# Whence redheads?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-redheads/585177>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 12, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-redheads/585177 "2011-06-12T01:04:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-redheads/585177/1 "2011-06-12T01:04:57Z")

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Are all (natural) redheads descended from Irish and/or Scotish cave people?  
Peace,  
mangeorge  
BTW, I did search here. The SDMB runneth over with redhead stuff, and I tire.

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-redheads/585177/2 "2011-06-12T02:21:14Z")

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I won’t judge but Wikipedia does have a good article on the origins of red hair including the cause and worldwide distribution. Red hair isn’t exclusive to Ireland or Scotland by any means.

> **[Red hair](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair)**
>
> Red hair, also known as orange hair or ginger hair, is a human hair color found in 1–2% of the world population, appearing with greater frequency (2–6%) among people of Northern or Northwestern European ancestry and lesser frequency in other populations. It is most common in individuals homozygous for a recessive allele on chromosome 16 that produces an altered version of the MC1R protein.
> Red hair varies in hue from a deep burgundy or bright copper, or auburn, to burnt orange or red-orange t...

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**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\
**Post date:** [June 12, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whence-redheads/585177/3 "2011-06-12T22:13:59Z")

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Thanks for the interesting link. **Shagnasty.** It led me to this;  
[http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc\_WTD020874.html](http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD020874.html).  
I quote;

> [@](#):
>
> There is a widespread curiosity about red hair, and we are often asked questions about colouration – only some of which we have answers to. When were the first red heads? (Red-haired variants of the MC1R gene probably arose about 20-40 000 years ago.) What is the genetic relationship between bright red, strawberry blonde and auburn hair? (Not entirely clear as yet.) And is the red hair gene a ‘Celtic gene’ – as is widely supposed? (Not really, but it is safe to say that – a few rare exceptions aside - all red heads are MC1R variants that derive from European populations; the prevalence of these alleles is highest in Celtic countries.

Makes sense.