Advice: What test to do and who with?

[Elefantas]

Hello,

I am new to the forum, and I have read a little here and got confused. I am over my head here and would like some help.
I am trying to get a DNA test done on my father. He is from Cyprus, and I was hoping to find out what his background is. Is he mostly Phoenician? Turkish? Greek? African? That sort of thing. (He is Greek Cypriot, but judging by his features, he is unlikely to be Greek, so I am curious.)
What tests do you recommend I order? and with what company? (Delivery to Cyprus)

Thank you!

 

[Dorianfinder]

Hello,

I am new to the forum, and I have read a little here and got confused. I am over my head here and would like some help.
I am trying to get a DNA test done on my father. He is from Cyprus, and I was hoping to find out what his background is. Is he mostly Phoenician? Turkish? Greek? African? That sort of thing. (He is Greek Cypriot, but judging by his features, he is unlikely to be Greek, so I am curious.)
What tests do you recommend I order? and with what company? (Delivery to Cyprus)

Thank you!

When you say, 'Is he mostly Phoenician? Turkish? Greek? African?', I have to emphasize that the utility of a DNA test rests to a large extent on the distinctiveness of the ethnic groups you are comparing. If I 'listen' carefully to what you are saying it appears that your father has some Middle Eastern or AfroAsian characteristics that you would like to know more about. You could do an autosomal DNA test that will give you an approximate percentage of his various ancestral admixtures. This then needs to be interpreted and may not be very conclusive as Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus and Egypt share a great deal of DNA and your father's paternal ancestry may have experienced a fare amount of introgression from having lived on Cyprus for many generations. This introgression means that any foreign DNA would become negligible over time as every generation crossover occurs between the foreign markers and local markers.

FTDNA currently has a sale of $90 on their Family Finder test and they post kits anywhere in the world for 5 dollars.

More specifically, if your father looked European then you could test your yDNA haplogroup as most European males fall into a few distinct groups. If I was you I would look at genealogy first, then family history and finally bring in DNA testing.

Good luck!

 

[Elefantas]

Thank you for you response. ..."approximate percentage of his various ancestral admixtures." I think this is what I was looking for. If that will give me % on a map.
I am afraid genealogy is not an option in this case, he comes from a very poor family, not much is known beyond his grandparents. Our last name "Mina" is actually his grandfather's first name "Minas", before that there were no "last names" you were just "the son of."

 

[Dorianfinder]

Thank you for you response. ..."approximate percentage of his various ancestral admixtures." I think this is what I was looking for. If that will give me % on a map.
I am afraid genealogy is not an option in this case, he comes from a very poor family, not much is known beyond his grandparents. Our last name "Mina" is actually his grandfather's first name "Minas", before that there were no "last names" you were just "the son of."

It may be worthwhile to inquire at your church where the church records (baptisms, deaths, marriages) are archived. These church registries known in Greek as Ληξιάρχικές πράξεις έκκλησίων [ΛΠΕ] are very valuable to the family historian and genealogist. If you follow the paper trail the path should facilitate the interpretation of any future DNA results you may have. FTDNA's Family Finder will add your data to a database and provide you with matches that may enlighten your search.