Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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Why You Have Scandinavian DNA (And it's NOT the Vikings)…
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:12 1
2:14 2
3:57 3
5:33 4
6:30 5
A lot of people who do an ancestry test see Scandinavian DNA in their results, and naturally connect it to the Vikings. It’s a reasonable assumption — but it’s often not the case. Yet if it’s not the case, where did this Scandinavian DNA come from? And how should you interpret these results? Well in this video we will look at 5 key reasons why it’s often not from the Vikings.
But what does Viking actually mean in the first place though? Well Cambridge dictionary defines a Viking as:
a person belonging to race of Scandinavian people who travelled by sea and attacked parts of northern and southern Europe between the 8th and the 11th centuries, often staying to live in places they travelled to.
So Viking was as much a job description or activity, rather than an ethnicity or genetic group itself. We know as well that some people adopted Viking culture without actually being Scandinavian, including an example from ancient Scotland. Yet the people that went Viking did spread Scandinavian DNA to some people across Europe and by extension the world through later migrations, but this isn’t the case for many. Yet why is this not the case?
Well the first reason is something I call the Northern Continuum. Now it’s a classic moment: someone with say British or Irish ancestry opens their DNA results and sees a chunk of Scandinavian ancestry in their. The popular assumption is simple: Scandinavian = Viking ancestor. Sometimes that is true. But very often it is not.
Sources:
Margaryan, A., Lawson, D.J., Sikora, M. et al. Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature 585, 390–396 (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8
Viking | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
Are you part Viking?
World’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian | University of Cambridge
To claim someone has 'Viking ancestors' is no better than astrology | Genetics | The Guardian
Scientists raid DNA to explore Vikings’ genetic roots | National Geographic
The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present - Rodríguez-Varela, Ricardo et al. Cell, Volume 186, Issue 1, 32 - 46.e19 The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present: Cell
Creative Commons Imagery:
Notuncurious File:Anglo.Saxon.migration.5th.cen.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Scandinavian DNA – Scandinavian ancestry - Viking DNA – Viking ancestry – Am I Viking – ancestry results – dna results
Join This Channel to Get Exclusive Member-Only Videos: youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA/join
Subscribe to Celtic History Decoded - youtube.com/channel/UCCS3M_uNHH2iOJkpGhkO2SA?sub_confirmation=1
If you enjoyed this video, please consider buying me a coffee: buymeacoffee.com/celtichistory
Why You Have Scandinavian DNA (And it's NOT the Vikings)…
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:12 1
2:14 2
3:57 3
5:33 4
6:30 5
A lot of people who do an ancestry test see Scandinavian DNA in their results, and naturally connect it to the Vikings. It’s a reasonable assumption — but it’s often not the case. Yet if it’s not the case, where did this Scandinavian DNA come from? And how should you interpret these results? Well in this video we will look at 5 key reasons why it’s often not from the Vikings.
But what does Viking actually mean in the first place though? Well Cambridge dictionary defines a Viking as:
a person belonging to race of Scandinavian people who travelled by sea and attacked parts of northern and southern Europe between the 8th and the 11th centuries, often staying to live in places they travelled to.
So Viking was as much a job description or activity, rather than an ethnicity or genetic group itself. We know as well that some people adopted Viking culture without actually being Scandinavian, including an example from ancient Scotland. Yet the people that went Viking did spread Scandinavian DNA to some people across Europe and by extension the world through later migrations, but this isn’t the case for many. Yet why is this not the case?
Well the first reason is something I call the Northern Continuum. Now it’s a classic moment: someone with say British or Irish ancestry opens their DNA results and sees a chunk of Scandinavian ancestry in their. The popular assumption is simple: Scandinavian = Viking ancestor. Sometimes that is true. But very often it is not.
Sources:
Margaryan, A., Lawson, D.J., Sikora, M. et al. Population genomics of the Viking world. Nature 585, 390–396 (2020). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2688-8
Viking | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
Are you part Viking?
World’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian | University of Cambridge
To claim someone has 'Viking ancestors' is no better than astrology | Genetics | The Guardian
Scientists raid DNA to explore Vikings’ genetic roots | National Geographic
The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present - Rodríguez-Varela, Ricardo et al. Cell, Volume 186, Issue 1, 32 - 46.e19 The genetic history of Scandinavia from the Roman Iron Age to the present: Cell
Creative Commons Imagery:
Notuncurious File:Anglo.Saxon.migration.5th.cen.jpg - Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported - Creative Commons
Scandinavian DNA – Scandinavian ancestry - Viking DNA – Viking ancestry – Am I Viking – ancestry results – dna results
