# Poll: What’s your nationality/ ethnicity? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2004, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269 "2004-01-07T19:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Horseflesh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horseflesh/32/7502_2.png) [@Horseflesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horseflesh)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/101 "2004-01-11T05:08:53Z")
My father’s side is Norse and German and my mom’s side is German. I have an English last name though. My uncle tells me that my father’s side of the family gets it’s height and blue eyes from the Norse blood, while my somewhat wavy brown hair comes from the German side. I also have been told that there is a teensy bit of American Indian in me as well (from some Indian princess several generations back). But I’ve always considered myself a 100% American mixed mutt. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/102 "2004-01-11T05:17:46Z")
Canadian, living in the US. Mother’s side is Irish. Father’s side is Russian. ---
**Author:** ![straykat23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@straykat23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straykat23)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/103 "2004-01-11T05:23:58Z")
Me: Born in California. Dad: Son of an Irish father and Welsh mother, both immigrants who met and married in Canada. My Dad was born in Canada and emigrated to the US in 1939. Mom: Born in California. Daughter of Croatian immigrants who met and married in the US. My daughter’s Dad: Son of parents from Norway and Denmark; met and married in the US. My daugher: Born in California and a strikingly attractive proud mutt. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/104 "2004-01-11T15:07:14Z")
In cases of mixed heritage from multiple regions, affixing a percentage to those nationalities is just plain silly if one goes back further than a few generations. As I noted before, I could say that I’m 1/4 German, but since some ancestor prior to that probably invaded from Hungary, it’s meaningless. If your British ancestor was descended from someone in the Norman Invasion, then a claim of xx% English is nonsense. And if you subscribe to the African origin of our species, then you can see how futile the whole thing is. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/105 "2004-01-11T15:30:07Z")
I’m a real mutt, with ancestry linked to most of western Europe. I identify most closely with the Swedes from my mother’s side, and the German/Swiss Mennonites on my fathers. My maternal grandmother was born at sea when the family was crossing over from Sweden, BTW. Indiana born and bred… ---
**Author:** ![XCchick22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/e19b73/32.png) [@XCchick22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XCchick22)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/106 "2004-01-11T17:47:51Z")
On my mom’s side there are pure-blooded Native Americans about 4 generations back from me, and the rest of that side of the family was from England and came over to the US in the 1700s. My dad’s side is pretty much all from England with a little bit of Irish and they also came over here in the early 1800s. ---
**Author:** ![Sassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@Sassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sassy)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/107 "2004-01-11T19:21:47Z")
Native San Franciscan 😃 My parents both came here from Ireland, met here and married. Since they both came from fairly small (and _really_ small) towns, the chances of there being a non-Irish ancestor recently are pretty much nil. I suppose I can claim a small amount of French, since I have a Norman Irish surname. Based on the area my mother’s family lives, it’s not unlikely there’s some Viking as well. But I feel no need to go back that far. American of Irish desent - good enough for me! ---
**Author:** ![Bugnorton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bugnorton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bugnorton)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2004, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/108 "2004-01-11T19:42:20Z")
On Dad’s side, Irish (you know that little potato thingy) On Mom’s side Jewish German (you know that little Nazi thingy) I am an American (and glad both sides of the family had someplace to go). ---
**Author:** ![thumbupmybum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df788c/32.png) [@thumbupmybum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thumbupmybum)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/109 "2004-01-12T06:43:10Z")
Canadian. Mom’s 100% Norwegian. Dad’s some kind of pseudo-British/Dutch/Scandinavian mutt. ---
**Author:** ![Moron\_Noodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Moron\_Noodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moron_Noodle)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/110 "2004-01-12T09:06:33Z")
South African, Western Cape Province, Ethnicity - White English speaking African 3/4 Scottish 1/4 Dutch Maybe some Malay or Native African on the Dutch side 1/12 or so. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/111 "2004-01-13T02:44:48Z")
Canadian. I don’t have any particular nationality. I can trace my roots to a dozen places or more. ---
**Author:** ![noname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/58f4c7/32.png) [@noname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noname)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/112 "2004-01-13T18:01:41Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Anyway, we have probably hijacked this thread far enough at this point :). > > - Tamerlane Actually, I have the answers to all your arguements, but I agree we have hijacked the thread too far. So we will let it rest it there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![shannablu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8baadc/32.png) [@shannablu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shannablu)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/113 "2004-01-16T00:56:14Z")
My father is almost full blooded Irish, he says he has a little bit of Scottish in him, but it’s so little that he doesn’t really count it. My mother is full blooded German and I seem to get my looks from her side of the family. While most of the children in my family (there are seven of us) look like my mother’s side of the family, the oldest one looks like dad’s side. I think I get my blue eyes from the Irish part, but I am the only child in a family of seven that has blue eyes so maybe it is just a fluke. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/114 "2004-01-16T03:46:36Z")
Born in North Texas (Oklahoma). Through age seven onward I was repatriated back to the Homeland (Texas). > [@](#): > > On Mom’s side Jewish German (you know that little Nazi thingy) Heh. Second generation German on my mom’s side. That little post-war Nazi thingy. Heh. On my dad’s side, I’m third generation Scot (dad’s mom). About Eighteenth (it’s prettymuch just a guess) generation Dutch, on my dad’s dad’s mom’s somebody’s side. It’s from a long ways ago. Somewhere on my dad’s dad’s side there might be a little bit more German. Somewhere there is also a strain of either Irish or English; it’s a family mystery. And by that I mean I haven’t bothered to check out for sure myself. Dad’s dad’s dad’s side is Cherokee (true story). I don’t often tell people that, especially without the disclaimer that it’s a ways back, there’s not much I’m willing to do to prove it, and I’m a pretty big cracker. Still, over the holidays I found out that my last name actualy comes from that line of the family. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/115 "2004-01-16T08:47:44Z")
Born and raised in the USA. Father’s side is French Canadian with a little bit of Cree (hmm… guess that makes me mixed race); mother’s side is Pennsylvania Dutch. As for the logic that we are all ultimately African, my response is that if the “bow-wow” theory is correct then the whole world ultimately speaks the same language. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/116 "2004-01-16T14:23:44Z")
Nationality: American (Maryland/Washington DC) Ethnicity: family is predominantly Welsh, although there’s some French & German on the paternal side; there was possibly someone African-American on my maternal grandmother’s side (I think it’s supposed to be my great-great-grandfather). ---
**Author:** ![curly\_chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@curly\_chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curly_chick)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2004, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/117 "2004-01-16T14:33:41Z")
While I’ve been skimming through this thread, a question occurred to me - If you are an American of half this and quarter that and quarter the other, and you pop off to somewhere foreign, say Spain, for example and meet a native Spanish person and have a baby, is that baby Spanish because it was born in Spain or half Spanish and half American? or half spanish and 0.5( of half this and quarter that and quarter the other )? ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269/118 "2004-01-17T06:38:09Z")
I am California born. My dad was born in California, and so was my mom. My On my dad’s side, we American for two more generations, and then it’s off to England. Further roots are Scottish and Irish. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-what-s-your-nationality-ethnicity/223269.md?page=5)