have you ever been mistaken for a race/ethnicity/ancestry that you are not?

[PunnyBeaker]

I get told I look French even though I am English

I have recently discovered that in the Netherlands my brother often gets “read” as Dutch by locals.

which is interesting as I do too.

We are the usual Scottish melting pot of ancestry so it’s possible there is some Dutch in the courtesy of hanseatic league trade routes.

My dh Irish family keep asking if I have Irish blood. I have red ting to my dark curly hair. As far as I'm aware I don't. But because dh is Irish with a Irish surname, my daughters school is convinced we are Irish travellers for some reason. The LA educational psychologist did a report on dd for her EHCP and just put lots of things in there that wasn't true. When I pointed it out, they said it was helpful to paint a full picture.... that dd feeds her uncles gypsy's cobs in the local field. Her uncle actually ives in Norway. No one in our near or extended family has ever lived in our county and certainly have never rode or owned a horse. I'm a Londoner and more closely resemble someone from Eastenders than someone from Ireland. But who knows? I'm convinced the kids have some Spanish blood somewhere in there heritage

When I was in China they thought I was Scandinavian. Tall, blonde, blue eyes, I suppose I could have been!

When in Spain I always get mistaken for being German by Spanish ad Germans, I am tall, big with blond hair abd blue eyes so I get it.

Someone once asked me if I was Irish. They thought they recognised the accent.
I'm from.Blackpool. perhaps I caught the accent from the Irish sea 😅😅

Have been mistaken for Spanish and also Iranian

"They must have looked like some weird 1950’s horror film 😂."

I can only think of the Midwich Cuckoos? Made into a 1960 film "Village of the Damned"

That was definitely a scary film.

Incidentally, the book was written by John Wyndham who people may know as the author of "The Day of the Triffids"

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ps No, I've never been mistaken for anything other than English.

Often asked if Irish, but I am Welsh so makes some sense.
Also have been asked if Scandinavian/Dutch in the past (strawberry blonde hair!)

Yes that is exactly the film I had in mind. Thank you so much for reminding me the name! I must try to watch it again , see if it frightened as much as the first time.

Sorry to derail the thread topic.

That recessive blond gene is strong in my family

Yes, I look Spanish, but I’m not.

In my 20s, people would constantly come up to me in nightclubs and start conversations with me in Spanish. I’d have to stop them and say, “I’m really sorry—I don’t speak Spanish.” It usually led to some pretty funny situations, and my friends found it hilarious. At the start of every night out, they’d even take bets on how many times it would happen before the evening was over.

I also did modelling as a part-time job while I was a student, and it sort of became my USP. My look stood out because people often assumed I was Spanish or Mediterranean, and I think that helped me get noticed and booked for certain jobs. So it's been quite helpful really, a bit of an advantage.

My mum is half Irish and my dad too is half Irish, so I think that has something to do with it. My dad tans really well.

My toddler is half Italian, so I think it’s quite a nice mix—he has that Mediterranean side as well, and I love that.

Jewish.
German in the Mediterranean.

Am English / Irish mostly but paternal grandfathers side is a bit of a mystery so possibly.

I'm one of five and four of us are fair skinned with light brown hair and blue eyes. Our heritage is Celtic and English West Country.

One sister has olive skin and dark brown hair and in her youth in the 70s, she was subjected to all sorts of racial abuse centred round the P-word. She resembles our paternal grandmother though so she's not an outlier 😉

Her daughters always get mistaken for being Greek.

Not me - I have the blue palor that only comes from being Celtic - but my partner is half-Indian. He's had Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Roma, Mexican. But all Indians can tell he's Punjabi!

Yes! When I was a kid, a lady in a chip shop started speaking an Asian language to me as she was wrapping the chips - not sure if it was Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai etc. She was very nice and just merrily chatting away to me as if she expected me to understand what she was saying. I was just smiling politely. It was as if she recognised me - I always had that impression, or that I looked like someone she knew who did speak the language. But I don’t really look Asian. She was of that ethnicity, but I was blonde, white skin with green eyes 😁Past life?!

Always Middle Eastern. Occasionally Asian - afghan or Pakistani even! I think it’s cause of my name origin and I suppose I have olive features. I’m pure English . As far as I know.

Often either Scandinavian ( even in Scandinavian countries) or in UK I get asked where I'm from and then really rudely what my heritage is.
I am blonde but small with very olive skin, and really blue eyes.
My maternal grandmother looked like me except her hair was very, very dark brown, she was also adopted ( we were never able to find her records or anything other than a birth cert with no parentage on) so no idea where our looks came from but no one else in the family has my colourings, they all have mid brown hair and brown eyes.

Yes several strangers have asked me if I am Polish! And quite a few have thought I was Aussie.

I don’t think I look either!

I get mistaken for Polish alot.
It's the cheekbones apparently.

When visiting Israel I tended to be assumed not to be Jewish, I guess because I take after my grandmother who converted and was British with Irish/Norwegian heritage, so I don't really 'look Jewish'.

I've been asked if I'm Belgian, and another time if I'm Swiss. I speak French with an unusual accent, apparently 😄

In Portugal I've been told I look Portuguese with my body structure, hair colour and dark skin. I'm Irish with a smidge of Scottish and French.

My middle son always German because of his build, blonde hair and bone structure. Looking at pictures of his grandfather and great grandmother especially I can see why.

My husband has a large Roman nose in Italy it's always assumed that he's Italian.

Yes, the kind of looks foreigners often associate with Irishness seldom are.

Polish.
I'm Irish.

No, no matter how much i pray to be Irish 😩

People used to ask if I was Irish. I’m not, I’m Welsh, so not very far away. I look very obviously Celtic !