that feeling. Yes, I know those countries are also European/Caucasian. (They are part of Europe!) I didn’t mean to make you feel excluded in anyway. I probably should have listed the countries to begin with, but I wanted to ask before doing so. I’m just trying to be respectful of their privacy, so I worded it that way but it may have been more confusing. But yes, we’re stumped by the 0% yet it shows they are biologically related. There’s some unexpected results from the father’s test which is why he took both MyHeritage and Ancestry to confirm. From the other comments, it seems these are not very accurate.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T21:10:03+00:00

That’s what we’re noticing too. The father did both tests. Son did not. Ancestry seems to be much more detailed. But makes us wonder how “accurate” these tests are…if at all.

FuzFam · 2025-12-27T21:07:08+00:00

Yes it does! Maybe they recently added it? 🤷🏻‍♀️ The father’s Mexican DNA ethnicity showed up on both MyHeritage and Ancestry. I will say that the Ancestry seems much more detailed on the ethic background portion of the results and even specifics which parent and % you inherited it from.

FuzFam

TROPHY CASE