Are my children Scottish or English

[Petranut1]

Have recently moved down south from Scotland with DH and our three DC aged 9, 4 and 10 months. I think the kids will grow up considering themselves to be Scottish, as that is where their parents come from, and where they were born. DH reckons they will end up considering themselves to be English, as this is where they will be growing up.

Not that it matters, really 😁

They will be English when it comes to university fees

It's when you say eh? to your English mother that you recognize the difference and "ye could nae fight yer way out of a paper poke" was a bit of a culture shock to my English friend when we visited my Dad - although we did find it funny too, being English and brought up on Tea and Monty Python.

I left Edinburgh for Yorkshire age 12, back to Aberdeen for uni and have lived most of my life in England since. I consider myself Scottish, British and European in that order.

Of my four dcs, one actively chooses Scotland over England in every sport, one isn’t bothered and the other two are notionally English.

As a family, Brexit has been a key factor - they have Irish passports through birth and great-grandparents. Britain and Europe are probably more important concepts than England.

Accent-wise, they are very English but can do an excellent Irish, they never dare to do Scottish in my hearing 😁

When we moved south, my younger siblings picked up Yorkshire accents v quickly but still use a bit of the vowel sounds, with me it now depends on the company and how much I’ve had to drink 🤣

They will, and you’ll be amazed how quickly. I had a very strong regional accent when we moved at 9 and I lost it quickly, partly because I couldn’t be understood.

Husband is Scottish and moved to Wales as a child.
He still has his Glaswegian accent as strong as ever. His parents and siblings never lost it either.
He's a very proud Scotsman who lives in England.

my cousins (with scottish parents) moved from scotland to england aged 4 and 5ish. Both sound english. think my male cousin considers himself scottish but my female cousin considers herself english as she doesn’t remember much from living in scotland.

We have this. Been in Jersey 25 years almost longer than in the UK and am definitely English.

The DC were born here and so are Jersey but with 2 English parents. So they are Jersey but not 100% in their minds

I think the 9yo will consider themselves Scottish, the baby English but debatable for the 4yo

The 9yo will have memories of primary school etc

I am a 56 year old version of your 10 month old. I sound English. I feel very close to Scotland and regularly visit family there (including my parents who eventually moved back). But if I said I was Scottish I'd feel a fool, having not lived there since infancy.

I'd never ever call myself English though - I'm British.

DM was born in Scotland, moved to England as a baby but then lived in Scotland between the ages of 9 and 13 where she picked up a strong Scottish accent and when she returned to England lots of people couldn't understand her. She dropped it pretty quickly so that she could fit in at school. Her DF was Scottish and DM was English so she had both accents at home.

OP I think your DC will have English accents.

I am Scottish met Northumbrian Husband at Uni.
Both DC have home counties accents, however, the use Scottish and Northumbrian words in their everyday language.
Number 1 DC is European, Scottish, British.
Number 2 DC is British, European.
Both are looking into pursuing Irish passportd from Grandparent.
Both were born in Northumberland.
Recent quote from DC 'mum you sound more Scottish when you aren't well'

DSIL was born in NI but moved to England aged 13. Still has strong accent so much so that I can't always understand what he says!

My mum is fron one country my dad from another. Me and my older sister where born in mom's country, then we all moved to my dad's country when I was a few months old and my parents had my brother a few years later. My sister would consider herself mostly from country a, has done so all her life and lives back there. My brother would consider himself mostly of country b, lives there and never thought of leaving or wanted to. I am in England and am considering myself neither more or less an a or b-er and now I can be considered a "foreigner who came here to steal jobs" by everyone else so all's good in the world! (Last bit was a joke btw).

My df was born in Scotland and came to England when he was around 6. He’s English. He was educated here and has lived here far longer than he did in Scotland. He even cringes whenever bagpipes come on the tv!

I'm English; DH Scottish. Two kids born in England and we moved to Scotland a few years ago. They're 10 and 12 now and have still got a bit of a Cumbrian accent but older one is trying hard to pick up a bit of a Scottish one. They do debate between themselves whether they are Scottish or English from time to time.

School in P6 they have to learn and recite some Burns poetry in class. Bit of a tough call when you are very English. One of them chose a cut-glass southern accent; the other one had to be firmly dissuaded from doing her broad scots wee Jimmy impersonation in case she got lynched.

That’s for them.

They aren’t a homogeneous lump though, the eldest is far more likely to view themselves and Scottish than the youngest.

The biggest favour you and your DH could do the is to stay out of it

I feel British. My father’s side are mostly English, my mother’s side are Scottish (despite the last generation growing up in Wales, they were fiercely Scottish!).

Look at Americans, when I’ve been there most have said they are Irish/German/English etc. It always seems to be the underdog. As in, I’d be Scottish if I lived in England, but Welsh if I lived in Scotland. People don’t get a chance to feel a bit different, especially when you live in places like the UK and US and are of the ethnic norm.

I used to get so het up about this, as in ‘if you were born and grew up in a place you were that nationality’. It really annoyed me. I have no idea why now though, literally who cares, identify with which ever nation/country you want!!

I was born abroad (one parent from abroad and one British) and moved here when I was four.

I definitely consider myself much more British/English but will still support the other country at sport! If they're playing each other I genuinely don't mind who wins.

Accents will definitely change over time.

Im Irish if anyone asks, my parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on were Irish, I just happened to be born and raised in England. Maybe if one of my parents was English I’d consider myself English but I was raised in an Irish home even if it was located in England. My children have mixed English Irish and Scottish heritage and born in different countries so could claim to be anything really…

I have Scottish parents but was born in England and spent my formative years there until moving to Scotland as young teenager.
Lost my English accent to fit in.

What would I be considered?

Me too! My birth certificate is Scottish, I'd be claimed by them, I'm Scottish 😊

I was born in Wales and lived there until I was 2. My Mum is Welsh, my Dad isn’t. I tend to consider myself British more than anything as I have an affinity to both Wales and England, and feel a bit of a fraud calling myself Welsh when I have an English accent (though so does my Mum - she apparently deliberately lost her accent at uni).

in your case I would say the eldest is more likely to consider their self Scottish as they will have more memories of living there

we moved to Scotland when I was 7. English parents. I’m 44 now and don’t feel at all English. I’ve only been in England a handful of times since I was 7. I can do both accents. If someone abroad asks me where I’m from I’d say Scotland.

My mums family were Scottish, but she was born in England & grew up there. My brother & I were born in England but moved to Scotland when he was 5 and I was 7. We both moved back to England as young adults & I have always considered myself English whereas he liked to consider himself Scottish. I guess we both have our reasons & perhaps the 2 years between us was significant when it came down to it.

Some childhood friends from across the road moved to Wales when they/us were around that age. They came back for a visit just a few months later and we were amazed at the children’s Welsh accents!