Red Heads and Scottish Ancestory?

Question

A woman told me that to have a redheaded child both people have to have some Scottish blood in them. I am trying to find information on this.

Answer 1

Less than 1% of the human population has red hair.

It occurs mainly in northern and western European populations, and their descendants, and at low frequencies throughout other parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Red hair appears in people with two copies of a recessive gene on chromosome 16 which causes a change in the MC1R protein. It is associated with fair skin color, freckles, and sensitivity to ultraviolet light, as the mutated MC1R protein is found in the skin and eyes instead of the darker melanin. Cultural reactions have varied from ridicule to admiration; many common stereotypes exist regarding redheads, and they are often portrayed as the “fiery-tempered redhead”.

As well as in humans, red hair can be found in other mammalian species such as orangutans, squirrels, and highland cattle. Red hair or fur can be found in some breeds of dog and cat, and certain species of fox and deer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

Answer 2

I heard this mentioned quite recently that Scottish have one of the highest percentage of redheads in the world. Around 14% of all Scottish births are redheads. Make of that what you will.

Answer 3

I am of Irish ancestry and from what I can tell the Irish and the Scots actually get the red hair from the Scandinavians who had great influence in the Celtic world of the past. The Celtic Red hair is actually descended from the Scandinavian Hugh hair.

I think this is correct because if you compare people of Celtic ancestry and Scandinavian ancestry you will see many similarities such as being big boned and fair skinned.

Answer 4

It's not a Scottish, Irish or Welsh thing, simply it is more a Celtic gene. Scotland has just as many red headed people per head of population than Ireland does for example, though Ireland probably has a bigger population than Scotland.

Answer 5

Scots are not the only ethnic group with a prevalence of red hair. Semites (Jews and Arabs) also have red headedness in their gene pool. Norwegians are also frequently redheaded as are the people of Belarus. I don't know where this comes from.

Answer 6

I am a red head and as far as I know my ancestry is Irish. I do know that there are many Scots-Irish, my mother was Irish and my dad was German/English (proven), his twin sisters had red hair and there is no evidence of Irish ancestry on that side of the family back to 1710.

Answer 7

The following individuals had red hair, but they weren't Scottish or Irish:

------Sarah Bernhart
------Ann Boleyn
------Danny Bonaduce
------Napoleon Bonaparte
------Winston Churchill
------Cleopatra
------Christopher Columbus
------Oliver Cromwell
------King David
------Dwight Eisenhower
------Elizabeth I
------Galileo
------Art Garfunkel
------Nell Gwynne
------Henry VIII
------Judas Iscariot
------Lenin
------Mary Magdalene
------Vincent Van Gogh
------William the Conqueror

Answer 8

There is red hair in my family and we are Irish/English ancestry. No Scottish.

I found this site about the red hair gene. It is interesting.

http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GENEALOGY-DNA/2002-10/1033627186

and this one about the declining redhead population.

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irishinamerica/news/redhair.asp

Answer 9

Sorry sweetheart someones pulling your leg by the sound of it. We have no other nationality in our linage as far as we can see, I am back at 1614 (mums side) 1623 (dads side), my dad had bright orange hair, I have two nephews and two nieces all with really bright (orange ) hair.. My sisters are darker haired rich auburn, my mum had brown hair. and her family were blonde's. So I don't think there's anything in what you were told.

Answer 10

not true, irish are readheads more often