my maternal grandparents came over from sicily. i don't know much of anything about my paternal grandparents other than grandpa was irish.

Bpath for my children it would have to say Scanadeukranish. For Canadian Scandinavian Ukrainian English and way way back Spanish. We often said our daughter was a Russian Jewish princess. Just because of the fact that family came from Russia as well as Ukraine and my husband's mother's father was half Jewish. We tried not to treat her like a princess but sometimes she thought she should have been. ;).

My father was - 50% Irish and 25% Scottish and Welsh. My mother added English and a little French.

I am German, French, Scandinavian, English, Dutch, Scots-Irish, and Irish, with a small amount of Italian-Swiss, as I can trance ancestors back to Switzerland that have Italian names, but they spoke German and my relatives in Switzerland still do speak German instead of Italian. According to 23&Me I am 99% Northern or NW European and the rest is "broadly European," but they can make errors and even changed my composition a few months after their first assessment. I never knew I had English ancestors until I took their test, however, as my English ancestors have in the U.S. since the 1600s, as I recently found out.

It seems like different people have answered the question differently. I've filled out enough landing cards and immigration cards at the end of international flights (as have very many of you) to have completed a line that appears on all of them with the same answer. "Nationality" means "what country issued the passport you have?" I think this is the common meaning of this term, uncontroversially so. I believe even the US landing card has this question, posed to returning Americans and visiting foreigners alike.

Several of you seem to have that understanding. You've correctly stated your nationality is Canadian, or American, or British, or whatever. Others have provided an answer to a different question - what was the nationality of your ancestors, or what countries did your ancestors come from, or what is your family's traditional culture or "heritage". (thanks rob).

I know there's a traditional use in parts of the US, especially the Midwest, to say "I'm Norwegian....or Swedish.....or German.....or Lithuanian"....or whatever, when in fact those ancestors are many, many generations in the past and descendants since them have been of American nationality. It's a common use in limited places but a misuse of the word as far as I'm concerned. You're welcome to disagree.

I work with people all over the world, all the time. It's one of the things we do at lunch time in the lab, bring your home country's food and tell us all about what makes you, YOU. They are more apt to answer if you ask them about their heritage. Found out by trial and error. Lots and lots of error. ETA: for instance, we currently house a Pakistani student, a Japanese fellow, and a junior faculty member who is Argentinian. Everywhere.

Even though what I traced so far came from Ireland and Scotland, my Ancestry DNA shows 73% northern and western European (French/German) ancestry and 10% Scandinavian with only 7% Irish/Scottish/Welsh. The other 4.6 and 4.8% are Balkan and other I can't recall. I also have some American Indian heritage but that is never divulged in DNA analysis apparently. A GGGrandmother on my father's side was from the Alabama Chickasaw tribe I believe although I cannot find much about her.

I no longer have a passport.

Both sides of my family came from Ireland. I suspect there was a Moor somewhere as a few dark haired folk are scattered among the rest of us. I had red hair and freckles.

When I took both Ancestry and 23andme tests a couple of years ago they all started out with high English percentages. With the latest releases in September and October I am now down below 50% for both. Neither one agree or even come close to the same percentages or countries. If you have not looked recently I would suggest that you look again.

I am Canadian. My Mom was born in Scotland as was her parents and Grandparents. Her ancestors before that were from Ireland. My Dad was born in Canada but my Grandparents were born in England. My Great Grandfather's ancestors were from Ireland and my Great Grandmother's family was from England. My DNA ethnicity shows I am 23 percent Irish, 63 percent Scottish, 8 percent Welsh, 6 percent Norway. We recently found out that my Scottish Grandfather descends from Hamilton ancestors from Ireland and my Grandmother descends from Hamilton ancestors from Scotland both families sharing a common ancestor somewhere along the line. My DNA and my brother's DNA is connected to descendants of Alexander Hamilton but I take that with a grain of salt haha I guess we should go see the play. Edited to correct percentages.

I am a very proud American..

"I suspect there was a Moor somewhere as a few dark haired folk are scattered among the rest of us."

Oh my. I'm not sure you know what a "Moor" is but there are many, many folks with very high percentages of limited diversity of regional ancestry, including those still living there, whose roots in Scandinavia and elsewhere in Northern Europe go back centuries and centuries, who have dark hair.

My mother used to tell me about the Black Swedes, who had she had heard had French origins, and had dark hair and eyes. My mom is blonde, blue by eyed, and fair, and her twin sister was brunette, brown-eyed, and a little darker. Same variances among the other siblings. So there can be something way back that carries through. Could be Moors, or Mediterranean, anything.

My parents and siblings were born in Sicily. I’m first generation Canadian.

To answer the original question - "what nationality are you?" My nationality is American. I'm a U.S citizen.

If the question was "what ancestry are you," my ancestry is Swedish, German, and Irish. My mom was born in northern Sweden. My great-grandparents on my dad's side immigrated from Germany. When they arrived in the U.S, they dropped the "von" at the beginning of my last name. So like if my name is now Smith, it used to be "von Smith."

My ancestry is Swiss-German, Scottish and Scandinavian. The ancestors that I have researched, arrived in the U.S. in the late 1600’s early 1700’s, so we have been American for many generations.

Sephia von Smith has a nice ring to it!

My ancestry is Irish on my father's side and Hungarian on my mother's side.

Heinz 57. That’s what my Mom told us.

Lars,

While I am well aware my nationality is US citizen (American), I took the inference from the OP that they were interested in our heritage. I didn't feel the need to get into semantics. In all these posts I did not see one comment that misinterpreted the intent of the original post though some did refer to the correct terminology.

I guess maybe I am just tired of the grammar police. If you were having a verbal conversation with someone, would you correct them in the course of the discussion? Probably not. Inference is part of written and oral communication. Not everyone uses the same terminology, accent or slang.

These groups are about having friendly banter and the constant grammar correcting takes away from the joy of the experience. JMO

Czech/German with a tiny bit of Irish in there somewhere. My sister had her dna done. We were all stunned to find out the tall tale of Grandpa's real parents (he was adopted) was not true. He was supposed to be half native American...we have zero of that dna in us! I am third generation US American!

Both my parents were born in Ireland. All 4 of my Grandparents were also born in Ireland. My husband is Hungarian, Russian & German so that makes my girls "mutts"

My father’s family came from Germany and Poland. Mom’s from Germany and Wales. I also have a smattering of Scandinavian, Irish and Scottish coursing through my veins. It’s been several generations since anyone in the family came here from another country, unless you count my uncle’s wife who came from Taiwan, obviously not a blood relative.

Senior Girl, I love that you have red hair and freckles. So did my Mom. I only got the freckles.

I'm an American, a citizen of the USA. The only 'recent' immigrant in my family was my maternal grandmother, who immigrated to NYC from Ireland at the end of the 19th Century, sailing by way of Scotland. Her father may have been Scots or Scots-Irish; her mother was Irish. In the US, Grandmother married a man whose paternal ancestors arrived from Scotland well before the Revolutionary War. They fought in it, and in every war up through the Spanish American War. This grandfather's mother was Irish. (The family staunchly claimed only Scots heritage, anti-Irish sentiment being so strong in the US at the time.)

My father's family came to the US in the 19th Century from Scotland and France (French Protestants, originally Swiss). The French came to escape conscription; the immigrants' US-born sons fought in the Union Army, and *their* descendents served in every war involving Americans since then, up to Viet Nam. (The tea-total French wrote home to relatives about the success of their 'confectionary' business; probate records list extensive inventory for a brewery.)

My ancestors were, on the one branch, Litvaks, and on the other branch, English from various regions, mostly Lancashire and Yorkshire, and Scotland. My ancestry DNA currently says 37% Scotland, but the ancestors that I've tracked back so far, assuming I have things correctly, don't reflect that degree of Scottish background coming down to me. Still, in the small region of KY that they lived, there was a lot of intermarriage amongst a limited number of families so that likely had some effect, and I haven't been able to identify where all of the people's (meaning, mostly the women's) ancestors in that branch emigrated from.

My DD has additionally Mexican, perhaps Native American (according to her grandmother, but that doesn't show in her DNA or her paternal aunts/uncles), more English, and possibly a German or Polish great-great-grandfather (according to family lore). She also shows 30% Scots, which makes some sense since her paternal line settled in North Carolina near New Bern, before the Revolutionary War.

(pssst, Moosemac! it's Elmer & Sephia you need to be chiding, not Lars!)

German, Polish and Austrian.

Sorry, nickel and others, I read the heading and was confused. I opened the thread and saw why.

Words mean what they mean, especially in one way communications like an internet forum like this. There are others who've similarly commented and redirected their thoughts along the same lines.

I wanted to make a comment about ancestor's place of origin. Couple of parts of the family were on the losing side of various conflicts in the 1500-1600s. They scattered to various countries. Had families there and some returned home but others stayed. Irish joined army's all over Europe. Scottish fled to Holland and France. Some married/had children by locals. Others selected from their country of origin. The DNA may not reflect where your ancestors actually lived. Which is one of my complaints about people who state their family, as an example, was from Germany. The Germany that exists now is different than the small countries each with their own head that existed before Germany was unified. I have the same ugh feeling when people list names of locations by using todays information. There was no USA before 1776.

maifleur03 I just say German, because some people never heard of Prussia.

With regards to the written question or the demonstrated question I try to answer both. I knew what sal was asking but enjoyed answering both questions and reading other people's answers. It's what makes conversation interesting. Sometimes the conversation turns into a roller coaster ride. Fasten your seatbelts.:-).

Mother's parents were both from Poland.

Father's side was English, German, Dutch and Native American.

No need to apologize, Elmer, I understand how the disconnect happened but didn't consider it a big deal. I was pointing out that Lars' post was confused with your post, probably because his appeared just before yours. Another example of how if we were all physically in the same room, communications could run more smoothly. But some people might end up with sore ankles from being kicked under the table more often than others...!

"The Germany that exists now is different than the small countries each
with their own head that existed before Germany was unified."

Yes and no. Mostly no. There were small "kingdoms", duchies, and free states that were affiliated together in a confederation from the early 19th century on. All spoke German, all had similar cultures. A parallel story is true for Italy with a different timeline. Before affiliation all were mostly "Italian" areas but for local language dialects. Sicily was always viewed as a lower class, poor relation, also with its own dialect. Still is in some respects.

People haven't heard of Prussia?

My DH went through Ancestry.com and is 90% French, 5% Irish, 3% Swedish, 2% Norwegian. His parents were French Canadian. I have not been compelled to have my origins tested. My father always said his family was Pennsylvania Dutch and my mother's genealogy goes back to Northern Acadia. We have no children. I'm more interested in the lineage of our Australian Shepherds.

Mostly human; possibly a small amount of Vulcan from my father's side.

Well, Elmer, I DO know what (who) a Moor is (was). It was just a light hearted comment. I have done quite a thorough genealogy on my family-before such information was available on the Internet. But you are entitled to your opinion.

All four of my grandparents emigrated from Lithuania. So, I am all Lithuanian.

moosemac

<Lars,

While I am well aware my nationality is US citizen (American), I took
the inference from the OP that they were interested in our heritage. I
didn't feel the need to get into semantics. In all these posts I did not
see one comment that misinterpreted the intent of the original post
though some did refer to the correct terminology.

I guess maybe I am just tired of the grammar police. If you were
having a verbal conversation with someone, would you correct them in the
course of the discussion? Probably not. Inference is part of written
and oral communication. Not everyone uses the same terminology, accent
or slang.

These groups are about having friendly banter and the constant grammar correcting takes away from the joy of the experience. JMO>

I think you are confusing me with someone else. Please go back and look at what I wrote, which was only about ancestry (and I have not edited it). I mentioned nothing about nationality, although a lot of others did.

I answered the question the same way that the OP did, and took clues from that.

If you remove my name from your post, I will delete this one. You can insert someone else's name, however!

Switzerland and Germany.

My mother always defined herself as being Czech. Her father was from Moravia and her mother was from Bohemia, both regions in The Czech Republic. My father's family were Russian-German Mennonites. This group of people formed in the Netherlands a few hundred years ago, then migrated to a part of Prussia that is now in Poland (where they took up speaking a German dialect). When Russian Empress Catherine the Great offered free land in the Ukraine to anyone who would farm it, they migrated there. They developed a type of wheat called Turkey Red, and, when they immigrated to America in the late-ish nineteenth century they brought this wheat with them to the Great Plains. This wheat became one of the primary strains that is farmed today. Some of them immigrated into Canada, especially Saskatchewan, of course taking the wheat with them!

I am an American, of course!

Sable

Born from several generations in the US. Mother's side hailed from (what is now) Germany, on the western side. Dad's father's side from Prussia. Dad's mother's side is from England. There's some Scandinavian in there as determined by a genetics test... not surprising considering British history.

My ancestors arrived in this country via Maryland and eventually all moved to Kentucky. My parents' generation pretty much all moved out!

I am Polish through and through. All four of my grandparents immigrated from Poland in the early 1900's. We attended a Polish church and attended the parish school taught by an order of Polish nuns. I can't speak a word.

My family is Breton. Brittany is in NW France. My oldest brother was born there in 1950. (He died in ‘56). My parents immigrated through Canada. My sister was born there in ‘52. My other brother and I were born in NYC. (In ‘54 and ‘62)

DNA test (23andMe. My daughter wanted me to) has me down as 97.1 British or Irish. Maybe one of these days they’ll get more specific.

michele, you probably know from your parents that Bretons are a Celtic group thought to have migrated from south-western Britain to what's now Brittany in France. So the broad brush of your DNA-indicated ancestry makes sense.

It's a lovely part of France. The ethnic language is completely incomprehensible to French speakers.

I suspect many Americans (and Canadians) only *think* they have Indian blood. I've heard of several people who were ery disappointed when DNA testing ruled it out. It's an old tale told by many in North America who had a few ancestors here early enough to have possible had close contact with Indians. (One night of Indian hospitality doesn't necessarly result in . a baby!)

Someone mentioned "Pennsylvanian Dutch", which reminded me how many ethnicities lived for a time in that state, then spread out to the west or the south.

It's interesting to me, too, how long an ethnic group would cling to that 'clan'. Whole sections of cemeteries are only Scottish or only some other group, right up to the 20th Century. Intermarriage was unusual, and not just on religious grounds. My DIL flouted tradition when she didn't marry a 100% Pole, as did her sisters and cousins. Her large 3rd generation Polish-American family only 'strayed' in the 4th generation. (Our adopted son is largely Bohemian on one side and English on the other -- plus a supposed Indian connection with the English side.)

Elmer, yes I know. My brother has traced the family back. Way back.

My parents had to learn French in school. They were punished if they were caught speaking Breton.

I understand a bit but not as much as my sister and brother. They are older 10 and 8 years older than I am.

My mother has a funny story about sitting in a subway car back in the old days. There were two women speaking French to each other. Two other women seated nearby noticed and started speaking Breton to each other. My mother was in on both conversations!

I suspected I had some Native American in me because my great grandparents took supplies to a relative at night returning the next morning. The Wyandotte reservation along with a couple of smaller ones were in the same area. At that time it was not accepted to be Native American the way it currently is. Turns out no ancestry but by the time it got to me it could be well diluted.

However in my husband's family someone married just before the birth of their son a woman called Blackfoot Woman on the marriage certificate. She died in childbirth of that son. Within two months he married a woman who claimed the boy was hers. Whose child was he? I will never know.

My dad was English. My mother's mother was Jewish and her father was English.

All of my grandparents came to the US from Russia. My dad's family settled in Wisconsin and my mom's in New Orleans. Oh, how I grew up wishing that I could have lived near my southern kin! Even now, with my flat Midwestern accent, I'm proud of being half new Orleanian. It's like nowhere else in the US, and feels a bit like a different country. But when I tried living there in my 20s, I found it too hot and too slow for my liking. I also felt dragged down and had lots of migraines, which I attributed to living below sea level. Now I'm from New York City, which is also quite different from the rest of the US. It might not be linguistically accurate, but I think of my "nationality" as being a New Yorker.