Frisian DNA
Genetic origins and closest populations · Netherlands · Western Europe
The Frisians live along the North Sea coast, and West Frisian, spoken in the Dutch province of Friesland, is the closest living relative of English. In our model, Frisians are 53.0% steppe-related, 33.3% Anatolian Neolithic farmer and 13.7% Western hunter-gatherer: the highest steppe-related share in our whole atlas, and clearly more than the Dutch average (48.4%). That puts Frisians closer to Scandinavia than to the rest of the Netherlands: the nearest modern averages are Faroese (distance 0.0121), Icelanders, Norwegians and Danes, while Dutch samples from neighbouring Groningen only come at 0.0178. The language link with English has a genetic echo too. The closest ancient groups are early medieval Anglo-Saxons from Oakington, Sedgeford and other English cemeteries, at around 0.012, consistent with ancient DNA showing that early medieval migrants from the North Sea coast made up a large part of the ancestry of eastern England.
- Ancient components in our model: Steppe herders (Yamnaya) 53.0%, Anatolian Neolithic farmers 33.3%, Western hunter-gatherers 13.7%
- Closest modern population in our data: Faroese, distance 0.0121
- Closest ancient group in our data: England Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Oakington, distance 0.0119
This page sums up what the DNA of the Frisian sample tells us about deep origins. It is built from the averaged Global25 (G25) coordinates of individuals sampled in Netherlands, listed in the G25 sheet as "Frisian_Netherlands", and it is one of 335 populations in our atlas. An average describes the group as a whole, not any single person in it.
Ancient make-up of the Frisian average
Modelled as a mix of deep ancestral reference populations, the Frisian average comes out as 53.0% Steppe herders (Yamnaya), 33.3% Anatolian Neolithic farmers and 13.7% Western hunter-gatherers. The Steppe herders (Yamnaya) component reflects the Bronze Age herders of the Pontic-Caspian steppe (Yamnaya and related groups), whose ancestry spread across Europe and into Asia from about 3000 BC. The Anatolian Neolithic farmers share (33.3%) reflects the Neolithic farmers of Anatolia, who carried agriculture into Europe from about 6500 BC.
The fit is loose (fit distance 0.044), which usually means that none of the available reference populations is a close stand-in for part of this ancestry, so read the percentages as rough. The model draws on West Eurasian ancient genomes, with modern West African and East Asian stand-ins.
Nordsee – North Sea Germanic Ancestry Report
Closest modern populations to Frisian
Ranking every modern population by genetic distance puts Faroese first for Frisian, at 0.012, then Icelandic and Norwegian. Even the tenth closest, Orcadian (other sample set), is only 0.018 away: Frisian belongs to a dense cluster of related populations, so small differences inside that cluster should not be over-interpreted.
Interestingly, most of the closest populations that have an atlas page are not from Western Europe itself (0 of 6), a reminder that genetic and political maps do not always line up.
| # | Population | Distance | Closeness |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Faroese | 0.0121 | Very close |
| 2 | Icelandic | 0.0127 | Very close |
| 3 | Norwegian | 0.0130 | Very close |
| 4 | Danish | 0.0131 | Very close |
| 5 | Norwegian (Bergen) | 0.0139 | Very close |
| 6 | Orcadian | 0.0151 | Very close |
| 7 | Irish | 0.0163 | Very close |
| 8 | Dutch (Groningen) | 0.0178 | Very close |
| 9 | Scottish (Shetland, Shetlandic) | 0.0179 | Very close |
| 10 | Orcadian (other sample set) | 0.0183 | Very close |
Distances are Euclidean distances between averaged G25 coordinates. On our scale, below 0.025 is very close, below 0.050 close, below 0.080 moderate, and beyond that distant.
Closest ancient populations to Frisian
Among ancient genomes, the closest match to the modern Frisian average is England Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Oakington (Late Antiquity to Early Medieval, c. 250-1000 AD), at 0.012, followed by England Saxon and England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Sedgeford. That is a very close match, which suggests strong genetic continuity between those ancient people (or close relatives of theirs) and the modern population. A close ancient match is not proof of direct descent: it means those individuals carried a similar overall mix of ancestry.
| # | Ancient sample or group | Period | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Oakington | Late Antiquity to Early Medieval, c. 250-1000 AD | 0.0119 |
| 2 | England Saxon | Anglo-Saxon period, c. 450-1066 AD | 0.0121 |
| 3 | England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Sedgeford | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0123 |
| 4 | England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Hatherdene Close | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0126 |
| 5 | Germany High Medieval Rathausmarkt | High Medieval, c. 1000-1300 AD | 0.0127 |
| 6 | Germany Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Thuringian Brucken (Northwest Euro Profile) | Late Antiquity to Early Medieval, c. 250-1000 AD | 0.0129 |
| 7 | Netherlands Early Medieval Groningen | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0130 |
| 8 | Hungary Early Medieval Lombard Period (Northwest Euro Profile) | Early Medieval, c. 500-1000 AD | 0.0131 |
| 9 | Netherlands Roman Empire Valkenburg | Roman era, c. 1-400 AD | 0.0131 |
| 10 | Germany Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Thuringian Obermollern (Northwest Euro Profile) | Late Antiquity to Early Medieval, c. 250-1000 AD | 0.0133 |
Ancient DNA from Netherlands
Our ancient DNA database holds 142 individuals excavated in present-day Netherlands, dated from about 8,734 BC to 1650 AD. The most frequent Y-DNA haplogroups among them are R1b (51), I2a (14) and I1a (3), and the most frequent mtDNA haplogroups are U5 (30), T2 (15) and K1 (14). These are people who lived on the same land in the past, not necessarily ancestors of today's Frisian population.
Most frequent Y-DNA haplogroups
Ancient DNA studies on Netherlands
- The Roman Military Community as a Melting Pot: Biomolecular Evidence from the Lower Rhine Limes (2026)
- Lasting Lower Rhine–Meuse forager ancestry shaped Bell Beaker expansion (2026)
- Long-term hunter-gatherer continuity in the Rhine-Meuse region was disrupted by local formation of expansive Bell Beaker groups (2025)
- Urbanization and genetic homogenization in the medieval Low Countries revealed through a ten-century paleogenomic study of the city of Sint-Truiden (2025)
- The dutch Y-chromosome from the early middle ages to present day (2025)
- Long genetic and social isolation in Neanderthals before their extinction (2024)
Browse them in our ancient DNA database: 142 from Netherlands.
Compare yourself with Frisian
Paste your G25 coordinates (scaled, one line, with or without a name in front) and we compute your genetic distance to the Frisian average and to its closest neighbours, right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded or stored.
| # | Population | Your distance | Closeness |
|---|
This list only covers Frisian and its neighbours. To find out which of our reports actually fits your DNA, run the free Report Finder: it runs the same fit test that every report uses before an order.
No G25 coordinates yet? Get a free simulated G25 from your raw DNA file, or order G25 coordinates.
About these numbers
A word of caution: these figures describe the average of the Frisian individuals who were sampled, not every person who identifies as Frisian. Individuals vary around that average, and identity is about history, language and family, not about a genetic score. Read this page as a map of deep ancestry, not as a definition.
Method: averaged G25 coordinates, Euclidean distances to other modern and ancient averages, and a non-negative least-squares model against deep ancestral reference populations (data generated 2026-10-01). Read the full method.
Go deeper than the average
This page describes the Frisian average. Your own DNA has its own story: Nordsee – North Sea Germanic Ancestry Report (15€) models your genome against the ancient sources and modern communities of the region, era by era, in a personal PDF report.
A report built for people of North Sea Germanic ancestry: ancient regional core (native British/Dutch/Danish Iron Age, Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon migration, Viking Age, Frisian Saxon, Anglo-Norman) versus non-regional outside admixture...
More populations from Western Europe
Frequently asked questions
What is the ancient genetic make-up of Frisian?
Modelled with deep ancestral reference populations, the Frisian average is about 53.0% Steppe herders (Yamnaya), 33.3% Anatolian Neolithic farmers and 13.7% Western hunter-gatherers. These proportions are model estimates for a group average, not exact values for any one person.
Which populations are genetically closest to Frisian?
In the G25 data, the closest modern populations to the Frisian average are Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian. The closest ancient matches are England Late Antiquity-Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Oakington, England Saxon and England Early Medieval Anglo-Saxon Sedgeford.
Can a DNA test tell me if I am Frisian?
No DNA test can confirm an ethnicity or a nationality. What DNA can show is how similar your genome is to the sampled Frisian average and to its neighbours. If you have G25 coordinates, paste them in the comparison box on this page to check that for free.
Which ExploreYourDNA report suits Frisian ancestry?
For the Frisian average, the regional report to choose is Nordsee – North Sea Germanic Ancestry Report, which our fit test rates as an excellent match. Your own DNA may differ from the average, so the free Report Finder checks every report against your file before you buy.
Where does the data on this page come from?
From the averaged Global25 (G25) coordinates of the sampled individuals: genetic distances to other modern and ancient population averages, and a non-negative least-squares model against deep ancestral reference populations. The full method is described at https://www.exploreyourdna.com/populations#method.