Your ethnicity

[esteban]

My family are Ukrainian.  So, I come from a rich Ukrainian family.

???!!! A fellow Ukranian? Wow, this is a small world. My dad came over as a kid during WWII. No $$$ though, they were refugees. My cousins know Ukranian and Russian -- unfortunately I never picked up these languages (just some basic stuff). My dad kind of distanced himself from his heritage -- it was tough growing up in America during the Cold War, especially when folks here equated "Ukranian" with "USSR" -- and never really shared it with my brothers and I. My aunts, however, encouraged their kids (my cousins) to learn the language and culture.

[Dark Fact]

Lucky  .

Us Irish people are always poor  .

???!!! A fellow Ukranian? Wow, this is a small world. My dad came over as a kid during WWII. No $$$ though, they were refugees. My cousins know Ukranian and Russian -- unfortunately I never picked up these languages (just some basic stuff). My dad kind of distanced himself from his heritage -- it was tough growing up in America during the Cold War, especially when folks here equated "Ukranian" with "USSR" -- and never really shared it with my brothers and I. My aunts, however, encouraged their kids (my cousins) to learn the language and culture.

Oops.  I meant to say culturally rich, not financially rich.

My parents immigrated here 25 years ago and my dad is very persistent in upholding our culture.  Thing is, I'm more fluent in English than Ukrainian.  In fact, I haven't spoken fluent Ukrainian since I was a kid!     I can still speak a little bit but not as fluent as English.

[TurboXray]

Hmmm... mostly English (last name - Leverton), French, and German. My father traced our last name as far back as 12th century A.D. A lot of German last names in there as well(schiender,schaefer), but strangly with french first and middle names. Both sides of the family have lineage from Alsace Lorain(sp?). My great unlce spoke french and keep contact with distant family, unfortunately the language was not passed on by my grand mother or her brother.  

I did have one famous relative - Thomas Lynch who signed the Declaration of Independence. My great grandmother was disowned by her father (a supreme court judge) for marrying a german man and was therefore cut off from the family fortune

[Keranu]

Neat-o history.

[Kaminari]

Both sides of the family have lineage from Alsace Lorain (sp?).

Yes, Alsace-Lorraine, an eastern province bordering Germany. Most Alsacians have a French and German heritage which goes back to the Frankish Empire (9th Century). That certainly explains why the first and last names of your ancestors are of mixed origins.

[PC Gaijin]

One half Korean, 3/8 Irish, and 1/8 Choctaw. Interestingly, my surname is Anglo so people often assume I have an English background, but the name was adopted by my Choctaw great-grandfather when he assumed a "white" name to go to medical school.

Family pictures are often strange due to the mixed races. For example, my hair is black and my eyes are brown (from my Korean mother), my father is very white with freckles, green eyes, and red hair (the Irish blood from his full Irish mother and half-Irish father), while my grandfather had black hair again but with very white skin (half Choctaw, half Irish).

[TurboXray]

Cool, Thanks Kaminari

the name was adopted by my Choctaw great-grandfather when he assumed a "white" name to go to medical school.

That somewhat common in the 1800's and early 1900's for immigrants as well, trying to gain acceptance into the (then) current hard nose society