How english, welsh and Irish am I?

[Charles IX]

This might have been asked before but you know when someone says "oh Im 1/16 Scottish and a 1/5 english..." or something like that exactly how do they work that out? do you stop at your great-grand parents and work down from there or go back futher or only count from your grandparents etc.... where exactly is the stopping point. and if someone knows then could they then tell me what I am if I have two gtx3 grandparents from Ireland.

Kind regards
Charles

[Annie65115]

I don't think it's that easy.

To my mind, you can be one of several things -

Where were you born? You're from there
Where have you lived for the greatest part of your life? Maybe that's were you're from now.
What does your passport say? Legally, that's your nationality.
Where are your family roots? You may feel you're from there
What is your ethnicity? If you're not from the majority ethnic group in the place where you live, you may feel more affinity with a different place (which you may never actually have visited!)
ditto religion ---

you choose!

[Blue70]

You could look at this from the perspective of where they were born or their stock. In Liverpool you have some people with no English blood at all who can claim to be 100% Irish. Their nearest Irish born ancestor may be from the 1800s but because of the great number of Irish migrants coming to Liverpool all their ancestral lines may lead to Ireland showing no English roots at all.

My Paternal Grandfather was of 100% Irish stock but his nearest Irish born ancestors were his Grandparents. This would make me 25% or a quarter Irish. My Maternal Grandmother was 100% Manx so likewise that would make me 25% or a quarter Manx. So at least half of me is Celt. The rest is more complicated because the English lines of my ancestry are reduced by ancestors who were Welsh, Scottish or German.

C

           

[clayton bradley]

My husband had one grandparent out of four who was himself born in England to two Irish-born parents. So I think my husband is one quarter Irish, three quarters English, except that one of his lines leads to Worcester where he has ancestors called Price, Davis, etc, so some part of him must be Welsh. He is also very Northern. Worcester is the furthest south for his English ancestors who came from Cheshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire. claytonbradley

[coombs]

My 2xgreat gran was born in Sussex but grew up from babyhood in London. She was a Londoner. Just because she wasn't actually born in London doesn't make her a non Londoner. She was every bit a Londoner and was baptised there.

I have a Scottish 5xgreat grandfather so that makes me 1/128th Scottish. I was born in Norfolk but my parents came from Essex.

[Annie65115]

My Paternal Grandfather was of 100% Irish stock but his nearest Irish born ancestors were his Grandparents. This would make me 25% or a quarter Irish. My Maternal Grandmother was 100% Manx so likewise that would make me 25% or a quarter Manx. So at least half of me is Celt.

Not necessarily! If you could go back far enough (which we can't), you may find that your Irish forebears were originally anglo-norman or viking!

and therein lies the danger of trying to label ourselves according to distant history - it can't be proved and may not be as we assume; and of course intermarraiges over the centuries must have rendered "pure" celtic, saxon, viking, etc etc descendancy almost impossible.

[Blue70]

It's not about purity for me it's just a bit of fun imagining how people from different places contributed to the person you are today. Enjoying the influences from the people of those countries.   

C   

[netgrrl79]

I often go into Chatterbox (live chatroom on this site) and when people ask me where I am from I never quite know how to respond:

I was born in England, to English-born parents, although I was raised in NE Wales and was only born in England because that was where the nearest maternity unit was at the time;

I have lived in Wales for most of my life, studying Welsh to A-level standard, and my maternal grandmother is Welsh

However, I have no ancestral links to NW England or North Wales - my paternal grandmother's mother was Scottish, and her maiden name was Brennan which is of course Irish! :scratches head Laurel and Hardy fashion:

[LizzieW]

One 4 x g.grandfather was Scottish, the rest appear to be English but from many parts of the UK.  I had thought mainly from Norfolk, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cheshire.  Then I found out one of my g.grandfather's was apparently from Bethnal Green (no proof yet).  However, on the Norfolk side and Suffolk side, I've now found that going further back their ancestors came from Buckinghamshire, London around St Paul's area, and owned land in Essex, Kent and Middlesex.  Before starting on my family tree, I considered myself to be a Lancashire lass, who lived in Cheshire.  Now I think I'm a total mongrel

Lizzie

ps.  There's also a rumour that one of my 13 x g.grandfather's was a master cook for royalty.  Not found any proof of that though and don't know how I would.