To be confused about my partner's nationality

[ForestryForever]

Good evening,
My partner's parents were both born in Wales. They both lived and grew up in Wales. As adults they both left Wales and lived in England, where they remained.
Whilst married and living in England, they had a baby - my partner. My partner was born, raised in and grew up in England, and still lives in England.
What nationality is my partner?

And I don't get all this 'whatever he identifies with'. Surely there's a factual, objective answer, not a subjective one.

No, not really. If he identifies more with Wales than England, he can be Welsh. Saying he's half anything is wrong on both counts, though, surely.

Kids who have had the language of their originating culture stolen from them by not being taught it often feel a huge sense of loss over it. I've met a few.

But of things he definitely isn't HALF welsh is one of them. Both parents are Welsh.

I have 2 parents with different nationalities, that's what makes me half/half

No wonder he was offended.

He decides if he considers himself to be Welsh or English.

One of the reasons we have dual nationality in the North of Ireland is because you'll either identify as British/Northern Irish or Irish. It's for you to decide, it's not for other people to do it for you.

Isn’t there a thing with domicile - the country where you would go to die - versus nationality or citizenship? I know plenty of people who would say they were Indian or Czech rather than English, even though they were born and exclusively raised in England. There’s your factual passport data and then there’s the culture you raised in at home. OPs DH was raised to be a Welshperson abroad, rather than an English person born to Welsh parents.

Look nationality is a legal concept - he is UK.

If he regards himself as Welsh rather than English then he is welsh.

The only factual, objective answer is that he’s British. Because that’s the level at which there are laws which tell you which citizenship he has (and even then, plenty of people are citizens of more than one country). When you’re talking cultural nationality, no it’s pretty much up to the individual as to where their identity lies.

She was born in London so was English with Welsh heritage so I would comfortably say she probably saw herself as English or more likely just a Londoner. We aren't just claiming she is English. She was born here. I have noticed some Welsh seem to claim every celeb if they even have just a Welsh grandparent. Right back at you.

Would he be Portuguese if he'd grown up in Portugal?

Nations and states are not the same thing. This is the cause of enormous confusion. That's why the term 'nation-state' exists. States are modern inventions. Some of them encompass several nations, some just one. Nations predate states. The UK is a state.

"a race of people, large group of people with common ancestry and language," from Old French nacion "birth, rank; descendants, relatives; country, homeland" (12c.) and directly from Latin nationem (nominative natio) "birth, origin; breed, stock, kind, species; race of people, tribe," literally "that which has been born," from natus, past participle of nasci "be born" (Old Latin gnasci), from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.

nation | Etymology, origin and meaning of nation by etymonline

I said to them that you're half Welsh, because your parents were Welsh but you were born in England and grew up in England....

That's not a rule though. You've just made that up.

English or welsh identity is a different thing to nationality. His legal official actual nationality is British. English or Welsh nationality isn’t a specifically defined thing in the same way that you can be right or wrong about, it’s more of an identity or a heritage, and as such is more for him to choose. Either seems reasonable given his background.

It just shows you how meaningless "nationality" is. There is no right answer. He can pick what he wants. Welsh. English. British. Whatever.

No, not really.

My sons friend is born in Scotland, to a Spanish mum and a Greek dad. He has lived most of his life in Scotland, having previously lived in Spain.

I believe he is entitled to a British, Greek and Spanish passport. Not 100% sure though.

However, he considers himself to be Scottish, not British, because he is brought up in a Scottish school and influenced by Scottish culture.

I am technically British but if anyone asks my nationality (including on official legal forms) I put Scottish.

If he was born there and grew up there, of course!

So, there you have it: he’s Welsh. Only an English person would want to try to argue with such a clear fact.

You're overlooking the existence of genes, and biology, and ethnicity, and the entire field of population genetics. That's what he's talking about when he says he's Welsh. If he means Welsh by ethnicity, he's 100% correct. This is separate from both citizenship and culture.

Seems a bit of an over reaction on his part OP?

So are you saying that if you moved to China and had a baby there that baby would be half Chinese? And only a quarter English if you are English and a quarter something else.

Saying 'British' is like calling people from France or Spain European, rather than French or Spanish.

Technically your British as well like the rest of us.

Welsh is the new Irish.

Go Compa...Wynnn MasterChef....

My children were born in the UK and have 3/4 portuguese heritage and 1/4 Spanish. Their nationalities are both Portuguese and British and their identity I would say is more Portuguese than British and that is a result of how often we go home, closeness to grandparents, language spoken at home, our own sense of identity, etc.

No, it isn't.

I'm British. (And English. And European.)

Isn't that a bit of a sweeping generalisation and a bit anti English which always seems to pop up on MN?