The Biggest Secrets People Learned Using Family DNA Websites

Private companies started offering home test kits for DNA originally determining paternity.

But that's a comparatively small market.

Then someone realized a much larger customer base existed for people interested in their ancestry. Where did their family come from? Who are their distant relatives?

In 2024, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing market was valued at $2.3 billion. The global at-home testing kits market is expected to reach $12.3 billion by 2034.

But sometimes, people find out information they weren't expecting.

Reddit user Kobk22 asked:

"What’s a family secret that was revealed by a family DNA history website?"

Surprise For Everyone

"Mine wasn’t a secret exactly. Just a youthful one night stand that had more consequences than my pop’s realized."

"My half-brother’s mom didn’t do the math correctly, so nobody knew my dad was the kid's father."

"My new brother is cool as sh*t though. It would have been cool if he’d been my big brother growing up, but better late than never."

~ omgidontknowbob

Infertility

"I did one on Ancestry about ten years ago. I found a '1st cousin' who I didn't recognise. I asked my mum about it, and a few hours later she called me and explained I was donor conceived (sperm donor)."

"So my dad who raised me isn't my biological father."

"It hasn't changed my relationship with my parents at all. I didn't feel any different than I did before I knew (if anything, it made me feel a bit more special)."

"I reached out to the half-sibling (who had appeared as a 1st cousin as the rough % of shared DNA is the same for both), but he never replied."

"I expect I have other half-siblings out there, so it will be interesting to see if any pop up on Ancestry in the future!"

~ Figusto

Family Reunion

"My grandfather matched with his first grandson that was adopted when my aunt was 15.

"He was born in Nevada, adopted in Arizona, and was raised in Utah where my aunt happened to live in the same zip code for the last 25 years."

"He met his 32 cousins, his grandparents, aunts and uncles, parents, and entire extended family."

"He lives within a 20 minute drive of 90% of us."

"I just went to their baby shower and it’s been amazing to see that sometimes you have an entire family of well-adjusted, loving people waiting to meet and know you."

"I have a lot of friends who met their adoptive parents and it didn’t turn out so great."

~ Pastywhitebitch

Lonely

"I guess this isn’t really a secret, but I have ZERO relatives on my dad’s side."

"I can trace back to the late 1800s in Hungary, then nothing."

"My assumption is that my direct ancestors immigrated, but everyone else stayed and either didn’t have children or were victims of the Holocaust."

"I wish I had answers one way or the other."

~ Maleficent_Region_31

Unexpected Ethnicity

"My great grandparent was adopted and mixed race."

"We always thought we were just a bunch of White people."

"Turns out we are a little Asian too."

~ AggressiveCommand739

Real Character

"My mom is related to a bootlegger, a horse thief, and someone named Dorkus."

~ BirdButt88

Cultural Genocide

"That my great grandparents on my dad's side were straight up kidnapped from a reservation in North Dakota when they were little kids."

"Turns out my great grandparents on mom's side were also yoiked from their families by the church? I don't know, we never found out who stole them as kids, but we did find my extended family."

"Apparently I'm Lakota. Didn't find this out until like 2018 or so, just thought I was a dark White dude."

"It was the residential school. They were all taken to Indiana, then all my great grandparents skedaddled asap."

"It was Standing Rock Reservation they were taken from. My grandparents did a deep dive on it in their genealogy phase."

"Their parents were taken around 1905 when they were around 10 or 11. We only got that info because we knew my great grandparents' actual names, not the generic White Christian names they were forced to use, so we talked to some of the older folks on the reservation and got some info that way."

"I have a ton of cousins up there, I'm not sure, like 4th cousins or whatever, but they're related. Pretty cool side of the family, kinda sh*tty how we found out about 'em, but hey, I'll chalk it up as a win."

~ SensationalSavior

New Aunt

"Not as scandalous as some of the stories here, but was a big shock to us. My brother did 23andme 3 years ago and randomly got a match to an aunt we had no idea existed."

"My brother asked who her parents were, but she was adopted in a very closed adoption. 23andme narrowed down that she was a paternal aunt."

"My dad's dad was an abusive POS who abandoned them when my dad was little. My grandma is dead. This surprise aunt was born the same year as my uncle, so we knew an affair must have occured."

"My dad took a 23andme test and verified she is his half sister. But he also got in touch with another family member he lost touch with. A cousin on his dad's side."

"The cousin tells my dad that his father is dead, and when my dad tells the cousin he has a secret haf sister, the cousin says her uncle would neverrrrrrr cheat on his wife and he was an amazing guy."

"Yeah, right."

"My new aunt got ahold of her adoption paperwork and her bio mom remained anonymous, but paperwork said she was very young and that the father of her child was a married man—with a pregnant wife—who was a violent alcoholic, and she was scared of him."

"So she chose to give my aunt up for adoption and never tell the father for her safety. My aunt is still looking for her bio mother."

~ BwahaaaBlast

Big Family

"My deceased uncle had a secret child that not even his ex-wife knew about.

"Found out last year when my younger cousin did a DNA test and she reached out."

"She was adopted as a baby and always wanted a big family.

"Wish granted, I guess, cause my family is huge and she's invited to all the holidays now!"

~ kj_024

First Look

"I helped my child's grandfather obtain the first photo of his mother that he ever saw—he was adopted."

"The search was greatly aided by AncestryDNA."

"That's how we were able to confirm the identity of his mother."

"In the UK, the freedom of information act allows anyone to obtain passport photos of deceased people. Just putting that out there in case that helps anyone else."

~ jasmine_tea_

Adapt To Your Surroundings

"Grew up thinking I was Japanese and found out my mom was Korean. She was born in Japan."

"I have met aunts, uncles and cousins from Japan. They all have Japanese names and 0% Japanese DNA."

"My grandma was born in 1935, but I don't know where she was born. Me and her were very close, but she didn't say if she knew she was Korean."

"We DID always have kimchi in the house, though."

~ Competitive_Fee_5829

Long Lost

"This past year, my family found out that we (ages 47, 49, 51 and 53) HAVE AN OLDER SISTER!"

"Turns out my mother (who died back in 2008) was pregnant by her high school boyfriend in the late 50’s. When she found out, she told him. He denied it was his, then his family sent him to live on the east coast to 'get away from it'."

"My 18-year-old mom traveled by bus to another state, stayed with an aunt for a year… had the baby there, gave it up for adoption, then travelled back home."

"Her entire life we had no idea. My grandparents (her mom and dad) and my father knew. They kept the secret."

"My sister took a DNA test, and this lady contacted her that they had a DNA match through my mother."

"That was last July."

"Since then, my sister and I have met her, and we absolutely love her… she looks exactly like our mom, even has similar mannerisms, it’s crazy."

"My dad absolutely adores her and last month he met her for the very first time. They talk on the phone every day now."

"He is 90 years old and was really deteriorating. Having her come into our lives has completely rejuvenated him. I haven’t seen him this happy in years. And by the way, she’s wonderful."

"Which is awesome….. because my brother is an a**hole… so I traded him for a new older sister."

~ Derkastan77-2

"Sisters"

"I was brought up to believe that my two aunties were sisters who lived together after both their husbands died in World War 2."

"Only one was a blood relative to me and neither had been married to a man in their lives."

~ whatformdidittake

"That makes me so sad. To live your whole life as a lie because you love someone society said you aren’t allowed to."

~ ponte92

"Same, they both died while I was still pretty young, so I never questioned it. I just remember H at M's funeral embracing my mum while sobbing saying, 'what will I do without her'."

"I just assumed it was because they'd been super close sisters."

"Then as I grew older, looked at pictures and thought I can see the resemblance between my Grandad and H, but not with M."

"My daughter did a 23&me and then got into ancestry.com. That's when we found no trace of M being born into or living with the family until her and H started living in the same house in their mid 20's (just after WW2)."

"On the plus side, both died well into their 80's, so they had a long relationship."

"I should add, the pictures I mention are of them on holiday, at weddings, birthdays, etc..., with my Grandad's side of the family right from their 20's to their twilight years, so they were certainly accepted and loved by them."

"Maybe it was just an agreed way of explaining their relationship to us kids and the rest of society, that made it easier for them to live their best lives without the stigma it would have brought back then."

"It's sad they had to hide, but I'm glad my family showed early acceptance and allyship."

~ whatformdidittake

Identity Crisis

"My uncle by marriage is 70 years old and due to 23andMe, he found out he has 3 brothers and 2 sisters that live 10 miles down the road from him."

"He also found out his dad wasn’t his biological father."

"Quite the gut punch to find out at his age."

"The entire side of that family showed up at his doorstep with the paperwork and said hello family. It was quite the shocker."

"He hasn’t really gotten close with them, though."

"Said he’s 70 years old and he’s had his family he’s known his whole life and prefers it that way."

~ TheDisgruntledGinger

True Crime

"A family member had murdered someone in the 1970's and left behind some DNA."

"They were able to link him to the crime a few years ago, because someone somewhere in the extended family had done one of those tests."

"Whoever did the DNA kit uploaded their results to a database that uses it to solve crimes."

"He pled guilty and died in prison."

~ annagrams

Have you done a DNA test? What surprises did you find in your results?