Asian eyes. Literally. Not like slightly asian-ish. I mean literal Asian eyes. No crease at all. And before anyone says “yeah, mommas baybe, daddy’s maybe” the rest of the features are obvious the person is the product of the two European parents.
Is there a recessive gene that would cause a person of European ancestry to have an epicanthic fold?
Meant to add more to the above. I’m referring to myself in the OP. People have always asked if I’m of partial Asian ancestry. My mother and father are both western European ancestry. Aside from the eyes I have many features of my father and his family. In profile I’m an amazing likeness of my paternal grandfather at my age.
I’ve read that in Scandinavians the epicanthic fold is known to exist. But no Scandinavian ancestry that I know of at least going back 5 generations. I’m also tall or tallish. 6’2" whereas the next tallest male on either side is maybe 5’10, possibly 5’11. And thats just one person. My dad is 5’8. The rest are shorter to average. The height thing plus eyes maybe suggests scandinavian ? But I have dark hair and brown eyes.
Not surprising at all; Europe experienced many waves of invasion and migration from Central Asia. The indigenous Sami people may be part Asian as well. I knew someone from central Europe whose family pictures looked positively Chinese (something she would joke about.)
All human fetuses start off with an epicanthic fold, which disappears before birth except in Asians and some other groups (or in conditions like Down’s Syndrome). So it’s not necessarily even a recessive gene, it’s the retention of a fetal character. Besides Scandinavians, other European groups that sometimes show the fold are Germans, Poles, British, and Irish. So it’s not that unusual for you to show it.
A person of even direct Asian ancestry doesn’t necessarily look very Asian. I know a man with a Chinese father and Irish mother who looks almost 100% Caucasian, only he has extremely dark eyes, his sister looks more classically as you would expect someone with that parentage to look like. And no while I can’t be certain I have no reason to suspect that his father isn’t who everyone believes him to be.
Genetics is a strange thing.