What does shared X DNA really mean?

Since familytreeDNA added X chromosome matching to their family finder, all my favorite bloggers have been writing about how to use it. There is a list of their terrific articles at the end of this post.

Of course those of us who have many family members tested at 23andme have been working with the X chromosome for a while and have some thoughts on how useful it might or might not be.

  1.  Smaller matches on the X will usually be too far back to find the relationship because the X chromosome does not get recombined when a father passes his only X chromosome on to make a daughter. Thus segments can stay together longer in time.
  2. A match on the X can eliminate many ancestors from an autosomal match BUT a small match on the X can be from a different line so this is not guaranteed.
  3. There seems to be less recombination on the X. I have heard of cases where a child got an unrecombined X from their mother. In my own family, the number of recombined segments is quite small. So it seems to me that on the female to female line the X behaves like a sluggish autosome and is not quite as actively recombined as the other chromosomes. [UPDATE 11-May-2018: the X has been shown to have a normal amount of recombination for any chromosome by a citizen science study done by Blaine Bettinger, click here for blog post by Leanne Cooper summarizing this.]

Less recombination examples

Because our maternal line (1/2 Ashkenazi, 1/2 Bavarian Catholic) is from two different population groups, my brother and I can learn which maternal grandparent we got our X DNA from just by looking at the ancestry composition for that chromosome at 23andme:

XchromCompareNotice that my brother got only two segments thus one point of recombination – he has one segment from each maternal grandparent. Whereas my X has two recombination points at each end. [UPDATE 11-May-2018: This is a normal amount of recombination in any chromosome of this size. See the update above]

A good blog post about phasing of one’s own X chomosome is at The Lineal Arboretum

X reaches way back in time

My brother and I share 13.9cM (1021 SNPs) on our X with my 100% Ashkenazi husband. We know there is no common ancestry in the last 300 years or so, probably even the last 500. He is of Galician Jewish origin via Vienna. Our jewish DNA line (one grandad) is Southern German Jewish for hundreds of years and we have a good paper trail. However Ashkenazi DNA is difficult to untangle due to many cousin marriages way back when.

Out of the 500 or so shares that my Norwegian descent Dad has in the 23andme database, he has only 6 matches with greater than 7cM on the X, not including known relatives. We have not found the relationship to any of them and two of them are even Canadian with no known Norse ancestry (update these now look to be related via an unknown Norwegian ancestor in Newfoundland long ago).

Here are some of the better explanations of X inheritance inheritance and helpful charts:

Here are some of the blog posts discussing how to use the new X matching feature at familyTreeDNA:

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192 thoughts on “What does shared X DNA really mean?

Click here to add your thoughts at the end of the comments
    • Peter, thanks for this notation. I had seen the yellow badges but didn’t know how to get there. That was really helpful. It seems that you have to select the “edit”, then “confirmed with DNA”, and then add an appropriate source note, to each family member “individually”.
      I guess this makes sense in that if you are suspicious of a non paternal event, or just too far back to have any confidence, then you don’t add the “confirmed with DNA” to the relation until you have triangulated to other atDNA cousins.

    • Good to know – Family Tree DNA’s X-Matching is a ‘sometime thing’ due to very amateur database interface. Today’s problem: comparing chromosomes feature is just rhetoric – doesn’t allow for selection. I have over 200 X-Matches but it will only compare the first 10 of the alphabetical listing of surnames.FTDNA does not understand they are making claims that they do not provide ( due to very unprofessional database services.

      • Sam –
        Most of us select the people to compare in the chromosome browser from the matches page, mainly because we are interested in our best matches.
        But using the X matches only on the chromosome browser there is a little page box below the names which will let you go to any page of that listing and select folk. You are therefore not limited to the first 10 at all.

        • And, the X column is missing completely from Advanced Matches. CSV and Excel downloads are missing the same information. Some fields are offset. blank spaces precede some names, Thee database people at FTDNA do not know what they are doing.

          There is certainly more I could point out; but, pointing out FTDNA troubles gets no certain result.

          ( note: trained on IBM business macine programming in 1961. Worked 1/2 my life in data processing. At FTDNA I am dealing with incompetence. Its a very bad face to put on a business website. )

  1. I should also have included a link to this good detailed X discussion by David Faux

    http://davidkfaux.org/X_Facts.pdf

    a pertinent quote
    “During each meiosis, the probable cross over (recombination) rate is about one event on the short arm and one to two events on the long arm of the X (or sometimes one event on each arm irrespective of size).”

  2. Very good article and VERY nice to see the best pertinent blogs on the X match all in one place although I would have added Steve Handy’s. Another excellent reference, short sweet, concise, useful, simple and readable is the section on the X match in the FAQ at GedMatch. BTW, the standard “take” on the amount of recombination on the X versus the autosomes is that the X recombines at about 2/3 the rate the autosomes do. I’ll post a link to that if you’d like, but I don’t think an exact figure is needed as long as it is understood that less recombination takes place on the X that on your average autosome.

  3. Hmmm… My mom passed some years ago and we don’t have her DNA. So, if I’m reading this right, would I test my sons… and perhaps the sons of my sisters… to discover what my mother’s X-DNA was?

  4. Not exactly. Your sons have your X.
    You have half your mother’s X recombined. As do any brothers of yours. If you have enough siblings you might be able to reconstruct your mother’s X from all of theirs.

  5. I am working on an adoptee tree trying to find an unknown father. I need to decide where to tentively place the 2c1r match and the 3rd c who are not on the X. I am told it is not important if they are not on the X. Why is this not important considering that we are told to make sure someone is not on the X? I have the mother’s side complete. I have filled out an X chart yet but will be soon.

    • If the adoptee is a male then he only gets X from his mother so an X match would likely not be paternal (warning small X matches can be from long ago so possibly a shared ancestor on the other side that is not relevant)

      But a female adoptee gets X from both sides.

      The X is weird and can be misleading since matches there can be so far back in time. I tend to treat it as dubious for recent matching unless there is a LARGE match there, at least 15 to 20 cM …

      • I am not sure I answered your main question.

        Outside of close family, the lack of an X match is not necessarily meaningful. For example, if you have an unrecombined X from your grandfather and your first cousin has inherited an unrecombined X from his wife, you would not have an X match. An unlikely but possible scenario

  6. Hi – my father and a match in GEDMatch have a 39 cm X match. They don’t have much autosomal matching, about 30 cm total with the longest match of around 13 cm. Is there anything I can deduce from this (i.e. how distant of a relation she is), other than that the relation is through my grandmother (dad’s mother)? Also, my father is at least 75% Ashkenazi, and I believe all Ashkenazi on his maternal side. I inherited about 38 cm of that string, and there is another GEDMatch member who matches all of us around 25 cm of the same strand, but I don’t have any info on him/her. Thanks in advance!

  7. Traci –
    Yes on your father’s mother’s side. See Blane Bettinger’s blog for images of X inheritance.
    Ashkenazi is more difficult because distant cousins appear closer. That is a nice sized X match and combined with the autosomal might be a 3rd or 4th cousin possibly once or twice removed if it was not Ashkenazi. Might still be or could be a bit further out.

    • Mindy
      The lack of an X match is not meaningful. In very rare cases male siblings have shared no X

      If it is a close cousin on an expected X inheritance pathway you might try the X one to one on gedmath with lower thresholds, say 400 SNPs and 5cm

  8. Figure this one out!
    My number one, and valid “X” match is a man who is also an autosomal match at about 5.0 degrees of kinship, he also has a maternal line going back to a female that shares the same surname as my most distant female line ancestor, and we can’t figure out who our MRCA might be! Both our Thacker female ancestors are dead-ends with birth locations in either North Carolina or Virginia. They were born in the early 1790s. I also “X” match one of his first cousins, but share no autosomal.

    • Well X matches can be pretty far back in time and it sounds like this one is. So could these females be sisters or cousins? Or their fathers could be cousins or …

  9. Hello, I am fairly new to DNA testing and researching. I am trying to find my mother’s birth family. I have one X match at 105.7 cM actual but this person and I don’t share any autosomal. It seems like a huge number to not consider as relevant in my search. Is this a distant match or something closer, 3-4th cousin? Thank you.

    • The match is likely about a 4th cousin which may or may not be useful in your search. Possibly a 3rd or 3rd 1R.

      2nd and 3rd cousins are very useful and closer relatives are even better … I assume you have looked at the methodology at http://DNAadoption.com ? It works.

      If the match is at GEDmatch try dropping the defaults to about 500 SNPs and 6cM on the one to one autosomal and see if anything turns up.

      • I also have an X match with a male 45.7cM. It shows no autosomal match as well, unless I drop it to really low 500SNP’s and 6cm then it still show’s 0. If I keep dropping it down to say 1cM then it has 66cM total. How close is my relationship to this person?

        • Lee –
          Likely a 4th cousin or further out. You will almost always share autosomal with 3rd cousins and closer, so not likely a 3rd although possible. Such a large X match rates to be a findable relationship.

  10. Oh, thank goodness you are still here! I am attempting to help a young adoptee find her birth father (we are related says 23andMe) I share 2445 SNPs with her on the X, but there is another person she share’s 4356 SNPs with on the X. If what I am reading is correct, that is a large segment and am I correct to pursue his lineage? How far back would you suggest? I am 3-5 generations on him now. Thank you so much!

  11. Yes those are large segments and worth pursuing. How many centimorgans (cMs)? When the X gets passed male to female to male it can go back a long long time so keep going.

    I have a 33cM segment (3326 SNPs) shared on the X with a 4th1R that because of X inheritance patterns we know is 7 generations back, my 5th grandmother’s X.

    The X is not as helpful as closer autosomal matches for helping adoptees. Have you looked at the methodology at DNAadoption.com?

    • Thank you for responding, I have never done anything with adoption before, my past is the traditional “hunt & peck” genealogy. I was hoping to help her using my already extensive FT research and give her at least a starting point. I have read a couple more of your blogs and learned so much already, thank you for all you do!

      • Is there any autosomal matching? How many segments and how large is each one?
        There is no absolute way to determine cousinship from match sizes once you get beyond second cousins due to the randomness of DNA inheritance.
        Because recombination does not happen for the X when it passes through a man it can reach further back in time. If it is an X only match (no autosomal) anything from a 4th to a further distant cousin.
        The chromosome match sizes here are helpful but again X can go further back: http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics

  12. I have a question regarding X matching. Ok, so the way I understand
    it, I won’t inherit anything on my X from my father’s father, so it seems
    I should eliminate the possibility of matching all lines going back from my paternal grandfather. But, what about my grandfather’s sister? Could I match one of her children or grandchildren who test? Or a distant cousin?

    If I want to examine those lines I have to recruit this descendant of the sister to get matches on my paternal grandfather’s side? I think it’s becoming clearer, but I’m still confused. Thanks.

  13. I have a female GEDmatch with Autosomal match, total 95.7, largest 43.4- X-DNA total cM 37.9, largest cM 31.2. What is this relationship?

    Thank you!

  14. I use genome mate for all my matches.
    What is your suggestion for a minimum cM to import for an X match? Different for my mom vs dad when it comes to their individual match?
    How about a minimum when autosomal is also a match or when the X is on its own?

    John

  15. Because women have two X chromosomes, the usual recommendation is 7cM, personally I do not look at less than 10cM. But men have only one X so a male to male 3cM match is good. Male to female, use 7 cM

    • The same but the smaller matches may be too far back in time to find the MRCA so I usually double those numbers to determine which ones to follow up on unless there are common surnames or localities

  16. I am female and have an 82 cM X match (one segment) with a woman adopted in 1955. We share no appreciable autosomal, and she does not match my brother. Questions:
    1. Since she doesn’t match my brother, the common connection is on my maternal side, right?
    2. Isn’t 82 cM X match a rather huge amount?
    3. Can one estimate an MRCA when only X DNA is shared?

    • Right paternal side more likely BUT you need to compare your X to your brother’s to make sure you both got X from your mother in that 82cM region where you match your new DNA cousin. If you do not match your brother for at least 7cM in that same 82cM region, then it could be a match from either side. Also if you are not doing the comparison at GEDmatch, your brother may have too small a match to the new cousin to have it show up as a match for him.

      After 3rd cousins, it is impossible to predict the degree of relationship. One segment matches can go quite far back in time BUT that is a very large match so could be as close as a 3rd/4th cousin

  17. Both parents are deceased, how can I find my dad’s and mother’s side using their female siblings? I have tested two aunts from both side of the side, my mother’s half sister (they did different fathers) and my father’s sister.

    • Renee
      When you have a match, if they also match one of your aunts then you know which side the match is from. If they match neither then you do not know.

  18. Thank you Ms. Kitty. I do match my brother for 33 cM in that region and I am doing the comparison in Gedmatch. I will let you know what I find out.

  19. Good morning Ms. Kitty. My question is this: If you have 2 female first cousins and their fathers are brothers, they will share a high X amount, correct? My mother and her cousin (fathers are brothers) share in the 190 range with a lot of blue on the bottom bar. If I compare to another first cousin match but their X match is low (16cM) with very little blue on the bottom bar, does that mean that their fathers were not brothers but we should be looking at a different relationship with their parents?

    Thank you,
    Tabby

  20. Tabby
    You cannot use the X for that determination as the amount of shared X between brothers is random since they could get very different combinations from their mother. So NO, the daughters can share any amount of X
    If the female cousins had zero shared X then you would look at the autosomal to see if there was a different relationship

  21. Kitty,
    Can you please help me to understand how the relationships differ from when a person is matching you higher in the X-Dna than the Autosomal vs. higher Autosomal than X-dna?

    For example: EG is matching my brother Autosomal 7.5 7.5 7.5 and X DNA 20.1 20.1, while DB is matching him Autosomal 27.5 17.2 4.5 and X DNA 7.4 7.4

    I don’t understand what the higher value in Autosomal vs. X means in terms of relatives and their relationships.

    Any advice is greatly appreciated!
    Thanks

  22. DNA inheritance can be quite random after close famy so there is no definitive answer to your question.

    Larger chunks tend to be from close relatives, the more the closer, so DB looks to be about a 3rd cousin.

    A male I only gets his X from his mother so look at the maternal line for the common ancestor BUT since X can last much longer due to its inheritance path that 7cM can be from a different ancestor

    EG could also be a 3rd or 4th cousin or related by more than one ancestor

    • Thank you Kitty,

      so I think what you are saying is both people DB and EG are both related to my brother on our mother’s side ( by one of the people on our Xdna pedigree chart). DB is possible 3rd cousin while EG is 3rd or 4th, correct?

      • Susan,
        Not exactly,

        yes to DB although his X could be from a different ancestor so not necessarily your brother’s mother’s side although that is most likely.

        However EG could be a much more distant cousin with two common ancestors, one for the X and one for the autosomal … or a real 4th.
        Autosomal DNA is not cut and dried

  23. Thank you for your informative article. I was just blown away tonight after I uploaded my fraternal twin daughters DNA to Gedmatch. One of my daughters shares absolutely no X with my mother. I am now assuming she inherited the x unbroken from me , from my dad and in turn from his mother, her great grandmother. Is this normal that an unbroken female line from my mother and her granddaughter shares 0 on the X?

  24. Mskitty – can you help me with these numbers

    William is my brother
    Shelby is me
    Grant is a DNA match and X match with my brother William.
    This is how the chart looks – do you think Grant is a traceable relative.
    Is he likely to be connected to our mothers line via his mothers line?

    William & Grant chromosome 15 – Genetic distance 12.9 SNP 2318
    Chromosome X Genetic distance 20.8 SNP 2459

    Shelby & Grant. 1. 26.8 SNP 3122
    4. 16.0 SNP 1386
    15. 15.1 SNP 2655

  25. Hi Shelby
    This sure looks like a relative you could find – 3rd/4th cousin. It is very likely, because of the X match, that you are related on both your mother’s lines, although not certain because another ancestor could have provided that X.
    Does Grant match you and your brother at the same place on chr 15? In other words, triangulating?

  26. I still do not know what an X is supposed to show. What does an X match mean? I see that it goes way back but if it is so far back why even use it? I had my brother and my son tested at Family Tree and still can’t figure if this is a useful tool or not.

    • Focus on the first 22 pairs of chromosomes. They are more useful.
      The X can help with a specific inheritance question or show a match that does not show elsewhere. It may or may not be useful to you.
      Sorry this is just not straightforward.

  27. My husband had the Y DNA test to 37 markers he has had literally thousands match to level 12 even though a lot of these people have tested to the highest markers. Every time testing is done we get more level 12. The only time more than one surname matches is if a family group have tested is this common ?

    • Heather
      This is very common for the R1b haplogroup and perhaps others. I never even look at my R1b Dad’s matches unless they match for at least 37 and have set it so I do not get emails for lower matches. He originally had about 6000 matches at 12 markers.

  28. I know I asked a similar question a couple of years ago but I am still confused about the amount of X DNA I share with my maternal half-aunt.
    We only share 15cM on the X chromosome, the story is she is my grandmother’s daughter but she had a different father than my mother. If we descend from the same female line is it possible to share that small of DNA?
    Or is it more likely she was the product of a family adoption from my great grandfather or one of his brothers? I understand that we wouldn’t share any passed from her father.

  29. Dee, this is perfectly possible although low. The expected amount is about 47cM. If you shared no X at all that would be worrisome.

    A woman gets X from both her parents, that is what makes her female. Your maternal half-aunt will usually share some X with your mother, the amount is whatever their mother gave them that was the same, around 50% (93cM) but it can vary widely. In other words, your maternal grandmother had two X chromosomes which she recombined differently for each daughter. Then the X you got from your mother would be from your mother’s recombination of her two X chromosomes, so about 25% is the likely share with your half maternal aunt, but again, it can vary widely.

  30. Two full siblings, male and female should share some X correct? They share 2,687 cms and I was told they are full siblings.
    Thanks

  31. Hi Kitty,

    I am new to the World of DNA, but very intrigued. I hope you can help me figuring out this X dilemma. A woman has contacted me because she shares chrX 64.1cM and SNP’s 4528 with my sister and I. She was adopted and I can tell from comparisons that she is definitely from my father’s side of the family. How far back should I go to start looking for our MCRA? Many thanks!

    • If she shares X with you, then I assume you are female for it to be from your father”s side? Men only get X from their mothers. That much X is likely to be recent so out to gg- grandparents to start with. Try to get more cousins to test to help narrow this down. U as the adoptee looked at materials from DNAadoption,com ?

      • Yes, I’m a female. I have my (and my siblings) DNA over at Ancestry.com and I’ve uploaded all of our DNA to GEDMatch. This adopted female cousin has her DNA at Ancestry and GEDMatch, as well.

        I haven’t gone over to DNAdoption.com. I’l check that out now.

  32. Though most of the y chromosome doesn’t recombine with the x, there are two or three short pseudoautosomal regions on the x and y chromosomes that do There is a 4th or 5th cousin I match with; on the x chromosome according to gedmatch and familytreedna. We match on ancestryDna, too, but that doesn’t show which chromosomes we match on. We both have two consecutive males who descend from the most common recent ancestors we share. Now if they didn’t recombine at all, neither of the second male of each of ours would have any of that dna at all. Only the first male would have the x dna since the second male would’ve received a y. In my case, it’s my paternal grandfather who would’ve recieved the x from his mother; my dad received a y, of course. I don’t remember exactly which two males in a row were these cousin’s ancestors.. grandfather/father like me or great grandfather/grandfather.. ?
    It threw me off at first seeing the x matching we share until I started to research about recombination of the x and y.
    All in all, the x chromosome is not an exact replica passed down from father to daughter. ONLY if it were that ‘simple’ it would make it a little easier to know which lines we could look at. 🙂

  33. Dear Kitty,

    My mother has the same surname (Fleming) on both sides of her family. Her father was a Fleming and her maternal great grandmother was a Fleming. One of my mother’s female paternal cousins (1st 1R) shares 131 cM of autosomal DNA with my mother, as well as 20.31 cM on the x-chromosome. Does this mean that the two Fleming families are related? If so, how far back might this connection be? Thanks for any insight you may be able to offer.

    Sherry

    P.S.~I don’t know if it matters, but the brother of my mother’s female paternal cousin (1st 1R) above does not share any cM on my mother’s x-chromosome.

  34. Sherry – Your mother got an X from her Dad who got it from his mother. Her female 1st 1R cousin can easily share X from the known shared grandmother unless there are 2 men between the cousin and the shared ancestress. In that case, the 20cM can come from quite a bit further back on a different genealogical pathway (which it can anyway, best to see if it triangulates with another descendant of your great grandmother to confirm its source)

  35. This is a result of a person I match on GEDcom but I don’t understand it. Can you tell how we may be related by this?

    Chr Start Location End Location Centimorgans (cM) SNPs
    X 2,600,115 154,886,292 191.4 16,483
    Largest segment = 191.4 cM
    Total of segments > 7 cM = 191.4 cM Actual.

    • Barb –
      You cannot tell the relationship just from the X. Look at the autosomal 1-to-1 comparison – how many centimorgans shared? Then look at the charts at ISOGG – isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics to see the possible relationships – and finally use the X to help with the actual relationship.
      The being said, your X match is for almost the entire length of the X except a tiny piece at the beginning so is likely a very close family member

  36. Kitty, I have male relative who has a large (1309 cM 34 segs, Ancestry) match to a female. We think the female’s *mother* is a paternal half-sibling. Is it true that the male and his female half-sibling on his paternal side would not share any X chromosome? If not true, why not?

    • Bonnie, they will share no significant X since a man gets his X from his mother. If his Dad gave him an X he would be female … if his mother is distantly related to the half sibling then they could have a small X match that way.

      I would suggest that he and the female match upload to GEDmatch and compare there. Also it would help if you tested a few more relatives to confirm this presumed relationship

  37. Kitty-
    Glad to have found your blog. Thank you.
    I read thru but still confused.
    I am adopted & found a half-sister (same BM). We both did 23andme & have uploaded to Gedmatch. Half sis is not computer literate so I’m helping out. She is trying to find birthfather. Using gedmatch, autosomal & X-dna, which would be better when trying to find the closes matches for a potential father for her? And what is a good number we are looking for?

    • Robyn,
      Autosomal is your main tool when doing this search. X can sometimes help sort out a relationship that is hard to determine.

      Go look at the methodology at DNAadoption.com and join their mailing list at yahoo. Also there is a Facebook group DNA detectives

      Best if you two also test at ancestry as they have the largest database

  38. Kitty,

    I know I should know this answer, but this morning, it is escaping me. If my father has an autosomal match with whom he shares no X and that same match is a match for me well, but just the opposite (that same match and I share X-DNA but zero atDNA), what exactly if anything does that mean?

    • It appears that you did not inherit the matching segment(s) that your dad has and that the X match is either false or from your mother. If you are male you never get X from your Dad.

  39. Hi Kitty,
    Never knew my father but found a possible half sibling (female). we downloaded our raw DNA data and our X-chromosome match. Im assuming her father was mine however he has passed away. My concern is that he has a brother who resembles me. Is there a possibility that the two brothers share the same X chromosome and thats why me and the female mentioned above match x chomosomes on GED math.

  40. I was contacted by a 27 year old woman on 23andMe who appears to be my first cousin (11.2% shared, 22 segments). We were both adopted, but I have tracked down all my biological family, so I’d like to help her if I can. But I’m unclear on whether she’s my first cousin on my maternal or paternal side.

    On my biological mother’s side, she had only two siblings, and her sister had her tubes tied before this woman was born, so that leaves her brother. This seems the most likely match, but I’m confused because the woman and I share no overlap on the X chromosome. Being so close to my biological mother, this seems surprsing to me. Is it meaningful?

    On my biological father’s side, while he had a hoarde of siblings, all of the women would have been past child bearing age, and the men would have been 50 at the youngest. Not impossible, but not probable.

    So is the lack of X chromosome overlap a deal breaker on the maternal side?

  41. Brian –
    No the lack of X is unusual but never a deal breaker except for very close family (sisters of same father).

    Have you considered the other possible relationships besides cousin? from ISOGG – http://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics

    “First cousins, …, great-uncle or aunt/great-nephew or niece, half-uncle or aunt/half-nephew or niece”… So a child of one of your Dad’s siblings could have had this new cousin making her your great-niece … Or a half-sibling of yours via one of your bio parents could have had a child who is this person making her your half-niece.

    The lack of X makes it more likely your Dad’s side but not for sure. Does she match other family members who have tested? That is the best way to sort it out, more tests…

    • Whelp, that mystery got wrapped up quick. Turns out it was a daughter of my half-sister on my father’s side. My half siblings on my father’s side are much older, about twice my age actually, so at first I didn’t consider them.

      I went to connect with the woman on Facebook to talk to her about connecting with GEDmatch, and noticed we had a connection in common, my half-sister. Apparently they found each other somehow in the background through all my genealogical research, probably my Ancestry.com profile. They’d both been looking for each other!

  42. I’ve got X-DNA results I don’t understand. My son just had his family tested through FTDNA: His daughter, Phoenix, step-son Reign, his wife Aisha and his father-in law Lionel. The Chromosome Browser indicated some interesting matches. Phoenix to her Grandfather made sense with the mixing over the generations with 92 cM. But then when I ran Reign against his Grandfather he had a full 196 cM match. I transferred to GEDmatch and did X One-One and it was not only 196 cM, it was 100% FULL match, not half match. Anyone ever see anything like that ?

    • David,
      It is not that unusual for a boy to match his maternal grandfather’s X 100% … A bit rare but normal … All it means is that his mother passed him the entire X she got from her dad with no recombination with her mother’s X.

        • Wow!! Do I have some unique grandkids. Not only did my Grandson have an un-recombined X Chromosome from his Maternal Grandfather. Now I have a Granddaughter with a full 196 cM match to her paternal Grandmother. So I have two kids, both with un-recombined X chromosomes from their Grand Parents. How often does that happen?

          • A girl will always have a full Xmatch to her dad’s mom because he passes exactly what his mom gave for an X to any daughters

  43. I am new to the DNA matching. Not sure what the numbers all mean. Here is my question though. A girl I have never met contacted me out of the blue stating that our dna came up 1.6 generation difference.. so my dad or an uncle was likely father. here are some of the numbers comparing her and my 2 children (half siblings, boy and girl)
    x-dna total cM 196.1 same with both my children
    HER Autosomal Total cM 1565.6 largest cM 165.8 Gen 1.6
    Daughter and Son 3586.9 / 263.7 / 1.0

    Does this say that the likelyhood is that she is my half sister and my dad may have some explaining to do?

    • OH WOW! This is kinda crazy because I JUST found him a year and a half ago.. He and I already discussed this possibility. We are from Northern Indiana and this girl is from Riverside, CA. I was born in 71, she in 87. He said that he’d only been out here once.. he and his friends got stuck in Tijuana and that was the only time he may have had extra marital (he was married to his 3rd wife, 3 daughters) at the time. But was POSITIVE it couldn’t have been him. LOL

  44. Kitty,

    Great blog!

    I have a question about the significance of the lack of X-match. If I have someone who shows up as a fifth cousin and they are an X-match there are certain potential paths to that cousin. I will call that X-pathways. For a fifth cousin match not having an X-match, this really has no bearing on whether the match is on the X pathways, because the match is so distant that the common X DNA could have been lost along the way. But what about a first cousin or second cousin? Where is the point that lack of X match means that the x-pathways are not the route to the common ancestor?

    David

    • David
      Because of the nature of the X, you cannot read anything into the lack of an X match except between female siblings who MUST share the full X if they share a Dad.
      Usually very close relatives on an X path will share X but not necessarily because they can each inherit different X … sometimes each has a full X from a different line.

  45. What does it mean when a step-cousin says Glenn and I share .36 and 2 segments of DNA. His genotype is HR 1b1b2a1a2d3a.
    A step-cousin by second marriage of my (our) g grandfather McCarthy to her g Grandmother Rudkin is trying to find out how Glenn is related to her.
    Glenn was born in 1932. The step-cousin was born in 1935. But in cities 100 miles apart.

    • Colleen,
      All it means is that you are related … DNA is very amorphous and that is nowhere near enough information to help you. Try the DNA-NEWBIES mailing list on Yahoo or Facebook and supply a lot more information about the matching segments (autosomal or X?).
      According to the statistics at https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics
      .36% is about a 3rd cousin once removed but at that distance, the amount of DNA can vary widely

  46. Thanks Kitty, I did a little deducing from what we know. McC/Rud married in 1867. They had 3 children. Those 3 children were 53-60 in 1932…not likely their child. So the parent is likely from the next generation. My step-cousin knows those people, her cousins. I will pass on your tips, she has 23+Me. And, all parties are from the same city, not 100 miles away. Getting closer. Thanks again.

  47. Hi Kitty,

    I have a question regarding X-DNA. If a male has no X DNA link with in this case a female (3rd cousin). Can you assume that his link with her is his Paternal Ancestral Lineage????

    Based on this:If you are a male, any X-DNA matches will be related to you on your mother’s line. If your X-DNA match is male, you will be related to him via his mother.

    Your blog is so interesting and helpful.

    Thank you.
    Susan

  48. Hi, Kitty
    I am confused! I have a close DNA match at 111/31, with matches on 10 chromosomes at the lowest setting – clearly related, but no idea who my match is.
    However, the X-chromosome result just blows me away. The longest strand on the X-chromosome is 108cm, with a further 3 significant strands totalling another 11cm. Yet the closest I can see that we are related is as second cousins sharing a paternal great grandfather…maybe. So just how far back would x-matches be retained intact without recombination?
    This match is not closer, as she is not even in the same country.
    How does this work? Cheers

    • Karen –
      Female to female matches on the X that are smaller than 10cM can be false (less than 7cM, ignore) but that large match is wonderful. 111cM autosomal is about a 2nd1R which would fit that X as well, see https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_statistics
      If that X is from your Dad then from his mother, from her Dad, then a larger piece can stay together like that from further back (3rd cousin), but the 111cM elsewhere suggests a close relative. Is that the total of segmants > 7cM?

  49. Hello Ms. Kitty,

    I am having the hardest time trying to figure out the relationship I share with a gal who contacted me because on Ancestry we matched as 1st cousins. (Familytreedna states half siblings.) She is adopted, and I am the only relative she’s ever found. I figured out who her mother is, but I am beyond stuck on her father. We don’t connect through her mother. I have spend countless hours creating trees, trying to find out if the relation is through my mother or father. I have read post after post on your site, trying to understand all the DNA info you provide, and I am lost. I’m really hoping you can help me, or at least tell me where to look. This is what we share, after we uploaded into GEDMatch.com:
    Autosomal: Total cM: 1165.9 largest: 98.71
    X-DNA: Total: 100.5 cM largest 59.3

    I thought I read somewhere on your blog that given the largest segments, we’re closer than 1st cousins. I really appreciate your help!!!

    • Jamie –
      That large an X means she is related to you on your mother’s side. If you are close in age then she really could be your cousin. Does your mother have any brothers who might be her dad? She could also be your half niece if your mother has any half siblings.
      Can you get some more maternal relatives to test? I will email you privately.

  50. Hi Kitty,
    I have a female match, along with an X dna of cM294 longest block is 132. I don’t know who my dad’s father was. Is it possible that our fathers were half brothers?
    I do know that we cross connections with the 3rd set of great grandparents, but are we related somewhere else along the line? She’s coming up as a 1st cousin on Family tree dna. Our great grandparents had 7 daughters. Another female cousin comes up as 4th – 6th cousins-same great grandparents, so its very confusing. We are all three just a few years apart in age.

    • DNA inheritance can be very random past your parents. For example. I have 28% from my maternal grandad and only 22% from his wife. That being said, your shared DNA is too high for 4th cousins, which is the relationship of people who share 3rd grandparents. So yes, there is likely a 2nd relationship and parhaps via that unknown grandad … but first … family tree DNA counts many small segments. What is the total cM for chromsomes 1-22 where the segment is 7cM or larger?

      Second of all, you have no X from your Dad’s father, are your 3rd g-grandparents on an X inheritance path for you two (X cannot pass through 2 men since a man passes Y not X to his son). I usually ignore a female to femal match that is less than 7cM and below 10cM is suspect, can easily be a false match.

  51. HI

    I am trying to understand the X-DNA on GEDMATCH. I am in search for my father and based on my findings I did determine a Great,Great Grandmother. I show a cousin match on that side that is female autosomal of 111.6 and XDNA 62.4 with largest with largest at 29.3. My sister shows XDNA as 194.7 and largest at 128. What does this mean?

    Thanks

  52. X match in a to both sister and me. Would the match on the XDNA on the cousin be the same grandmother match or do you think it may be from someone closer. And it would of been a female right? I have come across so many names and I am trying to narrow down some. I am not having luck with a second cousin match to respond that may be able to help.

    Thank You.

    • A woman gets an X from each parent so it could be either side. But if your sister has the same dad as you, then you both have the same X from him so would have the same match. Of course, it could be a combination from each side

  53. This is a wonderful blog. I have read many posts, but still a little confused. I am in search of my bf. In gedmatch I have a paternal match and we share on autosomal 120.8cm with the largest being 36. and on xdna we share 81.6cm with largest being 64.8. Would she be a good starting point for me?

    • Yes she would be a good starting point as she is a close-ish cousin. Anything from a 1st1R to a 2nd2R (wide range), most likely about a 2nd cousin or so …
      If she has a tree posted, take a copy before you contact her. Many people get freaked out by these unknown parentage scenarios and remove their trees. Others are very welcoming and helpful. Make your first contact message short, nice, and engage her in solving a mystery on your family tree.
      DNAadoption.com has many helpful resources also as well as a mailing list. DNA detectives on Facebook has an unknown fathers subgoup also.

  54. I was adopted and, at 69, only recently found both sides of my family through 23&Me and GEDMatch. I have found an Uncle and cousin on one side and a bunch of first cousins on the other side. On the one side, I have 3 matching X segments with the largest being 53.5 (matched pretty much the same to two cousins each from a different sibling parent). On the other side, I have only one matching X segment, the same for the uncle and the first cousin. The segment is 35.6 cm. Is there any way to tell which side is my paternal and which is my material side? I’m not sure.

  55. mskitty, I am trying to figure out who my Mothers Dad was, I only have a name (very common one) on her birth certificate . That is all I have. I do not know when or where he was born. I did my dna threw 23andme. They gave me lots of cousins. How could I know which cousins share a relationship threw my Mothers Dad? Which ones could I rule out. Hope you can help me. My Mother passed away never knowing anything about her Dad. I am 68 and I don’t want to die without knowing something about him so I am hoping a cousin with a connection to him might help.

    • Polly –
      Do you have any relatives on your Mom’s mom’s side that would test? Even 2nd cousins are a help. That way you can see if a cousin match is also a match to your known cousins, if not likely your mom’s dad.
      Also build your mother’s mother’s tree well so you can see when a DNA match is from that side. Use wikitree (a collaborative one world tree) if you are not on ancestry
      Are your ethnicity results any help?
      The best site for looking for unknown parentage is actually ancestry.com because it has the largest database.
      But also upload your 23andme results to FamilyTreeDNA.com GEDmatch.com DNA.land and MyHeritage to get more cousin matches

  56. Hi, can you help me please. On 23andme I have a 3rd-4th cousin match at 0.87% shared dna, on gedmatch this comes up as 7.3cm on one-to-one (1 segment) and 60.6cm X dna one-to-one (also 1 segment). Can you help me find out how far back our common ancestor might be please? Its the largest single piece I have for any match but the standard cm is rather small.

  57. Very interested by the X these days. My mum is adopted and we had been told she had an british dad. Her mother was belgian. I did a DNA test that confirmed for me 47% british and the rest is exactly matching my dad’s roots. So no question there.
    On 23andme I have a top match with a british man on the X chromosome only. A consequent piece of 56 cm! His family has been in UK forever so there is no question about his origins and knowing mine now via my mum’s side I presume I got that piece of matching X via her X chomosome and not via my dad’s side.
    Now, I went through a bit of genealogy on his side… He got his X from his mum, and she got hers from her mum or her dad ( going that way does not seem possible from the info I have). That second generation level matches my possible mum’s dad age. It means 2 generations above my match. Looking at the info I have in hand: dates, places and names I concluded that my mum’s dad could be a brother of my match’s grand mother, they would have both received the X from their mother. My possible grand-dad would be a great uncle of my match. Possible?
    Also, is it possible to just have a big piece on X chromosome and no other dna match on the other 22 chromosomes? Thank you for your help

  58. Matches only on the X are usually no closer than a 4th cousin. X can last longer than segments on chromosomes 1-22 even one that large.

    You will always share some autosomal DNA with a 2nd cousin or closer, so your theory is unlikely but get some more of your matches family members to test. Here are the statistics for cousin matching
    https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics

  59. Hi Kitty,
    I am wondering what an X dna match should look like between a full brother and sister on gedmatch. Should there be large segments of green along that line like on the autosomal dna or can the green segments be many but thin?
    Thank you.

    • Judy –
      No green bars because a boy only has one X chromosome. The little bits of green are probably where the female is identical on both X chromosomes.
      So just the blue bar showing the match is relevant.

      • Hi Kitty,
        It is hard to describe the X dna comparison but I’ll try. The solid blue bar on the bottom starts with a grey section (about a tenth of the line) with red and yellow stripes on the top. Then the blue line is solid for the most of it with lots of yellow and green stripes on top. The last tenth of the blue line is again grey with red and yellow stripes on top.

        The largest segment is 143.2 cM. I hope this doesn’t sound too confusing.

        Hoping you can help.

  60. Hi

    I was wondering if you could sort something out for me. My father has Mexican ancestry. My mother does not. My paternal grandfather was full Mexican and my paternal grandmother was full British. Am I right to understand that I shouldn’t have Mexican X-matches, since my dad got no X from his dad?? I’m trying to sort out my lines, and I have a few X-matches who are full Mexican. How can that be? What am I missing in understanding x matches?

    • Laura –
      You have it right. But Mexican is a blend of European, Native American, and even some African. Because X reaches so far back in time the Mexicans you are matching on the X must have some european X that matches your paternal grandma or whatever ethnicity your mom has. I have X matches that are known to be from the 1600s and earlier, so best not to worry too much about this. Also for woman, tend to ignore X matches smaller than 10cM

  61. I am in need of help I did 23 and me along with other relatives. Would I be able to tell if my mothers cousin(maternal) is my father? I am female and my other maternal female cousin does not seem to have as much matching area on the X chromosome with grandmother. My my maternal aunt matches grandmother ~180cm on X, I match her ~140 cm on X. Am I looking in the right place?

  62. No, the X will not answer your question but if your father is a first cousin to your mother that can easily be seen in your DNA because there will long runs where your DNA is identical on both strands. This is called homozygosity and this tool
    http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/FF23utils/roh.php
    can show it to you. An easier tool is the are yoor parents related tool at GEDmatch.com but if your 23andme test is recent, since August 2017, that tool is not yet available to you

  63. I would be really grateful for your help as I’m a complete dna novice.

    When I do the gedmatch one to many X chromosome search, there is a match higher than my brother. There’s no autosomal match at all with this man. I’m female. Under the red and blue arrows it reads 60.9cm. The same info for my full brother is 71cm and 46cm.

    Is this as significant as I’m hoping it is?

    • Although X can last longer than the other chromosomes the large size would indicate a recent common ancestor. No autosomal however means that this match at best a 3rd cousin, maybe a 3rd1R or a 4th on his mother’s side and your mother’s side since your brother is also an X match.

      • Thanks for this insight. My original wording was unclear though. The stranger’s x match to me is higher than my brothers x match to me. The stranger and my brother have no x match. Does that mean my father’s side and the stranger’s mother’s side. Does this still indicate a recent ancestor? Many thanks for your help.

        • The fact that your brother does not match is not necessarily significant unless this segment overlaps one of the segments you share with your brother for a large enough piece. Only in that case can you be sure it is from your father’s side

  64. Hi Kitty! My Dad (and his twin brother) were adopted. I have a woman that is a paternal side match for me on 23andMe of 189 total cM and 82cM on the X. Would she be a match to me from my Dad’s mother? 23andMe predicts that we share a great grandparent. I have many matches to this Great Grandfather that we might share – 3rd to more distant cousins. Getting closer hopefully :). Thanks in advance for your input!

    • Katie
      Geting closer is exciting! That large an X matching segment on a paternal side match rates to come from your dad’s mother’s family as he gets no X from his Dad ( a smallish match could be on your mother’s side even though its a paternal match, long story …)

  65. I am a bit confused when it comes to the X chromosome. My mom matches a second cousin for me, 1st cousin for my mom on her maternal side. My question is, should the male second cousin match my mom on the X chromosome because they share a common ancestor (my great grandparents) on the maternal side?

    I’ve checked on 23andme both myself, my mom, my brother, and my uncle (mom’s brother) and none of us match him on the X chromosome. Because his grandmother is my grandmother’s sister, shouldn’t he be on the X?

    • Kate –
      Do not worry about the lack of an X match except in very close family and it is barely possible to even happen there (two brothers could conceivably get the opposite X from each other).
      Your male 2nd cousin got his X from his Mom who recombined X from each parent but sometimes it is just from one parent or the other. So it is easy for her not to have given him any of the same X that your mom got. Of course if his father is the one who is your mom’s uncle then he would never share any X with her! He only gets Y from his Dad.
      Perhaps a simpler way to think ot it is that no X can be passed through 2 men.

  66. It is my understanding that I being a female and having an X match with a male , we will be matched on his mothers side… Does this mean that I can still find a male grandparent on his mother’s side? And… another question.. my husband who has and X DNA match with another male… both their matches will be on each of their mother’s sides? ..BUT In otherwords… can my husband find his grandfather on the mother’s side of HIS X match?

  67. I’m male, and am confused about sharing on the X-Chromosome. Per 23andme, I share roughly the same 25 cM segment of X with 10 different females. However, per 23andme’s chromosome browser, those ten women do not all share she same segment with each other. I understand that this can happen on ch1-22 because of the fact that we all have two strands, etc. But it seems that, unless the browser somehow knows which of the female’s strands are from male line and which are from female line, this can not happen on the X-chromosome. Please help.

  68. Hi Kitty. I think my previous post may have been less than clear. so I’ll try again. The following table summarizes the results of using the 23andme comparison tool. The names across the top were the basis for the comparison (name at the top of the tool), while the names down the left side represent the names which are compared to the top name. The matching segments were all on the X-chromosome between 30 and 40 (millions). So Doug and Michael matched the four women nicely no matter who was on top. However, the women do not match each other, even when compared only 2 at a time despite the fact that overlap is shown in the start/end list. For example, Amber goes from 32-39.5 and Debra goes from 31-40 (millions), . Does 23andme know which female x-strand came from which parent and, between women, only match the corresponding strands? But even that makes no sense. If Joan/Amber and Joan/Tamara show no match, wouldn’t Amber/Tamera show a match? Or is their tool broken? Or am I just confused? Please help.
    Doug Michael Joan Debra Amber Tamara
    Doug 10 16 18 13 11
    Michael 10 11 11 10 10
    Joan 16 11 20 0 0
    Debra 18 11 20 0 0
    Amber 13 11 0 0 0
    Tamara 11 10 0 0 0

  69. Ok. Formatting got lost. The numbers should be adjusted so that the diagonal shows blanks, and the top line of names needs to be moved right so that Doug is over the first column of numbers.Thus, for example, the list of numbers under Joan, going down, should read: 18,11,blank,20,0,0. Sorry about that.

  70. Kitty – Thank you. The matches that seem to be consistent are 16 and 22 cms. The ones that don’t work are 10-13 cMs. Like you said.

  71. I done test on 23 and me as I’m trying to find relatives from my fathers side as I don’t know who he is. My Mom has passed away so she can’t be tested but her sister has done a DNA test also and they share the same parents. Also her daughter has done a DNA test as well as my half sisters daughter. I have taken some of my matches and compare to them and found several that they don’t match anything with. Question is could I assume that the ones they don’t share would be from my fathers side?

  72. Hello Kitty:
    I’m an adopted female and I have an X match for a male of 1c1R. Is one of his maternal aunts my mother? putting it simply.

    • Sarah –
      Provided the X match is of a good size, you will be related to him somewhere on his maternal line. Use this calculator for the autosomal DNA match to see the likely relationships:
      https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4
      Warning the X match if small can be far back and not be from the same ancestor as the autosomal DNA

  73. I am 72 year old woman and am trying to determine who my father might have been. My mother and aunts have passed on and there is no one left to ask.
    I tested on Ancestry and moved my dna to Gedmatch. There I found a female who shares a match with me of
    81.2 CM Autosomal 23.4Largest CM and 38.1 Xdna 38.1 largest CM
    It says she is 3.4 generations away from me. She has to be from my paternal side, I see her on another genealogy site and know she is 41 years old.
    Would researching further help me to determine who my father was?

  74. Hi Kitty

    I have been testing daughter of brothers to determine which brother was my father. All testing at Ancestry.

    I am matching with all cousins in the 800 range as first cousins and so not have a full X with any of them.

    I do have one test that came in at 1287 (little low for half sibling) but when I compare our X at Gedmatch it comes as a full blue line and 189.7 cm with the largest segment of 105.1. I also match on Chromosome 2 at 109.8.

    Have I found my paternal half sister?

    Thank you

    • Yes you have found her, that is too high for a first cousin and the X is the clincher. Please check the no hard breaks box on the X to be sure to see it as a full X match
      CONGRATS!!!

      • Hi Kitty

        Hi Kitty

        I just did the no hard breaks and it came in as 190.1 cM on the “X” using 18,008 SNP’s.

        Thank you for your quick reply, my search is over.

        Jan

  75. Hello Kitty,
    I am a real newbie. I have read all these posts and have uploaded my raw data to gedmatch.com from 23andme. I am so frustrated because I don’t know how to read any of it. Here’s the thing. I know who my mother is and my siblings and my cousins and their kids etc. That’s the frustrating part because when I look at the results of everything; I consistently keep seeing all my maternal relatives and their kids etc. I don’t want to see those. I don’t know who my father is and trying to find a relative for him. I don’t have any brothers. Would having my son tested reveal anything about my Paternal Father? How do I separate all the dna results that I get from Gedmatch to try to identify at least 1 paternal relative? I see the names of the ones on my deceased mothers side. I just want to figure out who my father is or one of his relatives. My kit number on Gedmatch is HZ7021423. I

  76. Sheree –
    There is a learning curve, be patient with yourself. I recommend you test at Ancestry in addition as it has the largest data base and easiest interface.
    Do you have any half siblings? Their DNA tests are the most helpful! Else a first cousin or two. Get a close maternal relative tested at Ancestry as well.
    At GEDmatch use the “People who match both or one of two kits function” to find people who only are on your paternal side because they match you and not your half sib or cousin.
    More about GEDmatch here:
    https://blog.kittycooper.com/2019/02/genesis-basics-gedmatch-reinvented-part-1/#more-6601

    • My half-siblings daughter (on my mothers side) tested with 23andme. Would that still be the same as you suggested getting my half sibling or first cousin? I have just encouraged her to upload her raw data to GedMatch. So when she does that; do I use her kit number and my kit number and compare to who? I’m confused but going to stick with this to see who my father or a relative of his is. Please explain what you mean when you say use “People who match both or one of two kits function” Plus, I see a column called overlap. Sorry for sounding so dopey.

      • Yes your half niece’s test is fine for this purpose.
        Go to gedmatch genesis and click on the function I mentioned, as shown outlined in red in this image. Then put your 2 kit numbers in. Follow up by looking at the trees of people who match just you.
        Kits that match one or both of 2 kits at genesis

  77. Hi Kitty

    Im adopted (female age 49) and show the following (23andme) match to a woman (female age 67) who’s father is adopted. Pretty sure we are a Paternal match as I have figured out who my bio-mom is (via Ancestry cousin matches, a lot of research, and confirmation from her).

    781 cM
    20 segments

    X CMAs: 109.21
    X SNPs: 8996
    X identity: Half

    Does this mean we share a paternal grandmother?

    • Almost surely.
      If your father and her father are full brothers (or even halves), then you are first cousins and share that paternal grandmother. That super large X does mean that you and she inherited it recently, most likely from the mother of your two fathers presuming she is not related to your bio mom (could your match’s dad be your mom’s dad and she does not know that?)

      • Thanks for the follow-up. Pretty sure she is not related to my maternal side as our shared match list points to paternal. My bio-mom’s dad is known and deceased, but I do think it is a good possibility that our fathers our brothers or 1/2 brothers. We share a second cousin on 23andme who is trying to get her Aunt to test. Her Aunt is the daughter of the potential grandmother, or at least the granddaughter of our shared great-grand parents, making her our Aunt.

        The second cousin and I match as follows:
        388 cM
        19 segments
        X CMAs: 36.46
        X SNPs: 2857
        X identity: Half

  78. P.S.

    My bio-mom has agreed to test with Ancestry and I have also found a 1/2 (paternal) brother (age 43) through Ancestry (he is also adopted) who recently uploaded his data to GEDmatch. My 1/2 brother and I do NOT match on the X.

  79. I just found an X match on FTDNA, to my sister 195 cMs who does not match me or my other full sisters who also have 196 cMs X match with above sister. Is there any way where this makes any sense?

    • Sharon –
      This could make sense if the sister who matches is only a half sister with the same father as the new match has. How much autosomal DNA is matching?
      Else ask custoner support to check for an error

      • Kitty – only 8.2 cMs autosomal, and definitely not a half sister with the same father, I’ve reached out to ftdna and waiting to hear back.

        Thanks
        Sharon

  80. Hi Kitty, I just found your blog, looking forward to lots of interesting reading! 🙂
    I have a question that confuses me: I manage two FTDNA kits from my father-in-law and his maternal uncle. There is a woman who matches their ENTIRE X-chromosomes, but they only match each other on 3 segments there (11, 35 and 21 cM). What does this mean? Does one of them match her dad’s entire X-chromosome and the other her mom’s? Is that even possible? On the other chromosomes, they only match her on one 9-10 cM segment and a few very small ones, so no close relation.

    • A woman has 2 X chromosomes so it is possible that sections of her different X chromosomes are involved. However ask support at ftDNA took into it since they have had problems in the past with the X. The other thing you could do is upload both kits to gedmatch and compare the X there

  81. Hello! I have a fully Iberian (Spanish) DNA match listed as a 5th cousin on an x-chromosome (I tested via 23andme, the segment is 15cm). For them, the segment is listed as Spanish/Portuguese (as they are 100% Spanish, on 23andme), whilst I score German/French on that segment. Do you think this match is viable? And, if so, is it likely that I have a distant Iberian ancestor in common with this individual? I have not been able to go far on the German side of my family tree to verify any Spanish line. Thank you for any help!

  82. Dear MO,
    At 15cM the match is likely valid but it could be too far back to find in your family trees if you have no autosomal match just the X.

    Ethnicity is not that accurate yet and the X is very sparsely sampled in many spots so maybe Iberian or maybe not. 23andme is the only company that predicts erhnicity on the X and it is probably only continentally accurate so yes, maybe iberian or french

      • Hard to pin it down since inheritance patterns can extend the length of time an X segment can stay together but 1500s or earlier is quite possible.

  83. Kitty,

    Thank you very much for your blogs dealing with DNA. They’ve been most helpful. I have what may sound like an odd question. I use the GEDmatch service and found only 30 cousins who share 7 cM of DNA with me– I say only 30 cousins because most of my autosomal DNA cousins seem to have 100+ or even 1000+ shared X Chromosome cousins. Is this lack of cousins unusual? If so, other than no one on my mother’s side of my family having taken a DNA test, is there an explanation? My maternal grandfather came to the US with two brothers and a sister in the early 1900s; the rest of his family stayed behind in Europe. My maternal grandmother came to the US with two sisters but was the only one of the three who lived to have grandchildren. She told me when I was much younger that there were never any more letters from the old country after the Nazis came. Does this offer a likely or possible explanation for so few X Chromosome cousins?

    • Louis – the lack of X matches is very normal for a man, particularly if they are of non American descent. My Norwegian-American father has only 20 X matches that also match him autosomally. Another I worked with has only 4. Women have many more matches on the X because they have two X chromosomes. I suspect your cousins with all those matches are female.

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