Very welcome, Rosemary. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rose Mary A. (McGrath) Neal Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 5:09 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [IRISH-AMER] So What Is An Irishman, Anyway? Jerry, Thank you so very much for this informative bit of information. Ro [email protected] wrote: Hi Phyllis, We have a couple of families, like your Doyles who are Scandinavian/Viking in origin. We also have a number of families who are Normans, who in turn were originally Danes. But most Irish families are Irish, not Viking nor Norman. Remember that the Irish aren't a race, but a nation made up of a number of different migrations. We had (and still have) tribes of tall pale blonds (Leinster), short freckled red-heads, middle height and tall sandy blond/brunettes (Connacht), short stocky barrel-chested dark-complexioned brunettes (west Cork), tall big-boned Fir Bolg with jet black hair (Kerry), just to name a few. In addition to the Irish who have been in Ireland since (or before) the last ice age, we had identifiable immigrations by Celtic tribes like the Brigantes (the Gorman family is part of this tribe), the Menapii (the Monaghans seem to descend from these), the Belgii (Fir Bolg in Irish, including my wife), etc. Then we had later migrations/invasions/settlements by Vikings (your Doyles) and Normans (Burkes, Fitzgeralds, Butlers, etc.), all of whom eventually became Irish-speaking. So eventually, all these people became Celts, which is a linguistic group (i.e., Celtic-speaking), not a racial/genetic group. I would suggest that today an Irishman/Irishwoman is a person born in Ireland who wants to be called an Irishman/Irishwoman. (Some people in the north don't want to be called Irish.) In contrast, a Gael in the Irish language is a Gaelic speaker, no matter where born. A Gael can be of any ethnicity and of any citizenship. I'm a Gael even though I was born and raised in America. I have friends who are Gaeil who have never been to Ireland. Hope that's helpful. Le gach dea-ghuí / Best, - Jerry Rose Mary A.(Mc Grath)Neal ====Irish American Mailing List===== Add/check your surname to the Irish-American mailing list Surname Registry at: http://www.connorsgenealogy.com/IrishAmerican/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message