Percentage Of Germanic Blood in County Derry and Londonderry City, Ireland ?

[Peoples Observer]

Can anyone tell me how much Germanic blood there is infused among the Irish people of this particular region of Ireland :

County Derry and Londonderry City.

Who were the relavant Germanic invaders and settlers ?

I need to know because some of my wife's relatives come from this part of Ireland.

Hopefully there is more Germanic rather than less.

[Hagalaz]

There is 17.59353%

On a serious note, there is no real way of knowing and the question seems ridiculous to me.

[Peoples Observer]

There is 17.59353%

On a serious note, there is no real way of knowing and the question seems ridiculous to me.

No real way of knowing? Maybe you have nothing to add, but I'm sure someone on this forum who sincerely wants to help answer the question will do so.

[Nachtengel]

The Anglo-Saxons and the Nose/Vikings were the relevant invaders and settlers in the whole of Britain.

But since there isn't any study of that specific region, Hagalaz is right: nobody could tell you a percentage.

[Peoples Observer]

The Anglo-Saxons and the Nose/Vikings were the relevant invaders and settlers in the whole of Britain.

Thats good for starters !

So its safe to assume that there is some Germanic blood in the Irish.

[Nachtengel]

Thats good for starters !

So its safe to assume that there is some Germanic blood in the Irish.

Yes, like in the Finnish, but same like in the Finnish, not enough to make them Germanic per se, because they don't have other requirements for being Germanic. The Irish adapted English language and culture, but it's not native to them. They are natively predominantly Celtic.

[Peoples Observer]

Yes, like in the Finnish, but same like in the Finnish, not enough to make them Germanic per se, because they don't have other requirements for being Germanic. The Irish adapted English language and culture, but it's not native to them. They are natively predominantly Celtic.

OK thats reasonable.

Any Germanic racial infusion into the Irish is a bonus to them.

[Ward]

From my understanding of Irish history, the Norse element is most prevalent in the southeast quadrant of the island, around Waterford, Cork, Limerick, Dublin, and so on. All of those settlements were founded by Vikings. Also, the subsequent Norman invasion was most concentrated around these regions. I seem to recall that the Viking museum in Dublin is said to have more Viking artifacts than any other museum outside of Scandinavia.

The northern part of Ireland remained the most Celtic (and resistant to English control) at least until the Brits started sending over settlers in the 17th century, though the Germanic input on this occasion would have been more Anglo-Saxon in nature.

For whatever its worth, I've been to both N. Ireland and the Republic and it seemed to me that Nordic types were most common in the southeast of the island. However, a while back I came across a Nordish physical anthropology site. Can't remember the name of it, but I recall that it had pretty extensive racial composition data for all northern European nations. If you can find it, you'll probably get some more definitive answers.

In any case, Ireland does remain a predominately Celtic nation.

[Sigurd]

Derry is considered a divided city. Protestant descendants of English settlers of Ulster as well as Catholic descendants of Irish people - (London-)Derry was one of the hotspots of IRA activity, but also one of the hotspots of Ulster loyalists.

The city was and is so divided that you can either address your letters to "Derry City" or "Londonderry", where the Protestant Unionists tend to look more towards the rest of Ulster, whilst the Catholic separatists tend to actually look more towards the Irish Co. Donegal, just across the border (note that the northernmost point of the Hibernian insula is actual in the "South").

As such, I would say that most Germanic settlers are reasonably recent, the little cultural or genetic influence of ancient Viking or Anglo-Saxon forays is probably comparedly negligible to the generous amount of English settlement since Northern Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. The actual percentage is hard to observe, as the city was less divided in previous times, and when better relations existed, undoubtedly it would have received important influences both from Celtic and Germanic culture.

Remains to be said, (London-)Derry is the city on the Hibernian insula from which I knew most people, two of which were Protestants - one of which an Ulster Scot, the other an English-descended - and four of which were Catholics, but I had to attest the "likeable" attribute to either. Appears to be that despite the city's bad reputation abroad for the quarrels amongst its population, they're actually a good bunch.

[Athalwulf]

As others have said there is no definite percentage that any of us can come up with, but since there were minor Norwegian settlements near that region of Ireland there is probably a good amount of Norse/Germanic blood there.