Ancestry has announced the release of 225 new DNA communities for those with ties to France, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Read more about these new developments in the Ancestry blog.

I have always been dubious about ethnicity estimates and considered them "interesting" but otherwise of little value in my genealogical research. I've been scratching my head over my own Ancestry ethnicity results:

• England, Wales and Northwestern Europe: 51%
• Germanic Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg): 29%
• Norway: 11%
• Sweden: 9%

My mother's ancestors--going back many generations--were from the Netherlands. My paternal grandfather was born in Schleswig/Holstein, an area that went back and forth between Germany and Denmark. Those facts seem to support the 49% Germanic/Scandinavian ethnicity.

On my father's side, I know I have a 3X great-grandmother who was Scots-Irish, but 51% "England, Wales and Northwestern Europe" ethnicity seems very high.

Pondering this, I realized my research around my paternal grandmother, Retta Stahl Henrichsen, concentrated on the direct line back to my Revolutionary patriot, Leonard Stahl. I'd done only a little digging on the women in those generations. A great-grandmother and 2X great-grandmother both had the maiden name "Davis," a very common surname. (I've found no evidence they were related.) However a google search disclosed Davis as a Welsh name! 

"Aimes" was the maiden name of another 2X great-grandmother. Googling, I found the Aimes surname originated in the county of Northumberland in northeastern England!

Thank you, Ancestry, for prompting me to take another look at my family tree. It looks like your estimates may be correct. The Davis and Aimes lines deserve another look.