why do so many Irish people have red hair, freckles?

Question

of course not all but so many irish have red hair, freckles even in the US? do it have to do with geography or something? i love red head boys....if a black and red head have a baby will the baby have red hair or that not possible?

so u saying not all red heads are Irish - then what is they heritage then?

Answer 1

I live in Ireland and have my whole life. I know of only one red headed person.
Many Irish have blonde hair, esp around central Ireland due to the viking invasion centuries ago.
It is possible, but very very unlikely.
The dominate gene of dark hair and eyes will naturally be taken on by the baby.
I had blonde hair and blue eyes as a baby and toddler, now i have jet black hair and dark green eyes.
The darker genes took over as i got older.
But it is good to hear you like red heads, the gene is dying out...and fast.
Just because a person has red hair doesn't mean they're Irish, im Irish and i dont have, nor have ever had red hair its like saying everyone with blue hair and blonde eyes is German. I know scottish people with red hair and people from Australia and i have seen red headed Russians. Any light skinned person can have red hair if it is in their gene pool. It's not a geographical thing, it is biology.
I dont know where the myth that red hair originated in Ireland came from, maybe from leprechauns i dont know lol.

Answer 2

It's all in the genes (obviously not blue genes! LOL).
As to the product of a black and an Irish person - the child might be white with red hair and freckles, or might be black with black hair. I would be kind of surprised to see someone come out black with red hair, and it would probably be physically impossible for someone to have black skin and freckles.
I think most people who are born of mixed parents end up having a beautiful skin colour - but that is my subjective judgement! After all, why do so many white people spend so much money risking cancer in tanning salons?

Answer 3

They have red hair and freckles for the same reason people from Africa have generally dark skin and dark curly hair. It's genetic. It's very hard to predict how the kids will look. I guess it all depends on which genes become dominant in the baby. My daughter is very pale and blond. Her boyfriend is very dark skinned. My grandson looks like he has a good tan with brown curly hair.