There are three important steps you need to complete in adding names to your FTDNA account. You can do this before your results are ready in the lab.
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Upload or add a Family tree to your account (GEDCOM file)
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Most Distant Ancestor (earliest known) – Ancestral Locations (place for the direct line)
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Surnames
Point 2 and 3 are found under the Genealogy tab in your account, and can be accessed by clicking Manage Personal Information.
Project administrators can assist you with entering the information.
Upload a GEDCOM
See our pages for how to create a GEDCOM if you do not have one already, and continue with the other steps in the meantime.
The GEDCOM is visible to:
- All your matches
- Project Administrators of your projects
Most Distant Ancestors
The ideal form of “Most Distant Ancestor” information for Norwegian paternal and maternal lines: We need full name: given names, patronymic, farm name/surname, birth year, and place/county. If you do not add place here, the Public results lists for Y-DNA and mtDNA will not show them, thus becoming less useful for both the project and your matches.
Format
See examples below, and do not use the format listed as example under the name field.
The field has very limited size – 50 spaces – so you will need to shorten info, like Nilsd instead of Nilsdotter – and use three-letter codes for county: See list of county abbreviations: Fylker.
Do not waste space on commas, “about”, “born” or “and”. Add only birth year if known, death year only if birth year is not known.
Note that we will slightly edit the information to fit this format if the details are already known through the map function or a GEDCOM.
For privacy: Only the names of the most distant ancestor is shown, not your own name.
Direct Paternal
Your direct paternal ancestor is your father’s father’s father’s father, as far back as you know. We need the information for the earliest known man in this line. Use the earliest known name and place, where he was from.
Examples from the public results list:
- Hallvard Persson Alme c 1691-1757 Åmot HED
- Tore Trondsson Tynnøl b1530 Lesja OPL
- Jon Knutsson Årset b1664 Geiranger MRO
For Swedish ancestors you write the county (län) code letter in parenthesis:
- Per Larsson ab 1693-1761 Tidaholm (O)
The information in this field is visible to:
- All your matches
- Project Administrators of your projects
- Anyone, through the Y-DNA results list of projects
If you have no information in this field, your Y-DNA results will be listed under: “Ancestry information missing, PLEASE fill in – will be grouped after info is entered”
Direct Maternal
Your direct maternal ancestor is always a woman – your mother’s mother’s mother’s mother, as far back as you know through women only. We need the information for the earliest known woman in this line. Use the earliest known name and place, where she was from.
Examples from the public results list:
- Anna Roarsdt Totland b c1660 Moster HRD
- Tora Jakobsdotter Kvåle b c 1660 Skjåk OPL
- Anne Knutsdt Holt c 1690-1763 Stordal MRO
For Swedish ancestors you write the county (län) code letter in parenthesis:
- Maja Toresdotter b1784 Gläborg Foss (O)
The information in this field is visible to:
- All your matches
- Project Administrators of your projects
- Anyone, through the mtDNA results list of projects
If you have no information in this field, your mtDNA results will be listed under: “Ancestry information missing, PLEASE fill in – will be grouped after info is entered”
Ancestral Locations
To the right on the same page you are asked to enter the location of these Most Distant Ancestors on a map. Follow the instructions and get help from project administrators if necessary.
Ancestral Location is visible through the Maps section of the public project pages.
Surnames
For Norwegian names it is important that you add Farm names and not Patronyms. Read the page on Norwegian Names to learn about the difference if you are unsure.
When you upload your GEDCOM all names listed in the Last Name field will automatically be added as Surname in this list.
Go through the list after GEDCOM upload to delete any patronymics from the surnames list.
Edit the names to fill in place, county, country; especially important for names that are common in several areas/districts/countries.
