If you look up your last name and it says it means irish or anything does that mean you're irish?

(My friend is on this mission to find out what her nationality is so I'm trying to help her out.)

If you look up your last name and it says it means irish or anything does that mean you're irish?
*wendy bangs her head in frustration*


No offense, but this one question is one that I dread.


The answer is absolutely, unequivocably, no.


Your friend's nationality is where she is a citizen of, or where born. Her heritage is where her ancestry comes from.


Some reasons why her last name does not make her Irish (or etc)... many sites tell you that a name "comes" from one place, when in reality, it CAN come from many locations, all being just as valid. Think of the name Lee, which can be from the US.. or China.


Your ancestry/ heritage is ALL your background. 2 parents; 4 grandparents; 8 gr grandparents... if all come from different places, then she is part of ALL of them. ONLY one of the 8 will have the same last name (use maiden names for women, since that is their family). 7 of those 8 will have a different name. That is, if she only goes back to gr grandparents.. it goes up to 16 at the next level back.


Last.. Names get changed. Not like at the courthouse. Example.. my daughters maiden name is Dolphay.. but the ancestor was actually DAUPHINAIS. No one could manage French (when he came from Canada), so you can't look up Dolphay. Another way names get changed.. an adoption in the past that you were never aware of.. maybe gr gr grandpa's NAME was "Irish".. until you find out that his original birth name was Gonzalez.


The bottom line is that if you want to know your heritage, the only real way to do it, is find the ancestors, and where they came from. Not the name.
Reply:The origin of a name is just that, the origin of a name.


The nationality of a person is that of the country in which they are born and still live in, or the country they have emigrated to and taken citizenship of, sometimes it is possible to have dual nationality.


To find what her ancestral origins are, your friend needs to trace her family lineage back through the generations, you cannot do that by using the supposed origin of a name that was probably established about 700 years ago.
Reply:No. To take two extreme examples, "Lee" is a common English name and a common Chinese name. "Washington" is an English name that is common among African-Americans.





You could be 7/8ths Chinese or Cherokee yet have the surname Larson, if your Great Grandfather Larson, married a Chinese or a Cherokee, and his son and grandson did too. I picked those two because they are exitic and alliterate. Substitute Italian, German, Swiss, French, Greek, Irish or Scottish as you will.





If your friend can get back to people who were alive in 1930, usually by family memories, obituaties, birth, death and marriage certificates, AND you can get to a library or family history center with census access, you can trace her tree and find out.





It is research, which is too much like homework for most of you kids. Write via my profile if you are interested, though.
Reply:Rule one: Your nationality and your *heritage* are not the same thing. If you were born in Ireland for example you can be Irish, but also if your parents were both American and you were born abroad you could have dual nationality, ie your birth country and your birth parents country. You can also change your citizenship by moving to another country and applying for citizenship, but that does not change your nationality by birth. Your *heritage* on the other hand is defined as to where your parents, or your grandparents or great grandparents were born and/or had residence or citizenship. For example, I was born in England to English parents so my nationality is English or British. I now live in the US but I am not American and will not be until I apply for and take American citizenship, and that will still not change my nationality just my citizenship. So, to answer your friend's question, if she was born in Ireland or both parents were Irish born and she was born abroad away from Ireland, then she is Irish. If born in the US to American parents she is American but may have an Irish heritage or ancestry, and that would depend on her parents and history.
Reply:Not necessarily. Its possible that there was an adoption in the family before your friend or her parents were born. Also, during the early 1900's, most immigrants were given a new surname because their original one was to hard to pronounce or spell. If this Irish surname is simple to spell and pronounce, this could be the case. I would tell your friend to go to a genealogy library (some are free to the public) so that s/he can look through public records to find the info.
Reply:Your friend can be Irish. But your friend has several other surnames in her past that are also part of her ancestry. If she lives in the the US, her nationality is American.
Reply:its likely..


she could find out from grandparents..or a geneaology museum.. we have one in missouri.. I havent been tho.. i think you probably need to know names of grandparents.etc,