Got Finnish DNA? Explore your matches at MyHeritage, known for relative strength amongst Scandinavian DNA testers (think Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, etc). Read about Diahan’s mother-in-law’s experience using MyHeritage and meeting her Finnish relatives.
My mother-in-law does not sleep. Even though she has been retired for many years, her body still keeps the 5 AM wake-up she needed when she was working on microchips for seriously intense missile projects.
So in those early morning hours in the dark, quiet living room of her St. George, Utah home, Linda does genealogy. It is particularly her Finns that keep her at it every day. She has all the usual struggles: same-named people, record access, and a language barrier, but she keeps making discoveries. Linda is passionate about finding and documenting her ancestors.
A couple years ago, I gifted Linda and my father-in-law with a MyHeritage DNA test* as, traditionally, MyHeritage has better representation of Scandinavian test takers. (MyHeritage has spent many years building relationships with Scandinavian customers!) As we started getting closer to our heritage trip to Sweden and Finland, which we took in May of 2022, Linda upped her research efforts and settled on a strategy of contacting her DNA matches.
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Finnish DNA: Finding DNA Matches at MyHeritage
She sorted her DNA matches at MyHeritage by those with Finnish ethnicity (there are over 2,000!). Then looked at the names they had listed in their family tree to see if she could recognize any from her own tree. As soon as she found a good candidate, she sent them a message through the messaging service at MyHeritage.
What she found just might have you over at your computer, messaging your matches before you can even finish this article!
Linda’s success came when she contacted Nina, a DNA 5th cousin who had several surnames in common with her. She explained that we were coming to Finland, and she was just looking for more information about their connection.
Nina turned out to be involved in a recent book project to document the Mikkonen family, one of Linda’s family names. Linda asked if Nina wanted to meet us, and if she could buy a copy of the book. Sure enough, we met Nina at a little café in Kajaani, and Linda was able to get a copy of the book.
Linda (right) and her 5th DNA cousin Nina with the Mikkonen family tree on the table
Since we have returned home, Linda (and Google Translate!) have retrieved scores of names and stories from that book that have helped her grow her Mikkonen family tree.
This connection happened from contacting just one MyHeritage DNA match. Even if you haven’t tested at MyHeritage, you can transfer your DNA test results from another company to MyHeritage and unlock their DNA tools for a modest fee. It’s worth the cost! You may find DNA matches that haven’t tested with other DNA testing sites.
Transfer your DNA to MyHeritage! You could make a key Finnish DNA connection like Linda did!
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This is very timely for me. I have had my mtDNA tested and it turns out that my distant ancestry includes a preponderance of Finnish and Irish matches. My atDNA, which I have uploaded to My Heritage includes many people from Ireland in the last 5 generations (I live in Australia), but none that I was aware of from Finland – until now!
I have just learned of several matches on Geni that have what appear to me to be Finnish or Norwegian names. I will be looking into them to see if I can find where they fit in. So this story encourages me. Thanks.