Can anyone tell me what the term Black Irish means?

Question

I am Irish, and a friend of mine who is also Irish, uses this term a lot, and I would like to know what it means.

Answer 1

Black Irish is a traditional term believed to have originated in the United States that commonly ascribes to a dark brown or black hair phenotype appearing in Caucasian persons of Irish descent.

Answer 2

Most lineage "pure" Irish are light skinned, light haired and light eyed. Since it is not a sunny climate that is their heritage - no natural defenses against the sun. Occasionally a dark haired, dark skinned (meaning darker skinned Caucasian) and dark eyed child would pop up. Probably with Spanish or Italian genes from way back when the Pope would send an some kind of an enterage of folks to bring messages of Christianity or requests for Holy Crusaders to the British Isles. Or perhaps a lost sailing ship would dock and whoops..9 months later there would be a surprise. Anyway when these recessive genes show themselves in a darker pigmented child - they would call the child a black Irish. There is also a connotation of being difficult, and mysterious also - of not quite fitting in. Not sure if that is what your relatives are referring to but thats the original meaning. My grandfather studied Irish history and collected rare and old Irish books. He told me this when I heard the term and asked about it. He was from County Cork and knew everything about Irish history that could be known and was an expert on Irish "pop culture" God rest his wonderful soul.

Answer 3

It depends on who and where you ask.
According to the oft-quoted Straight Dope, the term "Black Irish" is mostly used in America and is typically an innocent reference to those of Irish descent who have dark hair and features. Most residents of the Emerald Isle aren't familiar with the term.

While that's as far as most folks go with the reference, others have more romantic notions as to why some Irish sport dark hair. Some have used "Black Irish" as an ethnic designation -- speculating that these doe-eyed Irish are the descendants of shipwrecked sailors from the Spanish Armada.

Some slightly charged theories trace the term to the British West Indies and the mulatto offspring of 17th-century Irish emigrants and African slaves of Montserrat, also known as the "Emerald Isle of the Caribbean." Another theory says the term has been used by Irish Catholics to describe the Protestants of Ireland who historically have supported British rule of their nation.

NOTE: I did not write this, it was from a website. See the source below:

Answer 4

Many years ago my grandmother told me that her grandfather's ethnicity was "Black Irish." Recently I've heard three different explanations concerning the origin of the term:

(1) It refers to a mixture of Irish and Spanish blood dating from the time of the Spanish Armada, when many shipwrecked Spanish sailors were washed up on the Irish coastline and wound up staying.

(2) It refers to a mixture of Irish and eastern European blood.

(3) It refers to a mixture of Irish and Italian blood from the time of the Roman Empire.

Answer 5

10) What are black Irish and shanty Irish?

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This question has come up fairly regularly on the newsgroup
but has never been resolved definitively. Neither "black"
or "shanty" are used much in Ireland. They seem to be mainly
used in America.

"Shanty Irish" was used to describe the poorest of the poor
Irish immigrants, the kind who ended up in shanty town (the
origin of the word "shanty" is not known, but it might come
from the Irish "sean tí", meaning "old house"). Today "shanty"
in the States is a derogatory term for people who in Ireland
might be known as culchies but the people so described need
not necessarily be of Irish descent.

"Lace curtain Irish" could be as poor as the Shanty Irish but
they had notions of being more respectable. They were called
that because they would put up lace curtains for appearances
sake, even in a shanty town. Thus the term is far from being
a complement.

{ Thanks for clarification to Neil Cosgrove. }

"Black Irish" is often taken to mean Irish people with dark
hair and eyes. One romantic story is that they are the
descendants of shipwrecked sailors of the Spanish Armada.
Unfortunately for the story, it is very unlikely that enough of
the sailors survived for their genes to be in the population
visible today. A variation on this theme says they are
descended from Spanish Moors who traded with people on the
west coast of Ireland. Another explanation is that it's
common in Irish to give people nicknames based on their hair,
such as Seamus dubh and "black Irish" is just a carryover of
this into English. Some people say that the "black Irish"
were the original inhabitants of the island and all the rest
were just blow-ins.

One other interpretation is that "black Irish" refers to the
descendants of Irish slaves taken to the Caribbean island of
Montserrat during Cromwell's time. The descendants of these
slaves and black slaves from Africa live there to this day.
The surprising thing is that they still speak with an Irish
accent!

Answer 6

It refers to Irish of darker complexion and black hair rather that the red/brown/fair hair which is more common. The term seems to have originated in America and the myth that these people were descendants of the Iberian people (Spanish)
There were some Spanish sailors marooned in the west coast of Ireland during the Spanish Armada but they don't seem to have been numerous enough to have passed on their dark hair and complexion. In Ancient mythology there were the Formorians who had dark hair, the Tuatha DeDannan were tall and had fair hair. In Ireland the term refers to the dark haired people who come from the west coast. These people were rural and less sophisticated. They were somewhat looked down upon by the City dwellers from Dublin, Wexford and Cork. More apt to drink, fight and get into mischief; so a legend of the black Irish surrounds rural people of Ireland who have black hair. They'll steal yer wallet and break yer heart my darlin'....beware of the Black Irish.
;-)
May the Road rise to meet you.
Wynner01

Answer 7

I'm Irish and this is a derogatory term. People ignorant of the Irish culture always say we are the n_ _ _ _ _ s turned inside out. Probably because the Irish don't look for extravagent life styles and our ancestors were potato farmers.

Answer 8

A Black person w/ Irish in them! ;)
J/k it's an irish person with dark hair or skin

Answer 9

There is no group that is called "Black Irish". It came into use as a derogatory term in the late 1800s.

There is no group that could be called that. It is a made-up term used rather indiscriminately to insult, not an actual group.

Answer 10

As the Irish are typically of fair and freckled skin, gray to green eyes, and red to reddish brown hair (the last two recessive genetically), it would stand to reason that the introduction of dominant dark hair and dark eye genes would produce not necessarily a change in skin color (as normal skin color is dominant as are freckles) but a change in eye and hair color, and that this is predominantly where the term Black Irish originated; fair skinned, brunettes with either brown or green eyes.