What Ancestry Do You Have?

[Aymer de Valence]

Alongside my passion for history, ancestry has always been something that has fascinated me - it's a shame that more people these days don't take an interest as to what their ancestors got up to in the past, or how far they can trace their family roots back to.

Personally, I haven't managed to get round to tracing my family tree, but my surname has it's beginnings in one of most well-known Anglo-Norman families which invaded Ireland in the 12th Century (quite ironic considering my username on here). My mother is Irish; from Donegal "Land of the Foreigners" where a lot of Norse settled, so theoretically it's possible this is where my fair complexion comes from. Who knows?

My amateur observations aside, what about you guys? Anyone found out anything interesting about their family from way-back-when?

[Stavroforos]

My surname is Albanian in origin, and from what I've seen first shows up in Greece around the 15th Century when the Ottomans were resettling people in the Balkans to repopulate areas. My father's side of the family comes from Kefallonia and my mother's from Achaea, but I don't know much about my older ancestry beyond great-grandparents. Beyond making for some fun facts though, I can't say I share your enthusiasm for roots and origins and ancestries, since it doesn't change anything about the present. Unless you find out you're in the line of succession or something.

[Sharpe]

Pretty Celtic.

My surname is a variation of Ó Liatháin, traces back to Medieval Ireland and potentially central Gaul. Most of my family are from Cork except for one grandparent whose surname is Scottish-Gaelic.

I'm dark haired, terribly handsome pale and pretty huge, as are most of my family members, even my Mum is pushing 6 foot. Must be something in the blood.

[TWWolfe]

I know my family on my mothers side goes back to Clan Maclachlan. THey sided with Bonnie Prince Charlie, so I like to imagine one of my ancestors might have fought in One of the Jacobite uprisings.

[neoptolemos]

My surname is Albanian in origin, and from what I've seen first shows up in Greece around the 15th Century when the Ottomans were resettling people in the Balkans to repopulate areas. My father's side of the family comes from Kefallonia and my mother's from Achaea, but I don't know much about my older ancestry beyond great-grandparents. Beyond making for some fun facts though, I can't say I share your enthusiasm for roots and origins and ancestries, since it doesn't change anything about the present. Unless you find out you're in the line of succession or something.

Actually it wasn't the Ottomans who resettled christian Albanians or Arvanites on the 15th cent. The Arvanite families (like Spata family, Malakasa family etc) were moving southwards already from the 13th cent as migrating warbands and were settling gradually from Northern towards Southern Greece. Both the Franks and the Byzantines used them as warrior-settlers in Central Greece and Peloponessus.

[Tureuki]

Nomads(both maternally and paternally) from mountains of Antalya region in Anatolia, paternal side had to move North into central Anatolia because they killed some b.stard.

[Euphoric]

I'm of human ancestry.

[Stavroforos]

Actually it wasn't the Ottomans who resettled christian Albanians or Arvanites on the 15th cent. The Arvanite families (like Spata family, Malakasa family etc) were moving southwards already from the 13th cent as migrating warbands and were settling gradually from Northern towards Southern Greece. Both the Franks and the Byzantines used them as warrior-settlers in Central Greece and Peloponessus.

Perhaps we were Muslim Albanians then? Can't really know too much, unfortunately.

[Ciciro]

Great-grandfathers Russian, great-grandmothers Hungarian, great-grandparents are french-Canadian, and thats just on my fathers side.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

I can't give any specifics other than my line can be traced back to the year 1224, the first Schultheis (Something Schulte ver something something). That's all I know, I'd have to ask my Aunt, who had the professional stuff done, to know more.

[Cyclops]

British isles mostly, supposedly there's a romantic Portuguese Jewish connection in their a few generations back..

Now the next generation of my family is like the frikken UN: Japanese, Palestinian, Italian, more Jewish, Sicilian (yep, they're not Italian), Mauritian (so Chinese, Indian, Polynesian etc etc) and so on. I now have Australian Aboiriginal relatives through my partner which I really like, I ahve no idea why though.

I'm of human ancestry.

Hang on what about the Thetans?

[G-Megas-Doux]

I'm of human ancestry.

You to?

I thought I was the only one.

7/8 British isles 1/8 North German.

I can go back further on my mothers side then my dads. So mid 19th century (Great Great Grandparents) on one side and various lines on the other side with one back to the 16th century although most of that research was done by other members of my extended family so I have yet to verify that.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Spaniard probably from Asturias or Leon as far back as the Visigoths, some Russian in there somewhere, also some Dutch or German and some French. Going some hundreds of years back there may be some Moor or some Native American.

[Flinn]

well here in Italy the majority of the families can only go back up to mid 19th century (at about the unification of the country itself), so for me

my mather's family is of a solid central italian tradition, there are plenty of persons with the same surname around, so probably they have been here during the last 250 years at least, while my father's family (his great great-grandfather) probably came from France (there is a story about this Napoleon soldier, though never creally confirmed, and the surname itself seems of french origins, being actually almost the same of a famous franch brand).

[neoptolemos]

Perhaps we were Muslim Albanians then? Can't really know too much, unfortunately.

Muslim Albanians = Turkalvanoi , muslims in general= Turks in the sources , so you can figure out.

[AngryTitusPullo]

Carthaginian. After Carthage fell my ancestors traveled from North Africa to South East Asia.

[Stavroforos]

Muslim Albanians = Turkalvanoi , muslims in general= Turks in the sources , so you can figure out.

In the source, our surname shows up as the name of a small settlement which is described as " “an cemaat-i Arnavudan" or Albanian as opposed to "an cemaat-i Rumiyan" which would be Rum. These people of course could be totally unrelated to my family, since this settlement is in Arcadia and my family as far as I know are from Kefallonia, but the surname is the same.

[GarretJax]

We haven't been able to trace our family much further back then the 1750s, when my father's ancestors came to (at that time) the British Colonies in America from within the modern Rhineland in Germany. My mother's male line came over shortly after as well. Overall, I'd roughly say I'm from 75% German ancestry, 15% Scottish (Clan Campbell!), 9.5% Dutch, and .5% or some lesser fraction of Native American.

I wouldn't really know any of this except for my parents being genealogy nuts

[Sir Adrian]

As far as I can trace it 100% Romanian however there are several mountains in Bolivia with my family name and apparently there was a Navarese noble family with the same name back in the 16th century. Could just a coincidence as far as I know

My family on my mother's side is rumored to be descended from an 18th century french missionary or something like that but nothing has ever been proven in that regard.

[Joseph Simonyi de Vitézvár]

I can trace mine back to the early 1800's so far. Guess what I am!? 100% Hungarian!