how many generations of one's family need to be from a place to make you native to there?

Question

I was born in Newfoundland, as were My parents, their parents, and theirs.
Every ansestor we have any information on has been born in Newfoundland. Yet I'm considered Irish because that's where my sirname origniated from?...
How many generations need to be born in a place before your considered from there?

Answer 1

You've been given a half-hearted understanding of the terms.

You are a native of whatever place you were born and (at least partially) raised. If you were born in Natick Massachusetts and your parents moved to Newfoundland when you were two, then you're a native of Natick Massachusetts. If your parents were on vacation in Toronto and you made a sudden and unexpected appearance, then they don't count Toronto as much, so you'd be considered a native of wherever they were living and raised you.

Your ethnicity is Irish and that's immutable. You'll always carry Irish DNA and it won't change. You'll always be a Canadian citizen and a native Canadian, even though you're ethnically Irish from way back. But ethnicity is different than nationality and I think you're interchanging the two terms and confusing yourself.

Answer 2

Your Surname doesn't really show where you are from.

After several generations you are a Newfoundlander.

The original settlers of Newfoundland are the Beothuks.
The origins of the Beothuks are uncertain, but it appears that they were a native group that came from Labrador. The culture is now extinct, remembered only in museum, historical and archaeological records. Shanawdithit, the last known Beothuk (a woman), died in St. John's in 1829.

Newfoundland was settled by Europeans starting in 1006. So it stands to reason that some of these settlers eventually would have been from Ireland.

So if you go by the standards of these people who say you are not a Newfoundlander then they aren't either, because the last REAL Newfoundlander died in 1829.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland#First_inhabitants

Answer 3

Hi, to be native of a place you merely have to have been born there. Most people would consider your family to be Newfoundlanders since your parents and grandparents are from there. A lot of people like to remember where their family is from so keep the fact that they are Irish(or whatever) alive.

Answer 4

Well, the natives are the original people there; but it would be correct to say you are a native of Newfoundland, with Irish ancestors...Let's face it, all the "whites" there are immigrants from somewhere.
Years ago, I lived in Arkansas. They considered everyone who was not born there, as were their parents, grandparents, etc., to be "foreigners". (They pronounced it "FUR-in-ers".) It never bothered me and you should not let it bother you, either. A number of my ancestors (as was the case much of the time) when they moved to another country (or even another region) were known by where they came from for the rest of their lives. It is just the way people are.

Answer 5

As an American living in Germany and having visited Ireland 3 times over the last year I can say unequivocally that I am American. Yes, my distant ancesters came from Germany and Ireland but my ethnicity is and has been since before the early 1800s American. The Germans and the Irish will think your crazy if you try to pass yourself off, when your 4 or 5 times great grandpa came to the U.S., but your still so very German or Irish. lol. They may be to polite to say it to your face but they're thinking "bloody Americans, have to be Irish." Your surname may be Irish but your not.
By the way, in case your wondering how I know what the Irish say when the tourists leave, my daughter married an Irishman and lives there, her children are still only half irish. Her great grandchildren if they all stay in Ireland and marry all Irish will be considered Irish.

Answer 6

You're trying to make this black and white and it really isn't. I was born in Oklahoma, moved all over the place as a kid and settled in Texas as an adult. I am of Welsh and Scottish decent and also have some Indian (Native American) blood in me. So where I am a native? I don't know. And how important is this really anyway?

My Mother once said something really really wise about this. She said she thinks people put too much emphasis on where people are from and that there are both sophisticated and unsophisticated people everywhere.

Answer 7

You are a native of whereever you were born. Your nationality is the country you are a citizen of not necessarily the country your ancestors came from. I know we now call what use to be called American Indians, Native Americans, but that is just political correctness.

I am a native of the town in Texas where I was born and raised but neither of my parents were born here. My nationality is American but my ethnic and racial background is varied.

My Daddy was a native of Buda, Hays County, Texas and my Mother was a native of Manchaca, Texas (not in the city but in the suburbs of Manchaca).

Answer 8

Technically, I think the answer is "zero." I was born in New Jersey and I say I'm a native of New Jersey (USA). However, when people ask what my ETHNICITY is, I say I'm Asian. So I think an individual is a native of wherever they were born and grew up, but their ethnicity or background might be different.

Answer 9

the other 2 anwsers people left didn't really give you your anwser, and they didn't seem to recognize what your question was about. In my opinion you are are a Newfoundlander(or whatever its called) with a celtic root.

Answer 10

I would say wherever you were born is where you are "native" too, simple as that.