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 am always mistaken as English. I may be white, speak with an English accent and have British nationality but English I am not. When I still had dark hair, I have been mistaken as Spanish but only with my sunglasses on - and until I spoke as I am embarrassingly monolingual.

Always.

I am mixed race - Indian (east side) and English. People guess Kashmiri, Punjabi, Nepali, Spanish, Mexican, Italian, Pakistani.

I guess I have a face that seems familiar to many but it's never correct.

Turkish

When we used to travel and camp in Europe when the kids were small, we often were assumed to be a Dutch family. DH is a cockney and I'm half German Jewish. DD is very blonde with white skin and straight hair and DS gets a tan just looking at the sun, has dark hair with a reddish tinge and curls.

Yep. Pretty much everyone who meets me thinks I’m white British. To the extent that they feel quite relaxed being racist about foreigners with me.

When abroad, always German, apart from when in Germany and once, in Italy, Italian! I do have a small amount of Italian DNA.

I think I look bog standard White British with slightly olive skin but I’ve been asked multiple times if one of my parents is Middle Eastern/ Asian… so odd because I don’t see it!

I went to Spain with three friends. We are all Scottish. Three of us look Scottish - very white skin with a blueish tinge, lots of freckles, medium brown hair, very light blue/green eyes. The fourth looks more Mediterranean (dark brown hair, olive skin, dark eyes). Wherever we went people would talk to her, assuming she was a local and we were visiting her - waiters etc would be surprised when she couldn't speak Spanish. Lots of the Spaniards also assumed the rest of us were sisters (we don't look alike at all - just have same colouring).

I was on holiday in Spain and someone serving me in a shop thought I was German. That's about as far as it goes.

Yeah. I sound English, my accent carefully cultivated at school to blend in.

People in England appear perfectly relaxed about referring ‘foreigners’ in my company.

I don’t usually bother to explain that I am one of those foreigners, I just give them a wide berth.

Swedish. I blame the Vikings invading Scotland and northern England a lot.

Spanish a couple of times, I'm Irish but dark haired.

Not me but DS. He is mixed white British/black African. People think he is Moroccan all the time. I think because he takes his hair texture much more from the white side, it’s curly but dark brown and soft. His skin is on the lighter side and his features are really neither white or black. He is bemused by it regularly 😂

Not an ethnicity as such but over the years many people have thought I'm Catholic. Apparently I give off a Catholic vibe. My poor old Protestant granny will be spinning in her grave because I'm not just Protestant but Orange through and through.

Yes! When I was in Poland I was v surprised when someone in a shop assumed I was also Polish and spoke to me in Polish. Also when I was in India for 4 months pp often assumed I was Russian. V flattering. I have blond hair and blue eyes, but not the killer cheekbones! Not happened anywhere else.

I am the same, and as well as the countries you mention, I have also had people (on two different occasions) thinking I was from Hawaii which was quite random..

I'm white British woman, but people often expect me to be a male Muslim based off my name.

I was given a hard to pronounce Welsh name before my parents knew I had been born deaf. It contained sounds I was unable to hear and reproduce so I was unable to say my own name. Once I started speaking (after much intensive speech therapy) my parents had it changed to a nickname version that I could say, not realising it technically already existed.

I get a lot of double takes when I'm being called in for appointments etc.

I am often asked if I am SouthAfrican but I think due to my accent rather than looks (I am scandinavian)

Today I was asked if I'm Tamil on account of my surname. I am blonde and white. I guess the person might have thought I'd married a Tamil person.

I am half Indian. I am white.
When it comes up, people have said they thought I had some Spanish or French in me.
The only person who asked if I was 1/2 Indian was a women who was also 1/2 Indian and white.

What’s a catholic vibe! Are you swinging your Rosary beads about?!

Not me dsis and mum.
one got searched on going to a tourist attraction. The rest of the family dont. So i assume she looks muslim. As well as looking french/spanish etc.
tbh im rather jealous as im fair so high risk for skin cancer

People have assumed I’m Eastern European a number of times over the years. Never have been able to ascertain exactly why.

Jewish. Zero known Jewish ancestry and I don't 'look Jewish' apart from a bony nose, but worked in an industry with a large Jewish component. Can only suppose I must've picked up some typical turns of phrase or something.

As a tallish, sturdy blonde, I used to love spending time in the Netherlands: I was so very average there! While not denying there are some advantages to standing out in a crowd, it was a blessed relief to be completely unremarkable.

I was once told at uni by a Muslim girl (from pakistan), that she would not be able to live with me as she had political views that were at odds with my race.....she had assumed I was Jewish.....I'm actually Irish.