can you claim to be English? If so you must also be French, German, Irish, Viking, Welsh?

Question

The Irish did invade mainly on the Western fridges of Britain as is was known after the Roman had left these shores. And likewise the Welsh did both between 600-800AD. England only became England when the Saxons invaded Britain.

Complicated but very interesting. It shows that todays situation of a mulicutural society is not new to these shores. And it will take hundreds of years before integration is complete and then I suppose we will be invaded by folk from other planets or visa versa.

Why people cannot apply lateral thinking is beyond me. Just will not open their minds to reality of things.

Answer 1

I call myself English. I was born and bred here and have never lived anywhere else. I know that, by blood, i am a quarter German. I believe i have some Irish blood too. Don't know about the rest. We are a mixed race, its true.

Answer 2

The French, German, Irish, Viking & Welsh are just like the Carribean, Asian, Africa, Chineese and other European contigent: they came into England from elsewhere. This place is an island. If you trace back enough for everybody who entered it you will find the first ancestor who came here.

The way i see it, you become English by entering the country and staying there long enough to absorb and contribute to our environment. This happens over a long period of time but five years is usually considered a minimum for most people who aren't minors.

So if you're asking that being english therefore means that you have to have also been French, German etc then I say not so.
Because they are not the only people who entered country, other peoples too have gained that right. If you mean to say that new immigrants inherit some of what old immigrants have established or left behind then yes, I agree with you completely.

Answer 3

No i cannot claim to be English... oh, by the way, im Norwegian. not a Viking. thats just like me calling you an AngloSaxon. the Vikings came from Skandinavia which is made up of Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

No, so long as you were
A) born in England
B) have an English passport
C) have English parents

then you have just as good a claim to be English as the Queen.

It may well be that you can be neither part French, German, Irish, Danish, Swedish or Norwegian and still be English.

Answer 4

My father is English and my mother is Scottish, her grandfather was Danish, but I still consider my self as English, because I was born here, although I am proud of my Scottish/Danish heritage.

The Normans that invaded in 1066 were actually a tribe of Vikings that had settled in Normandy, so really the French don't come into the equation, with the exception of the few that came over with the Romans.

Answer 5

Technically on some of those you are correct.... The welsh and Irish never invaded England but the others did... The vikings never had more than a third of England so people living in the west are more likely to be technically more English.

As i live in the south of England Technically i am probably not.... but that is not all what makes someone English.

But I'm proud to be English.

Who not lateral thinking? i gave you the only thumbs up

Answer 6

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you are asking. Could you please clarify?

It is well known, of course, that the Island of Britian was invaded by sucessive waves of Belgae, Celts, Romans, Saxons, Norsemen ("Viking" is a verb, not a noun - it's what the Norse *did*), and Normans (who weren't really French, although they spoke French).

As for the Welsh, one can be Welsh (a Brythonic language and people group) and not be English, and vice versa. Although Wales was conquered by Anglo-Normans, they speak English as well as Welsh, and there was some intermarrying along the border (as well as among their respective decendants in America), they have remained very much a separate people group.

As for German, the English crown may be mostly German in decendent, but that is not true of general population.

So what are you really *asking*?

Answer 7

Exactly right my friend... what I keep on telling all my family... because they just can't get it through their heads that we are all foreigners;-)

My maiden name (paternal) came over with the William The Conqueror. French.

My dad's maternal line (my gran) relates us back to William Penn and George Fox original Quakers.

My maternal grandmother was English and Welsh.

My maternal granddad, was From County Cork, Ireland.

I married a man whose surname was decidedly Welsh and we had four daughters to add to the mix.

He died and I then married a man whose grandmother shared the same grandmother (cousins) of Ramsey MacDonald...

So the son of that marriage, now carries the bloodlines of a Scottish twice prime minister of England, and a founder of a nation in the USA, and a prison reformer/founder of a faith, in England = English.

And none, of my kids is pure stock... you know what they say about dogs, the healthiest are mongrels... since purebreds are prone to a variety of diseases... and we, are decidedly a mongrel race... the only difference now, is that we notice it in skin tone... but eventually, when I am long gone from this side of life, people will all be slightly coffee coloured and perhaps at last... wars will cease to be:-)

Well... if we last that long... which I persoanlly doubt, because I inherited George Fox's psychic abilities... and I don't like what I've seen!

In the second world war... my paternal Granddad knew little of his past, except, he thought his name might be German... so, he took a large Eagle off the top of his grandfather clock... it was built onto the clock... he hid it in the loft, for fear of being thought a German sympathiser.

When the Americans finally got bombed in at Pearl Harbour and became our unwilling allies, he put it back again... because this was seen as pro-American... and since they also had an Eagle as a symbol, he was now sighing with relief... a patriot at last.

My dad never stopped ribbing him for this and this story, became a family anecdote at parties.

Answer 8

I'm Irish and I don't claim to be English! I do live in England though...very nice place. The people are cool too!

Answer 9

I was born in England, but I consider myself to be a member of the human race first.

Answer 10

Yes, I'm English and have done a lot of my genealogy. I am proud of my London, Welsh, Cornish, Scots heritage. I haven't gone back *quite* as far as the middle ages, But I certainly acknowledge there's probably some Norman/ Dane/ Germanic, etc etc in me

{edit} two thumbs down??!!??
there are some very wierd racists on here!