Viking Ancestors

Viking Ancestors

Viking Data from LivingDNA

Vikings! What comes to mind when you think of Vikings? People who inhabited Scandinavia, spoke the same language, similar craft styles and traditions, one people. Yet, the Vikings that lived around 800 AD were not a single population. They ruled through local kingdoms and lordships. Places like Birka, Sweden, Hedeby, Denmark and Trondheim, Norway were considered places of regional power. Why is knowing this important? Because your DNA may be genetically similar to one of four different Viking groups.

Do you use LivingDNA? If you do, they have been able to identify four distinct Viking populations from analyzing ancient DNA. You pay a small fee and they will give you a number which shows the amount of DNA you share with ancient Vikings. They compare the DNA of ancient Vikings and non-Vikings and then compare that to all Living DNA users. You will then be put into one of four categories.

  • Vikings of Norway - "The Vikings of coastal Norway sailed and plundered westwards to settle in the Faroe Islands, Orkney, the Shetland Islands and Ireland."
  • Vikings of Denmark and Sweden - "Danes Raided Saxon England and Northern France, and later settled in these islands. Danes had the strongest and most organized Viking force. [...] Swedish Vikings were among those who explored to the East. They expanded partly through raiding, but mostly by trade."
  • Vikings of Great Britain, Ireland and Iceland - "Vikings began settling on captured land from around 860 AD onwards, mainly in the North and East of England."
  • Vikings of Eastern Europe - "These Vikings explored eastwards across Eastern Europe. They traveled along the rivers until they reached the Black and Caspian Sea." (LivingDNA.com 2022)
Vikings of Norway

As always with DNA the more people who do DNA tests, the more your test results will change and presumably the more accurate they will become. However, it can be fun to see the changes and find out new and interesting things about your ancestors. I have often wondered where the Scandinavian in my DNA results comes from. Was it Viking DNA that had somehow survived and been carried through? So it was fun to see I have 63% more Viking than the others who have done the test so far, and that my Viking DNA is associated with the Vikings of Norway. While nothing is concrete it is a fun little tidbit to consider.

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Tracy Hall

Tracy is an owner, a genealogy researcher, and author. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois and a master's degree from Grand Canyon University. She has done genealogical research in the U.S., England, and Ireland. She has been actively researching family histories for over 20 years. She loves working with clients, breaking down brick walls, seeing the places where hers and your ancestors lived, learning about their jobs and work, and researching immigration and migration patterns. She is the Holder of the Tree in several of her family lines and has been for decades.