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My great great grandfather is 100% Spaniard , but he married a Haitian woman making him 50% Spaniard and then my great grandfather also married a Haitian woman and my grandmother married a Haitian man and my mother had me with an American man (mixed).

What percentage of Spanish do I have, or if I am any Spanish at all?

My appearance looks Spanish, and a few people asked if that was my ethnicity.

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You have 50% of each of your parents' genes.
They each have 50% of their parents' genes, and you have 25% of each of your grandparents' genes. You have 12.5% of each great-grandparents' genes. You have 6.25% of each great-great-grandparents' genes.

So, if you are going solely off that one 100% Spanish great-great-grandfather, then your background is at least 6.25% Spanish (aka Iberian Peninsula). However, it may be higher, if any of your other great-great-grandparents had some Spanish in their background, and it might be a bit lower, if that "100% Spanish" great-great-grandfather actually had some North African in his background.

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    Although a fine rough approximation, this is not strictly true. You certainly inherit 50% of autosomal DNA from each of your parents. However, due to genetic recombination, you may inherit somewhat more or less than 25% from each of your grandparents. For instance, I was able to test some of my grandparents and it turns out I inherited about 20% and 21% from each of my grandfathers, while 30% and 29% from each of my grandmothers. I was surprised by how far off the average 25% this was. Compound this over a few generations, and you will quickly get way off the 25%, 12.5%, 6.25%, etc.
    – Harry V.
    Sep 29, 2021 at 5:24
  • Yes, this is true. There's also the consideration that men inherit ~51% from their mother, and only ~49% from their father, due to the X gene. However, for basic purposes, 6.25% is the rough max from a given GGGF; the actual amount would not be determinable without comparing DNA (indirectly, at least).
    – BrianFreud
    Sep 29, 2021 at 11:28

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