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Question: Am I Irish (based on last names)!?
I have a few family members who absolutely insist that our family has Irish roots!. I'm not sure what the reason is for the insistence, but genealogical research on my part hasn't yielded anything of note!. When I ask why they claim we're Irish, they usually say something to the effect of "Oh, well, so-and-so told me once but I forgot the links now"!. Nothing concrete or logical!.
Obviously, stories get started and forgotten so perhaps there's some truth to their claims!. I think in my research I've failed to see the forest for the trees, so to speak!. I'd like to list the last names in my tree and see if any names are Irish or could be Irish, just to give me a starting point to dive into!.
The names are: Haug, Veck, Theby (Tibi), Weihrauch, Hetzler, Dahlem, Korn, Palm, Ockenfels, Rademacher, Arens, Adams, Ley, Jasper, Kesseler, Stahl, Lang, Ernsberger, Laufer, Benedik, Montag, Erschens, Kandel, Biver, Howen (Hoven), Erasmi, Reifer, Miller, Rick, Wiskirchen, Gustin, Moths, Schreiber, Boehme, Schoedel, Degnitz, Hoerig, Otto!.!.!.!.
I know it's a strange question, but it bothers me that so many family members seem to think this but have nothing to back it up!. I'm just curious to learn more about my roots, but no one in the family seems to mind the transient nature of word-of-mouth claims!.
Any point in the right direction would be great!.!.!.thanks!
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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
I had the same experience!. My husband's family said his last name was Welsh, but I had my son do a DNA test and it's English, not Welsh!. Just looking at the name, people have assumed it was Welsh as there are some that are Welsh!. There are more than 15 separate lines now in the DNA Group and each from different areas, only one Welsh!. There was also a story that his mother's line was related to the Kizer because of their last name, but this was a story that someone started and it stuck, though untrue!.
Through my research, I've been able to prove where his lines came from!.
From my research of many lines, I see most of your lines are German or Bohemian!.
So if you are serious about finding out each of your lines origins, start your family tree and go up each line until you find where they came from!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Adams could easily be Scottish (as there was an offshoot in the Gordon Clan - there are some Adams who are related to Gordons) and many of the old Scottish Clans in the highlands were originally Irish!.
You would have to research the origin of rest of the last names!. Hope I could help!.
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Actually, the majority of those names are DUTCH!. There are German and Irish names too--but at least 15 of those listed are Danish in origin!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Simple Solution!. Get one of those Genealogy tests!. You can order the test online!. -Then you will even know what percentage you are Irish and such!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Majority of those names are German!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
You have listed more than thirty-five different names, it is extremely unlikely that all of them are variants or entirely different names, some will be completely unaltered from the original spelling, some will be a slight variation from the original, and only one or two may just possibly be an adopted name!.
The names in your list all have an original country of origin, that is a fact, whether that country is the country of origin of your most recent ancestor can only be ascertained by research, nevertheless, a surname is a valuable guide to where an ancestor came from and do not let anyone persuade you differently !!
All the names listed are obviously of European origin, the majority, if not all, are certainly of Germanic origin, some have maybe had a letter left out, for example Arens was quite probably Ahrens and Lang was possibly Lange, but they are all recognizably German names which have not been altered greatly from the original spelling, I can not see any of these names as being of Irish origin, although it is not impossible that someone was born in Ireland with a father bearing one of those names, but the name, and the early originator of that name, was certainly from Germany and not Ireland !
Edit:
You simply have too many German names listed for them all to have been adopted as alternative names, to hide, for instance, a country of origin, or to fit in with a locality!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
The majority of those names are German!.
Adams could be Irish (Anglicized from something else)!.
do you have the maiden names of your female ancestors!? That is where you could have Irish!.
also in the US, often times immigrants would be settled in neighborhoods that were willing to take them in and the families would adopt an ethnic name in keeping with their neighbors as a way to fit in---this is how my friend's great great grandmother Madam Cluny of France became Mrs!. Clooney in an Irish neighborhood in NY!.
OR the customs agent registering the new in takes would rename person or mispell a name--my aunt's husband is Jewish!. His family was from Russia and entereed Canada by way of Edward's Island!. Their name was a typical eastern European long name with lots of consonants and few vowels and the agent discovered that they were Jewish and said "OH, then your name is ______ (the name of a prominant and successful Jewish family in Canada)" This name is nothing like their original name and they are not related in any form to this other family, but it's the name they've had for the last 100 years!.
So there is the possibility that your Irish ancestors may have changed their name to hide that they were Irish---(the Irish were not welcome in the US in the early days and were treated like second class citizens and until the late 19th/early 20th century were not even considered to be white!. This is how many of my Irish ancestors were allowed to legally marry Native American and African American spouses in the south when the races were not allowed to legally marry)!. they could have moved to German neighborhoods and adopted German names similar to their Irish names!. Or they could have been documented by an official of German descent who renamed them!.
And sometimes family lore is just wrong or a lie to hide an embarrassing truth!.
I have a friend who just discovered that her great grandmother's beloved grandfather was a bigamist with 2 entirely separate families (gotta watch those old time steamboat captains and traveling salesmen)!. The woman, to hide the fact, combined the two families together in her family lore and what was always thought to be a large family with 8 children and a maiden aunt was actually a man with 2 wives and 4 children in each home in two different ports of call!. And just last week she thinks she may have found evidence of a third family in another location for this same man!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Well, about half the people here said those names are German and about half said they are Dutch!. The bottom line is, it does not matter!. The origin of a name does not indicate the origins of your family!. Those are 2 different things!. There are MANY reasons families end up with the names they have and usually those reasons have nothing to do with the origin of the name itself!.
To answer your original question, no, we cannot determine if you are Irish, or anything else, based on your name!.Www@QuestionHome@Com