One for the Yanks. Irish roots.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Why does it seem that so many Americans are keen to trace their ancestors back to be Irish?

Apparently 12% of Americans identify themselves as Irish-Americans. Strangely, only 13% claim to be British-Americans, which seems very low. Is it just that many 'British-Americans' simply call themselves 'American'? Or is there something more romantic about having Irish roots than having English roots?


Without this thread turning to another Obama slamming mess, President Obama is now claiming he has Irish roots (like many previous presidents) by visiting his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers home town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13166265

Is it to get the votes of Catholics?

[Dave B]

Now that O'Bama is starting to go grey, he does resemble a pint of Guinnness :p :beer:

[Mark]

It's rather a cliche now to say that there are more people living in America who consider themselves Irish than there are people living on the island of Ireland itself.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Now that O'Bama is starting to go grey, he does resemble a pint of Guinnness :p :beer:

http://www.afa.net/uploadedImages/Blog/The_Millenial_Perspective/Obama%20facepalm.jpg


It's rather a cliche now to say that there are more people living in America who consider themselves Irish than there are people living on the island of Ireland itself.

Well the same was true in the 1980 census of British-Americans. Not anymore.

[MrJan]

It does seem that most Amercians/Canadians that I've spoken to have claimed to be Irish/Scottish. I spoke to one guy that was insistent that his great granny was some Lady of an estate in Scotland but to me it just sounded like his old man had bought one of those "become a laird" things off the internet.

[nigelred5]

Well, That's simply what many of us are, and immigration records document that fairly well. There was no great "British" immigration to America in the 1800's. They immigrated from Ireland, first to escape British rule and persecution in the early 1800's, then later the famine. My paternal Grandmother is Irish. My great grandmother and grandfather emigrated in the 1870's. My maternal Heritage is all German, so my family has never considered itself "Irish" and I don't really consider myself Irish even though I unquestionably am partly Irish. My brother married a girl from Ireland. Her family accepted him since he's at least partly Irish. Second, you might forget those two wars we fought a couple hundred years ago ;) To be honest, I've never heard anyone ever call themself a British American. Irish, Scottish, Welsh- yes, but never "British". Most people I know of "English" heritage simply say they are English.
We usually call them Canadians ;) lol



The rest of my family is German and I was actually born in Germany.
.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Well, That's simply what many of us are, and immigration records document that fairly well. There was no great "British" immigration to America in the 1800's. They immigrated from Ireland, first to escape British rule and persecution in the early 1800's, then later the famine. My paternal Grandmother is Irish. My great grandmother and grandfather emigrated in the 1870's. My maternal Heritage is all German, so my family has never considered itself "Irish" and I don't really consider myself Irish even though I unquestionably am partly Irish. My brother married a girl from Ireland. Her family accepted him since he's at least partly Irish. Second, you might forget those two wars we fought a couple hundred years ago ;) To be honest, I've never heard anyone ever call themself a British American. Irish, Scottish, Welsh- yes, but never "British". Most people I know of "English" heritage simply say they are English.
We usually call them Canadians ;) lol



The rest of my family is German and I was actually born in Germany.
.


So why is it that the most popular American surnames are British names? http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm

[Mark]

I'm a quarter Irish as everyone from my grandparents backwards on my fathers side were from Ireland, but its not something I'd use as a bragging right lol. I'm more Irish than Obama I know that. Great thread though and its a question i'd be interested in knowing the answer to.

Indeed is it considered more romantic to have Irish roots rather than English, Welsh or Scottish to Americans I wonder? We are such a mix over here and its not of major importance to us Brits, so why for others? :)

More romantic? Yes, I'm sure. England stands for ordinary. It also stands for Empire and repression, none of which are associated with Scotland and Ireland. Even though the Scots played their part in empire too.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I'm a quarter Irish as everyone from my grandparents backwards on my fathers side were from Ireland, but its not something I'd use as a bragging right lol. I'm more Irish than Obama I know that. Great thread though and its a question i'd be interested in knowing the answer to.

Indeed is it considered more romantic to have Irish roots rather than English, Welsh or Scottish to Americans I wonder? We are such a mix over here and its not of major importance to us Brits, so why for others? :)

Indeed. I have a Scottish great-grandmother, but I don't call myself Scottish-English.

[Rollo]

Is it to get the votes of Catholics?

Kennedy is the only Catholic president to date and things didn't work out terribly for him.

Is it worth putting this instructional video in? There's no-one as Irish as Barack O'Bama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HplZ_taHXLM&feature=related

Of all the presidents thus far, just over half of them have been Anglican (Episcopal), Presbyterian or Methodist (which again sits inside Anglican).

[nigelred5]

So why is it that the most popular American surnames are British names? http://names.mongabay.com/most_common_surnames.htm

Likely because as new immigrants, it was quite common to intentionally mis-spell or outright change the surname to avoid the persecution experienced by most new immigrants. The Irish weren't exactly well received for quite a long time. And many families of German ancestry outright changed their surnames around WWII. There certainly was a lot of cultural and racial animosity at play. My family had a lot of Smeizers that are now Smiths, and they are all very much NOT English. A Stadler became Sadler. Marriage also blurs that line wiht the tradition of taking the husbands name. As a nation of immigrants, people like to know where they are from, and the Irish were a huge percentage of the immigrants to this country throughout the 19th century. Take a population of devout Catholics that traditionally have very large families, multiply like rabbits and well.... Lots of Irish-americans. Same with the Italian and more recently Hispanic populations in this country.



Obama may be looking for votes by claiming he's part Irish. I think he's just trying to find out WHAT he actually is. I think many people in our country go through that, especially someone of mixed race and heritage trying to fight an association with the "least desireable" ethnicity of the hour.

[Mark]

Just watching Obama having a pint in Moneygall. They'll dine out on this one for decades!

[billiaml]

And, since many of the Irish who came to the U. S. in the 1800's were also Catholics with this "thing" against many forms of birth control, they were quite .... prolific. ;)

[Roamy]

They want to find out what caused them to become an alcoholic

[Jag_Warrior]

They want to find out what caused them to become an alcoholic

:rotflmao: :beer: :rotflmao:

Bad, Roamy! Bad boy! :arrows:

Still, funny as hell though.

[Sonic]

Anyone see 'the beast' ground out? Funniest thing I saw all day.

[Zeakiwi]

Looks like the recce team slipped up when checking the route. The limo needs the homies to put adjustable bag suspension in to alter the ride height on the go.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWxxuG2Ru9c

[Sonic]

Looks like the recce team slipped up when checking the route. The limo needs the homies to put adjustable bag suspension in to alter the ride height on the go.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWxxuG2Ru9c

I can just see O'Bama hanging out his window with his system up whilst his car bounces down the road.

[52Paddy]

Ireland is a country renowned for its arts (i.e. music, poetry etc) and landscape. Also, be truth or untruth, Irish people have a reputation of being a likeable race. I suppose it's a country that, for many Americans, is a desirable heritage to link yourself to. For sure, the Gaelic Ireland of pre-British colonisation is far cry from the post-Celtic tiger Ireland of today. Still, we do have a living musical tradition, native/fluent speakers of the Irish language and untouched beautiful landscape in many parts which, seemingly, is enough of an attraction.

Ireland has a history of mass emigration and the Irish diaspora is not just evident in America but also in Canada, Britain and Australia (and to a lesser extent in other countries). The pursuit for "Irishness" is not wholly American as it is documented among various groups in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow and other cities. The Irish emigrated to such cities during the 1940s and right up until the 1980s. This is happening again but not to the same extent. The groups of people that emigrated from this country back in those years included members of the travelling community and farmers.

I myself am Irish but a quarter Cypriot as my grandmother was born in Cyprus. While I am a very proud Irishman, a performer of our native music and have a fair grasp of our native tongue, I would love to know about my family in Cyprus whom I know next to nothing about. The strive to understand your roots and find out more about the person you are is an instinct ingrained into most people, I believe.

[steve_spackman]

Why does it seem that so many Americans are keen to trace their ancestors back to be Irish?

Apparently 12% of Americans identify themselves as Irish-Americans. Strangely, only 13% claim to be British-Americans, which seems very low. Is it just that many 'British-Americans' simply call themselves 'American'? Or is there something more romantic about having Irish roots than having English roots?


Without this thread turning to another Obama slamming mess, President Obama is now claiming he has Irish roots (like many previous presidents) by visiting his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfathers home town.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13166265

Is it to get the votes of Catholics?

It is all bizarre to me, because many Americans that have told me they are Irish, have no real clue where Ireland

[steve_spackman]

It is all bizarre to me, because many Americans that have told me they are from Irish or Scottish decent, have no real clue where Ireland or Scotland is :rolleyes: