Eh... well, my father is Belgian and my mother is from Holland, but she has a German-sounding surname so i would guess that's somewhere in my family tree, then, I always heard my fathers greatgrandmother (I think) was Spanish but I don't really know... I haven't really done any research. But I simply consider myself Belgian...
I was born in North Wales (though of no Welsh relation) and have living in Germany and now live in the Cambridgeshire area. My origins - my parents grew up in Kent (close to the sea), where they met. My Nan from my Dad's side is Irish (from the Southern part), but my grandad, English. My great grandad was in the second world war and knew Spike Milligan in the Army (and Spike included him in his book 'Adolf Hitler' as Sid Price) Farther back than that? I don't know. From my Mum's side, we're mostly English, with a bit of noble blood - we have Ironside (if you look before William the Conqueror, one of the Kings we had was called 'Ironside', fingers crossed that he's a distant relative ) and my Grandparents had an uncommon surname, Warry, her family actually comes back from Greek, though I don't know how far back, but her maiden name was 'Cathisides', which is Greek. We believe some of the Warry heritage was transported to Australia. In my family now on my Dad's side two of my uncles married foreign woman, one from Java in Indonesia and the other is from Sri Lanka (but she's a real nasty piece of work). So I half half English and half Sri Lankan cousins, as well as half English, half Indonesian. Though as fascinating as those surnames are, I'm landed with with 'Price', perhaps one of the most common surnames in the world.
Irish as can be, though there's probably a bit of Viking in there along the way considering they pilaged our coastal villages for two decades before settling and interbreeding (hmm, which comes first?). Of course, we've had many more colonial invaders along the way, so there's really no way to say 'true' Irish anymore. I think, 'Irish as can be' suits. On a previous point, when I visited the States in the 90's, I met many American/Irish who held strongly to their Irish heritage and cultural traditions, yet many of them had never set foot in Ireland. Many of these people traced their origins to the 1840s when their ancestors fled the Great Hunger (an Gorta Mór) in the coffin ships. It was great to witness such adherence to tradition, etc, but sad that so many had never 'touched base' to taste for themselves the very things they cherished so much. In saying that, I'm sure there are great numbers who do visit Ireland, considering there are around 45 million Americans of Irish extraction. Mad, that, when I think that Ireland (32 counties) has a population of less than 5.5 million.
Ancestory...I wouldn't really call it a classification, it's rather more historical fact. People often strongly identify with their personal, familial history, and having it recognised and respected as a part of who they are is appreciated by many. Me, I'm born and bred Australian, but I have Scottish ancestors - distant relatives apparently still own a castle over there. Which I always thought was cool.
Well i'm a pure blood African. Born and raised in Zimbabwe and part of the Shona tribe which almost covers the entire country save for the south and some parts of the west. As far as i know my family has pretty much stayed within 100miles of the place we call our "home" where our ancestors lived and such.
People have no idea how confusing 'British' is. You could be talking about eight different nationalities, so nothing can really indicate British roots unless you had black hair, blue eyes, a thin nose, bad teeth, matted hair, and speak with a Gaidhlig-Gaeilge-Gaelg-Scoats-Cymraeg-Kernow-English accent, and in each of those languages fluently But I can trace my family history back a few hundred years. Most of it's been orally recorded. Clan Campbell's origins go back about one thousand five hundred years, but my ancestors weren't always Campbells. Highlanders could change their names at will, not having surnames anyway, taking the name of the chief or king whose land they were staying in. Originally, my family was from the western seaboard and a few of my ancestors were tacksmen of a collection of clachans near the northwestern coast, which they held under the Kings of the Hebrides. They fought for Clan Donald after Somerled's kingdom collapsed in 1164, and by the rebirth of his empire they had almost gained a position on the Council of the Isles. They never quite managed that, of course, as the MacRuari kindred, descended from Somerled and the cousins of the Macdonald dynasty, were between them and Eilean na Comhairle both geographically and politically. After the destruction of the Macdougalls, it was really only MacRuari and Macdonald that could claim any power. Diarmaid fought at Harlaw in 1411, after many years fighting in Gaelic Ireland. After the campaign to restore Ireland's independence was largely successful, he returned to the Western Isles and joined the army of Domhnall, ri Innse Gall and invaded Scotland. Other ancestors fought under Domhnall's son, Alasdair, and Aonghas Og, as well as Irish tribal royalty. Their power was lost to Clan Campbell during the Linn nan Creach, and their relatives and the people who lived on their land took on that clan's name. If you're an ethnic Highlander, don't bet on it. The members of clans are not actually related to each other, despite having the same surname. Clans aren't extended families
Yeah so every one of us here is from Africa really Oh yes. Happens a lot. Haha I have never even been to Scotland, N Ireland or Wales..I've stuck here. I'm English, but my great great great (etc) grandfather was Irish (I think.) So does that make me like 0.05% Irish?! People always think I'm Scottish 'because my name has a 'Mc' in it'. McManus? Not Scottish.
The word 'mac' simply means 'son.' There was a female equivalent, 'nic,' but when names became something official it was abolished (although people still use it as a patronymic in place of clan names like Macdonald, Macleod, etc.). It can be Highland (note: not the whole of Scotland, just the formerly independent Highlands), Irish, or Manx. See my picture, they're the three Gaelic nationalities. It could be anything, and essentially they are the same
I guess my ancestry is kind of the story of US economic and social migration in the 19th and 20th centuries. Just to get it out of the way, my family is all generic european i.e white. I've heard we are supposed to be some kind of German but whatever. So anyways... Basically all my great-grandparents were either the children of farmers or farmers themselves across the midwest, and their children or my grandparents lived mostly in small towns. My grandparents were teachers, industrial machine operators, barbers, and one PhD doctor/professor(so far the person to accomplish the most in my family). They all moved from small towns or the central city(Milwaukee, Houston) to the suburbs in the 1960's baby boomer era. This ended up being Southwest Houston and El Paso. My parents and aunts and uncles all work in white-collar jobs and have college degrees or at least dropped out of college. I had a ordinary middle class childhood in what would be described as either a small city or large town(Bryan, TX). Now there is me, I am in college for a "desk job" profession as someone blue collar might call it. I have aspirations of moving to a major city and living in an interesting neighborhood and have no desire to rush to the burbs and have kids right away like the earlier generation did. who knows what my children will be like, but I guess they will go along with the greater trends as everyone else in my family has
ok, but 'where are you from' can't mean that... my mother, father and maternal grandparents were born in the us, as was i... my maternal grandparents were born in sicily [grandmother] and calabria, paternal great-grands in ireland and germany... which technically/biologically makes me of sicilian/italian-irish/german descent... that said, i don't consider myself an american or even an earthling, but only a sentient cosmos-dweller... given my druthers, i'd much prefer to not be a member of the inherently inhumane human race, but so far, all my applications for adoption by other critters have been turned down... being born into human form sure is a hard thing to live down, darn it!
Maia, beauracracy is universal, even beyond this little blue world of yours. These applications take time to process.
aww, cmon, us humans aren't all that bad can't be worse than most other animals anyway, all living things are primarily selfish and self-centred beings, at least if you subscribe to the theory of evolution...
Ok, since everyone else seems to be playing.... I am Puerto Rican which means that I am composed of Taino, African, and European stock. Most Puerto Rican's would put Spaniard in that last slot, but the truth is that Puerto Rico saw waves of French and Dutch colonists as well, so for the lighter skinned Puerto Ricans like myself, Spaniard is not a guaranteed heritage. I could just as easily hail from The Hague, as Barcelona. The fact that my family comes from Aguadilla, on the west coast, far from San Juan, reduces the chances of actual Spaniard heritage even further. I would probably have to participate in that National Geographic: Genographic Project (look it up) in order to find out, as records from the early days in Puerto Rico are not exactly fastidious.
I'm American ect. My family has a sort of interesting history though. Snodgrass literally translates to "Smooth Grass" because we originated in a specific area in Scotland. Then, during the "Braveheart" era we were captured by England and exiled to Ireland to try and get the Irish to help the King fight the Scots. We ended up getting kicked out of Ireland for being unbearable as a whole (and really, really drunk) and went to the colonies. During the Revolutionary War we ran whisky to the soldiers. In the civil war we fought for the South and there is actually a battle named after us. Check out the Battle of Snodgrass Hill (Also known as the Battle of Chickamauga.)
Your family may well have been gallowglasses, Hsnodgrass. Probably not, given the Scoats name rather that a Gaidhlig one, but it is possible. I take it the English plan didn't work as most Irish kingdoms were allies of the Lordship of the Isles? That could almost be a plot from the story I'm writing... I'm jealous
Yeah, when in Ireland my ancestors did more drinking and organized crime than recruiting, hence getting kicked out lol. You can use the plot, I don't think any Snodgrass' have a copy-write on ancient info!
Its not much of a choice...resist all your genetic, biological impulses and die, or embrace them and live... Plus, you're ignoring all the potential for good that comes from being human.
Can we get back on subject...such as it is? We aren't debating the worth of the human species. This is for "My grandpa's Polish."
I'm a genealogist, so I've traced my family back as far as I possibly can (meaning ancient times). My various ethnic origins include (but aren't limited to, because I'm always discovering new branches on my family tree): English, Scottish, German, Irish, Welsh, Roma (gypsy), African, Native American (Cherokee, Ojibwa/Chippewa, and Powhatan), French, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Italian, Belgian, Dutch, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Hungarian...and the list really goes on. However, my closest relatives chronologically (meaning my DNA most resembles their's) are: English, Scottish, Native American, African, Roma, German, French and Italian. The only traditions/cultural aspects of my ethnicities that my family celebrates are those of the English, Scottish,and Cherokee. Not that we have anything against the other ones, it's just those are what we're most closely identified with at present. And I just realize that this post sounds a little confusing, but yeah. I come from a region in America (Alabama) where many people's family tree is like this. lol
My Grandfather (of german descent) met my Grandmother in Germany when he was in the military. (During peace time- this was post WW II) They were at a bar and my Grandmother gave up her seat so my Grandfather could sit down. Being the gentleman that he is, he asked her for a dance instead. The other half of my family is Irish. So I'm split down the middle, pretty much. My daughter is Cambodian/Vietnamese/Irish/German A beautiful combination, if I do say so myself.
