Where does your hair really come from?

[SurprisingWoman]

Today I went to a Pow Wow. I wore my hair down for most of it. I was actually there volunteering for a non-profit.

I had at least seven women come up to me and ask what my Native Family was because my hair was, "just like their mother's" or other family members.

I have had people ask me that several times before when I was out in public but it was sporadic. Today, it was really interesting since I was at my first Pow Wow and I was only there or six hours!

I, like almost every other white person in the US, has a picture of my "Native Grandmother x so many greats" in the family photo album.

My family's history keeping is sheite and there is no interest in looking at "who, what, where and how" on my end. My dad died in August and my mom died in December. I live in Utah but I am not a genealogy person but today made me wonder.

So many people asked today who my "people" were. Do you get that when you are out? I had a boy ask over 20 years ago but I thought he was just making his move.

I won't do the DNA thing because I don't want my business out there but has anyone found out cool stuff after investigating after something like this?

[Jo Ann]

Depends on your definition of "cool," SW. I research my family tree and, on one of the "someone who married someone who married someone who is distantly related to me" branches (put another way, not my direct line :p ) were two sisters of Lewis Powell (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Powell_(conspirator)), who was one of John Wilkes Booth's cohorts in the plan to assassinate Lincoln's cabinet (Powell tried to kill Sec of State Seward). I have ancestors that fought on both sides of the Civil War/War of Southern Agression, too.

I have plenty of characters in my family tree, which, to me, is more interesting than a family tree with character ;)

[lithostoic]

Nobody's asked me in a looong time. I think it's fairly obvious by looking at me. Pale freckled skin, light blue eyes, medium textured blondeish hair, button nose. Yep, I'm mostly Irish!

My mom's family book is called "The Brewster Book". I'm related to William Brewster, American historical figure. He arrived in the "New World" via the Mayflower and was the Plymouth colony's religious leader and also advised the Governor.

[Katsura]

There's some family secrets in my father's side. He doesn't look Scandinavian. I wish I knew, I feel there's some part in my identity that is missing too. I've been told in my youth that I look exotic so there's some outer features in me too, although my hair is more like my mother's. My sister's got my father's hair with slightly lighter color. My father's hair was black in his youth (now it's salt and pepper). I kind of wish my father would do a DNA test, but I don't think he will.
I've also always felt my hair color should be more like his, somehow.

[ArabellaRose]

Because I'm a redhead I get people suggesting I'm mostly from viking decent, however redheads are actually more prevalent amongst Celtic nations (Scotland, Ireland, Wales). My sister recently did one of those DNA tests and it confirmed we're mostly of British origin (we live in England) with a very small percentage of European descent (mostly Germany).

[lapushka]

I never get that as I keep my hair bunned during the day. For good reason. I don't want it messed with, talked about. I just don't want the fuss, you know? :)

[GrowlingCupcake]

SurprisingWoman, I think it is the mixture of long hair + similarish texture to (stereotyped or otherwise) native American hair + being at a Pow Wow. And depending on how you dress, that could add to the "she must be native" vibe. My partner is native, and I have found that, in general, they tend to have longer hair. That might be endemic to the state I live in but I doubt that.

I have always felt like my ethnicity is pretty obvious (Indian) but here in the US, I have been mistaken for Hispanic/Latina/Mexican. More so if I wear any style of clothing that might be stereotypically linked to that ethnic background. Mostly I just get asked what kind of Indian I am since my skin colour is skewed North Indian, my features are skewed South Indian, and my accent is generic Commonwealth (think BBC newsreader).

I have no interest in a DNA test because it is just going to tell me my ethnicity is Indian. There are no surprises/secrets in mine.

[Hairkay]

I agree that it could be stereotying given the setting you were in. You hair comes from your family whoever they were.

I have had some people tell me what they think my mix is. Most times they got it wrong. People see what they wish to see. Most of my family descended from West Africa plus there's the Europeans (Scottish, Welsh and Irish) and the few indigenous Caribbean people. My hair mostly has the same curl pattern as my mother but my curls are a bit looser. I think my mother resembles some people from Ghana, some look like they could be family. My father looks Indian but he isn't. Often people would tell him that he was which got him angry. He goes by the afro-Caribbean (black) ethnicity label that they use in the UK. He's a black and Irish mix.

[RavennaNight]

I get a lot of people asking me if I am Russian, which is close because I do have ancestry that goes to Ungvar/Uzhorod which is now Ukraine. Also a lot of quizzical (and sometimes intrusive) “what are you?” questions, and people just saying I’m “exotic.” I’m 50/50 Hungarian and Swedish. People get shocked by the Swedish because my hair is hennindigoed black. My grandmother on my mother’s side did in fact however, have naturally thick black hair. I’m blonde haired and blue eyed, as my dad’s genes are very strong. My sister and brother (albeit from another mother) have the same eyes and light brown/ash blonde hair. I don’t think anyone in my immediate family ever had long hair. My sister hates havin it and keeps it pixie. My mother kept it chin length and so did my grandmother. They actually hated long hair.

[Haven]

I'm mostly of mixed European descent with a Mexican grandmother... I think I look rather European but I get people asking if I'm East Asian or assuming that I am.
As for my hair, I've never seen my mother or my mother's mother with her natural hair before it went gray, so I have no idea how much mine takes after theirs :P My mom grew up in the 80's so she has a perm in all pictures of her at my age. At least the color and the tendency to go gray early are the same.

[SwanFeathers]

Would definitely do a DNA test if I could, my dad's side is a mystery. He gets edgy and shifty when I ask and all he'll say about it is " well you know, we're english like everybody else."
Mom's side is pretty much german until my scotch-Irish grandmother.
My hair is fine and thick and brown, and looks most like Haartraum on youtube(german) or holistichabits on youtube(englush?)
Lol my husband is straight german, his grandmother came to the us after the war and settled down with the son of previous german immigrants. She's my favorite grandmother-in-law :)

[cjk]

The more i know about my family the less i want to know.

But i do know that my grandparents and great grandparents came to the US on ocean liners in the early 20th century from various Nordic and West European countries.

[AmaryllisRed]

I'm with lithostoic.
I have orange hair, freckles to match, blue eyes, and blinding white skin.
It's pretty clear from miles away that I'm mostly Irish.
So no one asks.
Also, people know better than to ask me questions. ;)

[Begemot]

I believe I'm mostly of Nordic and Scandinavian heritage. A DNA test could be fun. I do wonder how two people with curly/wavy hair managed to create three kids who all have mostly straight hair lol. My brother probably has potential for curly hair but he keeps his hair short usually. It seems straight but the longer it gets the more curl potential I see. His ends could form cute spiral curls if he just let his hair grow to shoulder...!

[lapushka]

I'm with lithostoic.
I have orange hair, freckles to match, blue eyes, and blinding white skin.
It's pretty clear from miles away that I'm mostly Irish.
So no one asks.
Also, people know better than to ask me questions. ;)

My face is full of freckles. My natural hair is in my signature. When I did henna it somehow suited me, but then due to my Spanish last name (historical) people got "freaked out" like you wouldn't believe. I never saw anything like it. It's like I suddenly was an anomaly after they learned my name. People can be so cruel! They were looking for roots up close because of course I had to have typical black Spanish hair, right (it isn't even typical). Pffff, sad!

[gossamer]

You might find it interesting to read through this thread too, on "nationality and hair type" : https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=46602

Without doing a DNA test, there's still research you can do into your family history to see if there are any interesting stories documented (in brief) in official records. I spent a little time working through my dad's background on his father's side because all he could tell me is that my grandfather was born in Oklahoma. Ended up finding all kinds of documents tracing his family back further into time and their arrival in North America before there was a "United States." Pretty fun, but even more fun than that was a distant cousin reaching out and sharing that he'd found a court document saying that one of my ancestors had to sell his moonshine still to pay his debts. This is hilarious to me - I'm a descendant of not just moonshiners, but failed moonshiners. :rollin:

Yeah, but that doesn't really have anything to do with my hair, sorry for the tangent. :p

[Ylva]

I'm of Swedish and Finnish descent (born in southwestern Finland with a Swedish surname) and pretty much nothing else.

Here's my "DNA map", provided my 23andme whose test I took some years ago:

https://i.ibb.co/S07cJ46/dnamap.jpg

[Sora Rose]

What an interesting question. I've been asked if I was German more times than I can count. Probably the tawny hair and blue eyes...

The answer is 'no', I am not, in fact, German, but Dutch. Or at least mostly Dutch - I probably do have a German ancestor somewhere. My grandparents on my dad's side immigrated to Canada after WWII, and they were Dutch just about as far back in the family as my grandfather could find (he was big on ancestry. Turns out most of the family were... dairy farmers. Yay. On both sides. Although there were a few family members that stepped out of that mould and were quite interesting). I don't think anyone was really surprised about this, though, just more like 'Oooooh, Dutch, makes sense'.

My mom is more interesting, though. We're pretty sure she's part Dutch, too, but she's got to be part French as well. We know without a doubt that Grandma on her side was French, and my mom was so curious, she decided to have her DNA test. As soon as it comes back, I'll know more.

[Sora Rose]

Pretty fun, but even more fun than that was a distant cousin reaching out and sharing that he'd found a court document saying that one of my ancestors had to sell his moonshine still to pay his debts. This is hilarious to me - I'm a descendant of not just moonshiners, but failed moonshiners. :rollin:


This is hilarious, actually! I laughed a bit too much reading it. ;)

[TreesOfEternity]

It’s something that really intrigues me to be honest, I’d love to have an ancestry test done one day (as far as I know they are quite expensive) because I have no clue where my features come from. I’ve seen other women in my area with similar features to mine and other women in family (nose shape, lips shape, hair...) but I don’t know where those come from.

[milosmomma]

I have done the DNA testing. I was hesitant at first but then figured what the heck. The only extremely surprising thing was having trace native American ancestry, a 5th or 6th great grandparent in the 1800's 23andme predicted. Besides that it confirmed what I expected, 61% Irish and British, 23% German and small percents Scandinavian, small amounts of southern European(Italian and Spanish). I recommend the DNA testing. I mean unless you plan on murdering someone I dont really see how the government or who ever will use your DNA against you :lol:
It's also been nice to contact my relatives through 23andme. I have many many relatives popping up because my grandmother on my moms side had a sister, whom married my grandfathers brother if that makes sense. So there are essentially 2 whole extended families sharing basically the same DNA :lol: I have learned much about my great grandfather on my dad's side and have seen old photos of my grandfather as a baby. Learned that my paternal grandfather was one of 17 children! Crazy! It's been a positive and enlightening experience and 100% recommend.

[littlestarface]

I think my hair no, I know my hair comes from my european ancestors yes for sure, because it is quiet fluffy,wild,too extreme,wavy,uncontrollable,fragile dark brown hair and native hair is straight,black and is always perfect which mine is not.

[gossamer]

This is hilarious, actually! I laughed a bit too much reading it. ;)

Hard to laugh too much, in my opinion. I’ve knowing about this for a few years now and it still makes me giggle. :lol:

[Groovy Granny]

I used to get asked if I was German.
Back in the day I was a lighter blonde, but I am French Canadian.
I was white blonde as a baby and eventually darkened to a dark blonde/light Brown just as my Father did as we hit our 30's.
Later we started our silver at age 50 and the rest was tawny.
I would never do a DNA search; we can trace back far enough to know our history and have formed our trees on both sides (all based in New Brunswick).

[SurprisingWoman]

What a fun thread this has turned out to be. I might reconsider doing some research. I live in Utah so it's everywhere.

I was wearing a lime green, "Are you registered to vote" tshirt, blue jeans and purple Lumpy Space Princess Dr. Marten boots. I wasn't dressed to resemble anyone there, other than the other nonprofit volunteers and that was just the tshirt. No one else has Dr. Marten LSP boots! :cool:

I love how people answered the questions. We have some fun stuff in the backgrounds! Attempted murder, moonshine! Fun.

I do know my grandmother was a first generation Shae/Shaner from Ireland and that is where my freckles and auburn hair came from when I was young but after that it all gets fuzzy. Thanks for responding, everyone.

[ExpectoPatronum]

My aunt and uncle (both blood related) did a DNA test and we found out that we're extrememly mediterranean - italian, greek, middle eastern, north african. It definitely explains where I get my coloring (olive skin, dark brown hair, brown eyes) and where I get my curls. We knew we were italian (sicilian to be exact), but those others were a surprise. They make sense though since Sicily had been taken over historically by many countries. It's cool to see that reflected in our DNA.

[ursaV]

I am German (Alsatian, so a bit French too), Czech (Bohemian), and Italian (Calabrese). I'm lucky that my family history is well documented because of the sheer amount of historical pictures and documents we've kept, at least on my dad's side (German + Czech). I'm too paranoid to send my DNA to Google to find out for sure. My mom's side is Italian, and their history has been mostly passed orally because we're super close to them, and they were very poor, therefore not as much official/reliable documentation is available.

Hair-wise, my mom's Italian side actually has the thin, fair hair and my dad's has thick, dark hair. The Italian side also has a redhead/strawberry blonde streak, coming from my adopted grandfather. His parentage is a complete mystery, though the family rumor is a woman traveling south by boat got pregnant by the ship's captain, and dropped her baby off with some nuns in Italy. If you look at pictures, I'm almost an exact copy of my mom, aunt, and great grandmother, though I have a chubby Czech nose instead of the Italian "schnoz", as they affectionately call it ;) I don't get asked what I am very often, I'm pretty plain-jane looking so most people aren't interested. My hair is pretty common too, medium brown, medium thickness, and very straight. My younger sister has fluffy, wavy hair with a few corkscrews, and my older half-sister has defined 2c curls, both brunettes as well. I haven't seen much curliness on either side of my family, so it must be from her mother's Irish side.

I could go on for a long time talking about my heritage, I love all the old stuff that's been passed down to me. My family likes looking at pictures together from a century ago seeing who has our greatgreagreatgreat aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa's eyes, chin, etc.

[Dark40]

For many years a lot of people asked me is I was Hispanic. Well, born in New Orleans, LA you do get that a lot, and my grandmother and great-grandmother are mixed with "Creole." That's a mixture of both Spanish and French. On my dad's side of the family our family tree comes from Ireland. So, I'm part Irish too.

[GrowlingCupcake]

I think my hair no, I know my hair comes from my european ancestors yes for sure, because it is quiet fluffy,wild,too extreme,wavy,uncontrollable,fragile dark brown hair and native hair is straight,black and is always perfect which mine is not.

I don't know if this is a difference in region thing but many of the native Americans I know do not have straight hair.

My partner has 2b or 2c hair, blacker than mine. His mother has either wavy or curly hair (I have never seen a proper typing photo), and it's an ashy black colour. His grandmother has curly/wavy hair. His other relatives are a mix; some straight hair, some wavy/curly. Most of them have some shade of black hair, but some have dark brown or ashy black/brown.

I think the black is definitely predominant, but the straight maybe is more stereotyped rather than in practice or like regionally based?

Also, I always thought your hair was black/black brown! I guess we are not hair twins them xD Mine is the typical Asian black.

[littlestarface]

I don't know if this is a difference in region thing but many of the native Americans I know do not have straight hair.

My partner has 2b or 2c hair, blacker than mine. His mother has either wavy or curly hair (I have never seen a proper typing photo), and it's an ashy black colour. His grandmother has curly/wavy hair. His other relatives are a mix; some straight hair, some wavy/curly. Most of them have some shade of black hair, but some have dark brown or ashy black/brown.

I think the black is definitely predominant, but the straight maybe is more stereotyped rather than in practice or like regionally based?

Also, I always thought your hair was black/black brown! I guess we are not hair twins them xD Mine is the typical Asian black.

I was speaking about my relatives on the mexican side have that stereotypical straight pure black hair,my dad even had it. My hair is brown/black as you can see from my pictures but its not a pure true black no, not like theirs.

[MusicalSpoons]

My parents were both blonde as youngsters then darkened to dark brown, now silver/grey/white, with blue eyes. Dad's hair is curly and I've a feeling Mum's would be slightly wavy based on how it acts when it gets 'too long' (longish pixie cut; I don't know what the style is actually called) but I don't know for certain because I've never seen it dry naturally even when it was longer (chin/shoulder) and we all know hair typing at those lengths is inexact anyway, to say the least!

The rest of my family tree, I really have no idea who has what hair because they're all short-haired, beyond the fact my uncle (Dad's twin) also has curly hair. One aunt on my Mum's side has blonde hair still, reasonably fine, but she washes it daily and dries it overnight in plaits to make it wavy, as she has done for the past 30+ years, so I have no idea what it would do if left to its own devices. The rest of the women in my family blow-dry their short hair and some had perms in the past so no clues there either :shrug: Most of them have dark hair; a couple of cousins (different parents, different sides of the family) were blonde as children and now darkened to mid-brown. My sister however is still dark blonde with natural highlights and has the odd ringlet here and there; I would love to see what it would do if she had a more moisturising routine but she's happy with her hair the way it is :) She also has some of the longest hair in the family, at around APL-BSL. Not sure where my blonde aunt's is now; she trims it gradually shorter and when we last saw her it was ~APL a couple of years ago. Everyone else has pixie cuts of some kind. Oh! No, I forgot, an aunt by marriage has had long hair for as long as I can remember, ~classic length. We rarely see them though so she doesn't often spring to mind. When we do see her, it's usually in a plaited ponytail; I don't ever remember seeing it down. It tapers more than mine so I guess she keeps it at a length where her ends are not too thin for her liking. We've also never had a conversation about hair, but then before LHC I wasn't really interested so if she is interested I probably wouldn't have noticed ... I'm ever so observant like that (!) :oops: I don't get any genes from her though anyway so I don't feel too bad for originally not thinking of her for this topic :lol: She actually has a darker complexion than the blood relations on that side, so maybe her ancestry is a bit more interesting!

In terms of ancestry, my maternal grandmother did some research and we think my grandfather's surname came from an Austrian soldier a couple of centuries ago, anglicised now, but otherwise the rest of the tree just plain English. On my Dad's side, an English farming family as far back as oral history takes us. So boring :rolleyes:

(DNA testing would be interesting, because this little island has both been invaded and gone invading enough that any truly English language or people virtually doesn't exist. But I only know what I've been told, and although genealogy is fascinating I really don't have the energy to pursue it.)

Edit: I forgot to say, I've been asked before if I'm Polish (a few times), Swedish, and another nationality that I can't remember. Always makes me laugh, as I have a fairly standard English accent, and Polish people tend to have a darker complexion than mine - I live in an area with an expanding Polish community, to be fair, but honestly all of the blonde Polish people I've met (even the ones with lighter blonde hair) have a different tone to their complexion. I'm not milky-white but ... wearing light colours makes me look ill!

[*Wednesday*]

This is my great grandpa John. He's Native. Doesn't have long hair, who wore glasses and a suit. I must be the only person of American Indian ancestry that goes against the grain of the proverbial "Indian" grandma. Just though I'd share some photos. I come from a very mixed ancestry. For some odd reason, when people ask me what I am and I tell them, they seem weirdly obsessed with the American Indian. They are always "Native" from some phantom ancestor, but never Black.

I just want to stress, many federal US Indian federal tribes have people of mixed ancestry. Many of the US tribes have a lot of admixture both racially and inter-tribal. Phenotypes can vary greatly. We don't talk that way "you look Indian because xxxx." Especially when people have verifiable Indigenous ancestry. There are people within the Cherokee (three federal tribes) that have blond hair and blue eyes. They are, Cherokee. The fullbloods can get harsh with mix-bloods. We give all due respect.

These are my family photos, please don't post them on other sites. Thanks.


https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36417&d=1554682883



Below is my dad who is a mix of Black/Native/Scottish.

https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=36419&d=1554683557

[lithostoic]

My aunt and uncle (both blood related) did a DNA test and we found out that we're extrememly mediterranean - italian, greek, middle eastern, north african. It definitely explains where I get my coloring (olive skin, dark brown hair, brown eyes) and where I get my curls. We knew we were italian (sicilian to be exact), but those others were a surprise. They make sense though since Sicily had been taken over historically by many countries. It's cool to see that reflected in our DNA.

I am 1/4 Sicilian! Not that you can tell at all haha. My cousins resemble your coloring. And they have very curly, almost coily/kinky hair. I am the oddball when I go to family gatherings on my mom's side.

[ExpectoPatronum]

lithostoic, I definitely have an "oddball" couple of cousins, but they're mixed with something else. Funny how recessives work!

[spidergoat]

This is a really interesting thread! I do know that in my mom's side of the family, I'm the first to not have red hair: that side of my family is mostly, if not all, Irish. My hair still has a lot of red tones in bright light, but normally it just looks dark brown, like my dad's. I know my Irish ancestor on that side came over around the time of the Civil War and at some point someone married a Cherokee woman, but one of my more recent family members burned the evidence of the marriage (letters, etc). I can only assume it was because she was rather racist.
In my dad's side we thought we were German because of our last name, but he recently did a DNA test and it turns out that that side of the family is mostly British. I guess someone was in Germany just long enough to get the name and then leave!

[lithostoic]

lithostoic, I definitely have an "oddball" couple of cousins, but they're mixed with something else. Funny how recessives work!

Indeed! My Mom is half Italian and half British/Irish. She has brown wavy hair and pale freckled skin. Very Irish. Light cat green eyes, very Italian. Her two sisters have dark hair, one with green eyes and one with brown. Green eyed sister has freckles.

My hair is the lightest out of my whole family, Dad's side included! Strange how that worked out. Dad's side all have brown hair aside from my redheaded cousin. Love him to death, we stand out so much amongst our family haha. People ask us if we're siblings because we resemble each other more than we do our own siblings!

[Knightly]

It's hard to tell who do I look like in my family...
My mom's dad is blonde, tan, freckled, green eyed and he looks a lot like Mediterranean/ spaniard. His parents were a black haired spanish man and a blue eyed, blonde french woman. My mom's mom is light olive skinned, and her hair & eyes dark brown, while her mom is really pale, freckled and has straight dirty blonde hair, we don't know who her father was, all we know is he was blonde. They all have straight hair.
My dad's father is has light auburn curly hair and yellow eyes while my grand mother's is black and curly, since she is/ descends from native indigenous from Oaxaca.
My dad is really pale, his hair is really black and wurly, and he looks Mediterranean. My mom also has the same hairtype and looks Mediterranean as well.
I find it funny how all women from my dad's father side have straight hair and all men have curly hair haha
My brother has thick, brown curly hair and looks 'persian', as some people told him lol.
Meanwhile, my hair is straight, light brown and my skin is light olive.Many people have told me I look jewish, and arab when I get tan lol Some people have even told me I look like Mia Khalifa 😂😂😂

[languagenut]

My hair takes after my dad's, and one of his relatives is really into genealogies, and has traced that side of the family back to Switzerland. That, however, was a really looooong way back, and I don't have any pictures of our Swiss ancestors, so how much that influences my hair type, I have no idea.

Very little is known about my mom's side (the relationship politics get pretty messy; I'll leave it at that), so I guess it's a good thing, for the purposes of this thread, that my hair takes after my dad's side :p.

As for people guessing... most people haven't asked; my features are pretty "generic White American", so I don't think anybody thinks about it. However, a couple of Mexicans on Skype have said I look Russian (which seems to be mostly because I have long hair, and partly because I roll my Rs a bit strongly, lol), and some people, to my immense puzzlement, have thought I'm my boss's daughter. She's Middle Eastern, and I don't think we look anything alike... but some people will find a resemblance anywhere, I guess :lol:.

[MadelineMomo]

Me and my 2 cousins all have similar color hair, which oddly isn't particularly like any of our 4 parents. When we were little we were hair clones, but with age our hair has shone itself to be of fairly different textures.

[Jo Ann]

Now that I've got the hang of the thread (sorry, folks :blushing: ), my first cousin and I looked enough alike where we could pass for sisters. We were hair twins, even the color. Heck, when we saw each other as adults, our first thought was, "Wow, she looks just like Grandma!"

Our hair texture was similar to our paternal grandmother's, who was part Cherokee (although I've never been able to track that down and find proof). Our paternal grandfather is a mystery--he took off after Grandma's mother passed from (we believe) childbed fever (septicemia [blood poisoning] acquired after delivery) and he was never heard from again. Anything we know about him is from stories passed down after Grandma's sister became guardians of Grandma and her four sisters, who were ten and younger at the time. From Daddy's line, there is English/British ancestry; from my mother's line, there is also English/British, Irish and some Scot and Dutch.

Me? I'm just a Heinz 57--a little bit of everything :)

[Joules]

I'm quite boring. I'm from Southwestern Russia, all my ancestors (that I know of) were from Southwestern Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. I have a last name of Cossacks who founded the region I was born in about 230 years ago (which means my ancestors weren't moving that much) and a very typical Eastern Slavic appearance and hair. I'd love to do a DNA test, because there can always be surprises, but I'm not expecting much. When I travel abroad though no one can tell I'm Russian, but I guess it's more because I have no trace of Russian accent when I speak English rather than my appearance.

[littlestarface]

I'm quite boring. I'm from Southwestern Russia, all my ancestors (that I know of) were from Southwestern Russia, Ukraine or Belarus. I have a last name of Cossacks who founded the region I was born in about 230 years ago (which means my ancestors weren't moving that much) and a very typical Southern Slavic appearance and hair. I'd love to do a DNA test, because there can always be surprises, but I'm not expecting much. When I travel abroad though no one can tell I'm Russian, but I guess it's more because I have no trace of Russian accent when I speak English rather than my appearance.

Hey that's not boring that's amazing! I wish I had lineage like this.

[Hexen]

Italian and Cheyenne Indian.
I had to get a DNA test to become a tribal member. But I knew anyway. And my hair, not disappointingly to me, seems rather 'stereotypical' in both texture and color. So, mia madre and tsé-héhéto. Tis where my hair comes from.

But come the next morning, you would think it's, 'where the wild things are'

[Aerya]

Just plain Norwegian here, with perhaps a Spanish/Portoguese sailor somewhere in my lineage. My Aunt did some research and found only family from west Norway, aside from one generation ages ago where suddenly the kids came out with dark hair and eyes, lol. On my mum's side I don't know anything but I think it's just Norwegian.

It's kind of funny though, because I've heard several times that I look Eastern European. Granted I used to dye my hair darker, and most of them were drunk, high, or/and trying to hit on me :lol:

[*Wednesday*]

Italian and Cheyenne Indian.
I had to get a DNA test to become a tribal member. But I knew anyway.

Only because I’m curious. Which Nation of Cheyenne are using DNA for enrollment, Southern or Northern? IBA issues your Certified Degree of Blood card needed for enrollment and they don't accept DNA testing.
Are you meaning DNA verify paternity to an enrolled member. That's the only case I hear of regarding DNA involvement.

[Ligeia Noire]

Very Portuguese as far as great great grandparents go. From the very north though. Gallaecia....So with Celtic roots for sure. My parents and uncles and aunts all have very dark hair. Mother and father have a very fair complexion with thick dark manes
We do have plenty of blonds in the family.
Brother, sister, nephew and cousins from father's side.
Here, they do take me for Eastern European but i believe that's because of my accent. They are not familiar with European Portuguese accent at all.

[Joules]

Hey that's not boring that's amazing! I wish I had lineage like this.

Thanks, but it sounds cooler than it actually is :D I always wanted to belong to multiple cultures, to have a distant relative from a kingdom far far away who would visit us once a decade and tell stories about their country, maybe even to be bilingual from birth. Instead I'm just...boring :lol:

[Hexen]

Only because I’m curious. Which Nation of Cheyenne are using DNA for enrollment, Southern or Northern? IBA issues your Certified Degree of Blood card needed for enrollment and they don't accept DNA testing.
Are you meaning DNA verify paternity to an enrolled member. That's the only case I hear of regarding DNA involvement.

In my case it would be southern. But yeah only to prove paternity to an enrolled member because I was adopted when I was two days old. However because I know my biological parents, I already knew even before the test that my mother was Italian and my father was Cheyenne

[*Wednesday*]

In my case it would be southern. But yeah only to prove paternity to an enrolled member because I was adopted when I was two days old. However because I know my biological parents, I already knew even before the test that my mother was Italian and my father was Cheyenne

That's wonderful Hexen. I'm glad that worked out. That's a nice mix. ☺

[littlestarface]

Thanks, but it sounds cooler than it actually is :D I always wanted to belong to multiple cultures, to have a distant relative from a kingdom far far away who would visit us once a decade and tell stories about their country, maybe even to be bilingual from birth. Instead I'm just...boring :lol:

Lol well I think its awesome girl.

For me I can't even say I belong to "this peoples" I have to say i'm half mexican,german,english,native, spanish and who knows what else :rollin: Well at least I know my race :rollin:

[Milkchocolate]

Oh! I love this thread ❤️ I definitely get my ability to grow it long and thick from my Native ancestors. I’m thankful because from my Spaniard side, particularly other ladies who got the more Spaniard genes, do not seem to possess that ability. I’m so fascinated by genetics and ancestry, so it sounds funny but I feel closer to them by growing my hair long like they did :)

[SurprisingWoman]

Nobody's asked me in a looong time. I think it's fairly obvious by looking at me. Pale freckled skin, light blue eyes, medium textured blondeish hair, button nose. Yep, I'm mostly Irish!

My mom's family book is called "The Brewster Book". I'm related to William Brewster, American historical figure. He arrived in the "New World" via the Mayflower and was the Plymouth colony's religious leader and also advised the Governor.

You might be surprised! I have a half sister that is half Chickasaw. She looks very Native. My niece has strawberry blonde hair with pale blue eyes, milky white skin and her features are very pale and washed out looking. She is lovely but she is the lightest skin relative I have, you can tell she got a lot of the Shae/Shaner genes. My nephew looks very much like his mother and looks very Native.

My half-sister was adopted at birth and until she found my mother in 1996 she wasn't sure of her heritage. Now she has her Tribal card. My niece does too but she does get some odd looks when people find out her heritage! It is really cool.

[blackgothicdoll]

No clue. I'm black American with a Hebrew surname. The furthest I could find digging on ancestry was slavery on my father's mothers side iirc (the spelling of our name kept varying so i don't even know if it was the right person), so likely from Africa there - but there are somewhere around 53 countries in Africa so that doesn't tell me much - lots of gaps in between and very little knowledge of my mother's side. My great grandma on mom's side had an alias and apparently never existed. I'd like to know, but I refuse to submit my DNA as I'm not sure what would happen to that data and the data of people it is able to link me to. Ahh well, worlds greatest mystery :p

Eta: according to the dictionary of American names it is Polish OR an American variant of a closely spelled Hebrew name - that variant is much more common.

[yl]

I have no idea, I think I'm completely portuguese, my mother has naturally brown straight hair and really light hazel eyes, my dad is blond with straight baby fine hair, grayish eyes, the two of them have the most beautiful tan skin unfortunately for me I'm pale like a ghost and I was born with what I'd call the darkest shade of brown eyes (almost black) and really light brown hair which looks kinda weird because this two dark orbs stand out way too much; on top of that I don't know where my waves/curls come from (probably grandma but she always keeps her hair short so idk).

[Siv]

My hair is typically Scandinavian, fine, slinky, and light coloured.

My parents also did DNA-tests and found out they're both about ~75% Swedish and ~15% Finnish. (Also 1% Neanderthal, lol.) So no surprises there...

My face on the other hand looks Slavic and I keep getting mistaken for Russian all the time. There were ancient migrations both through central Europe and through Russia which today are incorporated in what they label "Swedish" and "Finnish" when they do DNA ethnicity analysis, so I blame that lol. My dad's side comes from more Russian/Arctic migrations and mum's side comes from more central European migrations so I'm guessing that's where my face comes from.

Also, because of these migrations, really dark hair and red hair is also not uncommon among ethnic Scandinavian/Nordics. My grandma had black hair and my aunt is a redhead for example, I was born a redhead but "grew" blond as a toddler. Just sayin', because there were a couple of other Nordics earlier in the thread who wrote about not looking particularly Nordic... Perhaps you actually do! :)

Finally an anecdote - my great grandmother (mum's mum's mum) was "a bit religious" (quoting my mum :laugh:) and in accordance with her belief had her hair really long, always in a braid down her back. When she wanted to look nice she looped it around her head in a crown braid. She died the day I was baptised, my mum thought she held on until she was sure I'd been "properly taken care of". I'm atheist myself, but I love that story. :crush:

[Panthera]

I wish I knew. People often mistake me for a foreigner because of my hair. I've been asked like a thousand times where my parents and grandparents are from. It would be interesting to do a dna test.

[Entangled]

I’m a typical white American mutt with several European lines—lots of English, a little welsh, great great grandpa came over from Norway. The weird thing was is that when I was in Taiwan, a ton of people were shocked when I told them I was from the US (the most common guess was that I was from the US, but I think that’s because most people assume white foreign visitors are from the US or Australia.) A lot of people guessed English, followed by German, followed by Russian.

[victorian girl]

I remember someone saying that I looked a bit French, but I'm actually mostly Slavic (Ukranian, Russian, Polish and probably a bit Belarusian) with some German and/or Latvian (Deutsch-Balten, it's a tricky thing) and possibly Lithuanian thrown in, and, most importantly, just a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit Ashkenazi Jewish (only a couple of great-great-great...parents), which is why I look much more stereotypically Jewish than some of my actually Jewish friends (hair and nose included). I'd like to have a DNA test taken, but having my DNA in some database makes me feel uneasy a bit.

[lithostoic]

SurprisingWoman Good point. I'm 1/4 Italian but you'd never know by looking at me. I stand out at family reunions lol!

[pisinoe]

I’m originally Brazilian, so will probably never know the entire mix in my DNA.