I'm 1/2 Italian (my dad) and the other half is mostly Irish with a little bit of French mixed in somewhere (my mom). People always sound shocked when I tell them I'm Irish because of my last name (it's vey Italian); it's like they forget that people have mothers
One grandmother immigrated from Panama, the other immigrated from Scotland, one grandfather was almost pure Dutch and the other is an unknown quantity - possibly Jewish from England, but no one knows for sure (family tradition of disappearing fathers has left some holes in the history). So, since my maternal grandmother is the relative I know the most about, I tell people I'm Latin.
Stephanie wrote: I'm 1/2 Italian (my dad) and the other half is mostly Irish with a little bit of French mixed in somewhere (my mom). People always sound shocked when I tell them I'm Irish because of my last name (it's vey Italian); it's like they forget that people have mothers
Stephanie, how funny! The same thing always happens to me- I have a very, very Italian name and I'm blonde with blue eyes and lived in Ireland. People are always like, "why the interest in Ireland and where does your lightness come from?" Forgetting about all the light people in Italy, I'm like, "hello! I have a mother too!"
50% German, 25% Romanian, and 25% other/unknown Asian decent (my biological father was not involved in my life, so I've only been able to quell so much from my research).
I think it's too funny the assumptions people make about ethnicity based on last names! I have my (technically) adoptive father's last name, which therefore has zero to do with my ethnic background, and though I look fairly similar to my biological mother feature-wise, our coloring could not be more different (she's fair/blonde/blue eyes and looks very German, I'm olive/brunett/hazel eyes and look very Romanian) and people who don't know us rarely assume that we're related at all .
This is a really interesting thread !
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To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment ~ {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
Mostly Irish with a little bit of Scottish and English. I'm VERY white.
On my Mom's side the family hasn't been here that long, but I have relatives that fought in the revolutionary war on my Dad's side. Also, William Henry Seward is a relative (secretary of state under Lincoln, bought Alaska for the US).
I am mostly German and Polish. I guess my great great grandmother on my moms side only spoke polish, I would have loved to have met her. I am also little bits of French, Dutch and Sweedish.
rosey wrote: Stephanie wrote: I'm 1/2 Italian (my dad) and the other half is mostly Irish with a little bit of French mixed in somewhere (my mom). People always sound shocked when I tell them I'm Irish because of my last name (it's vey Italian); it's like they forget that people have mothers
Stephanie, how funny! The same thing always happens to me- I have a very, very Italian name and I'm blonde with blue eyes and lived in Ireland. People are always like, "why the interest in Ireland and where does your lightness come from?" Forgetting about all the light people in Italy, I'm like, "hello! I have a mother too!"
This is a very interesting thread! I've had a similar thing happen to me too. On my mom's side I'm almost 100% Italian, although there is a little French and Spanish in there. Her family is from a region in northern Italy that changed hands between countries a few times. They're blond and blue-eyed, so people never guess that my mom is Italian. On my dad's side I'm Scotch-Irish, and I have an Irish last name, but people often think my dad is the Italian one because he has dark hair. Go figure! And to make things even more confusing, for most of my life people have asked if I was part Asian. Once someone asked my mother if I'd been adopted from China.