My father's family is from Scotland, but my older sister (40 years old) said that they are German. IDK, I'm just wondering. Everyone on his side still lives in Scotland. So, should I say I'm Scottish or German? IDK. More than half of my family isn't even American.
2007-12-18 06:28:15 · 3 answers · asked by Baah 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Genealogy
Possibly in the lowlands or border areas. I have noticed a similarity between the word Kirk, which the Scottish use for their church, In German the word is kirche. which is pronounced almost the same way. The Scottish had a history of fighting with the northern English and since Celts felt that England (or land of Angles)had a large flow of Anglo-Saxons. They weren't good friends. When Anglo-Saxon tribes settled in England they pushed Celts to the north and west. And in Scotland they would say to the English , you're a Sassenech, Saxon. There was lots of conquests and reconquests in that area going back to the beginning of time, just ask William the Conqueror, who believed he was taking back England from thieves.
2007-12-18 06:38:32 · answer #1 · answered by magpie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, the English poet Robert Browning's mother, Sarah Anna Wiedemann, was of German-Scottish origin, so some of your family could have certainly immigrated from Northern Germany across the North Sea to Scotland.
2007-12-18 07:14:40 · answer #2 · answered by Ellie Evans-Thyme 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would not matter if there were "lots" or just one. The key to your question is about individual persons, who were your actual ancestors. It is misleading to think in terms of "my father's family".
IF your gr gr gr grandfather was born in Germany, and moved to Scotland, and married there.. then HE was of German birth. His children would be as much part of their mother (assuming she and her ancestors had always lived there), thus they would be of both Gerrman ancestry and Scottish.
It isn't reasonable to try and pick that you are "one or the other". Your surname (which comes through the paternal side) "might" be considered German, but that is different from your complete ancestry. You have ancestry from numerous places, depending on where the individuals were born.
2007-12-18 06:47:51 · answer #3 · answered by wendy c 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋