Did your Canary Islands percentage increase after AncestryDNA’s latest update? Perhaps a region that previously appeared as Spain, Portugal, or France has decreased while the Canary Islands now occupy a larger portion of your results.
Ancestry has acknowledged this pattern among Hispanic, Latin American, and Caribbean customers. Its explanation includes two possibilities: better recognition of historical Canary Island ancestry, and a tendency for the updated algorithm to assign too much DNA to this region in some people’s results.
For Puerto Rican researchers, this makes the update an interesting clue—but one that needs careful interpretation.
Your DNA Hasn’t Changed. The Estimate Has.
Ancestry estimates your ancestral regions by comparing your DNA with a reference panel: people whose families have longstanding roots in particular populations or places.
For its 2026 update, Ancestry expanded that panel and changed the method used to assign regions. Those changes can move portions of your results from one category to another, even though the DNA sample being analyzed remains the same.
Think of the percentages as an interpretation of genetic similarities. They are useful research clues, but they are not a list of your ancestors’ birthplaces.
Puerto Rico Has a Historical Connection to the Canary Islands
Canarian migration to Puerto Rico is part of the island’s documented history.
Educational material published by the Government of the Canary Islands describes families leaving the archipelago for destinations including Puerto Rico during the eighteenth century. Economic hardship contributed to migration, while Crown policies also directed settlers toward strategically important colonies.
This history gives Puerto Rican genealogists a sound reason to investigate possible Canarian ancestors. However, a population’s migration history cannot establish the origins of every individual family.
Explore Canary Islands Passenger Records
If this update has sparked your interest in researching Canarian ancestors, visit my earlier article, 19th Century Passenger List of Canarios to Puerto Rico. It includes passenger names, ages, places of origin, sailing dates, and other details where available.
These entries may provide leads for your family research. Finding a familiar surname is a starting point; establishing a connection requires records linking that passenger to your ancestors.
Why Might the Percentage Be Too High?
Ancestry explains that similarities between the genetic profiles of Canary Islanders and the combination of African and Spanish ancestry found in Latin America can complicate the assignment. The company explicitly acknowledges that its algorithm may overestimate this region among Latin American and Caribbean customers.
The practical implication is that a higher percentage may reflect genuine Canarian ancestry, uncertainty in how the model distinguishes populations, or a combination of both.
The percentage alone cannot tell you how much each explanation contributes to your particular result.
Does 25% Canary Islands Mean One Grandparent Was Canarian?
No. That would be too specific a conclusion to draw from an ethnicity estimate.
A hypothetical result of 25% does not identify a particular grandparent or establish that one-quarter of your documented ancestors were born in the Canary Islands. It could reflect contributions from several family branches, alongside uncertainty in the regional assignment.
Likewise, a decrease in your Spain or Portugal estimate does not erase an ancestor whose birthplace you have established through records.
A regional percentage does not replace a documented family relationship.
How Can You Investigate Your Connection?
Use the update to develop a research question: Which branches of my family, if any, can I document back to the Canary Islands?
Start with these steps:
- Save your results before and after the update. Keep a record of the percentages and update dates.
- Follow each family line through original records. Baptisms, marriages, burials, and civil records may identify places of origin.
- Look for specific locations. A named island, town, or parish provides a stronger research lead than a broad reference to Spain.
- Study your DNA matches alongside their documented trees. Look for evidence connecting a shared family line to the Canary Islands.
- Treat surnames as clues. A surname shared with Canarian families does not establish a connection by itself.
- Keep conclusions proportional to the evidence. Record a possible connection as a hypothesis until the supporting records establish it.
What If You Haven’t Found a Canarian Ancestor?
An incomplete family tree leaves room for discoveries. At the same time, the new estimate does not require you to assume that a Canarian ancestor must be hiding in your tree.
Keep researching without forcing the documents to fit the percentage.
The most useful outcome of this update may be the questions it encourages us to ask: Where did our ancestors live? Which records connect them? What can our DNA matches help us investigate?
For Puerto Rican genealogy, the Canary Islands connection deserves attention. The percentage starts the conversation; the research establishes the family story.
Has your Canary Islands estimate changed? Share your experience in the comments, and let us know whether you have documented ancestors from the islands.
Sources and Further Reading
- AncestryDNA — Regions and Journeys FAQ. Explains changes to ancestry estimates, including increased Canary Islands assignments and possible overestimation among Latin American and Caribbean customers.
- AncestryDNA — Ethnicity Map and Update FAQ. Describes the reference panel and methods behind the updated ancestral regions.
- Government of the Canary Islands — El Antiguo Régimen en Canarias. Spanish-language educational publication discussing Canarian migration to the Americas, including Puerto Rico.
- Hijos de Coamo Puerto Rico — 19th Century Passenger List of Canarios to Puerto Rico. Passenger information that may help readers investigate possible Canarian family connections.
My Own Results: Canary Islands Increased From 8% to 30%
I noticed this change in my own AncestryDNA results. Before the update, my Canary Islands estimate was 8%. It is now 30%, an increase of 22 percentage points.
That difference caught my attention and prompted me to look more closely at what changed. Here are some of the changes shown in my comparison:
| Ancestral region | Previous estimate | Current estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Canary Islands | 8% | 30% |
| Spain | 7% | 17% |
| Portugal | 12% | 9% |
Selected regions from my results; this table does not represent my complete ancestry estimate.
The changes were not limited to the Canary Islands. Some estimates increased, others decreased, and some regions disappeared from my results.
These numbers show how Ancestry’s interpretation of my DNA changed. They do not tell me which particular ancestors contributed to the Canary Islands estimate, or establish that DNA previously assigned to another region was reassigned directly to the Canary Islands.
My new 30% estimate gives me a reason to investigate further. I still need to follow the records and compare DNA matches to determine where a Canarian connection fits into my family tree. I would not use the percentage alone to identify a Canarian grandparent or calculate how many of my ancestors came from the islands.
In my own family research, Barreto is the only surname I have been able to connect to the Canary Islands through documentation so far. I also have Hernández and other surnames in my family tree, but I have not established a Canarian origin for those lines. This gives me a documented connection to compare with my DNA results, although it does not explain the full 30% estimate.
My AncestryDNA comparison shows the Canary Islands estimate increasing from 8% to 30%. These percentages are estimates and may change with future updates.
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