Heritage Album

is family tree DNA testing reliable to find the father of someone?

for example like the fathers name...

Public Comments

1. No. There is a different DNA test used to determine if a specific individual is the father of someone, and it requires two DNA samples, one from the person and one from the father (or the father's brother or the father's father, or certain other relatives). The DNA test done by Family Tree DNA is supposed to tell you ethnicity and some possible, distant relatives, but not to identify the specific father or his last name.
2. No, it isn't that simple. A son would have his father's Y DNA but it would also be the same for his father's brothers, his paternal uncles, the male cousins on his father's side and many other people in their extended family. So the Y DNA with an absolute match for the son might be in a DNA database but that wouldn't prove just exactly who his fahter is. Both males and females get Autosomal from both parents. It is the only DNA that can prove the paternity of a female. But you need the father's Autosomal as well.