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Welcome to Scotsnet - discuss all aspects of life in Scotland, including relocating, schools and local areas.

Original poster

Am I Scottish?

80 replies

Grooticle · 01/02/2021 19:04

I have one Scottish great grandparent, was born in Scotland and lived there till I was 9.

My other ancestors were English, and I’ve lived in England since I was 9.

So I don’t think I’m Scottish (although I might say I’m “originally from Scotland” if it came up).

Turns out a close friend (who is very definitely Welsh) thinks of me as being Scottish, which I was surprised by, and now I’m curious what other people would think!

OP posts:
kurtrussellsbeard · 06/02/2021 10:56

@Londonnight 🤣🤣 brilliant

Plussizejumpsuit · 06/02/2021 11:01

This is interting. I've been doing my family tree and my family on my mums side all came from Scotland. It was my great great grandparents who moved here. So I would never say I'm Scottish but it does strengthen my fondness of Scottish people.

I'd say you're Scottish. Fwiw

bluebirds65 · 06/02/2021 11:27

@kurtrussellsbeard apologies, haven't heard of it in my neck of the woods. Thought it was a new Glasgow based catchphrase Hmm

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 06/02/2021 11:48

I'd say 'Scottish, but moved when I was XX.'

The UK is so mixed, we've worked out that DH qualifies for any of the 4 nations rugby teams as he has english/welsh/Irish in his family and has lived in Scotland long enough now. Pity he's rubbish at rugby though eh?!!

kurtrussellsbeard · 06/02/2021 11:50

@bluebirds65 no bother. To be fair most people outside of Glasgow probably haven't heard of it and I should have clarified! I'm just so used to seeing the hashtag and their wee adverts everywhere which are exactly in the vibe that the PP mentioned.

TheLovleyChebbyMcGee · 06/02/2021 12:01

@kurtrussellsbeard I love the Refuweegee charity, I've never lived in Glasgow, but did my growing up/university/gettng drunk in and around it, it makes me proud of the City!!

kurtrussellsbeard · 06/02/2021 12:32

@TheLovleyChebbyMcGee they do some really great work! It's lovely to see.

Wbeezer · 06/02/2021 12:56

I'm the opposite of the OP, one English great grandparent, the rest Scottish, born in England, moved to Scotland in childhood.
Im Scottish, where i was born is an accident of timing, my Scottish family just have a tendency (for the last hundred years) of dodging across the border for a while before returning eventually.

onesixseven · 06/02/2021 18:32

@Daydrambeliever

How did Babdoc and others manage to turn a fairly innocuous question about nationality into a political diatribe? Amazing! I'm not a supporter of the SNP but your comments and attitude about Scotland being "ungrateful" are hilariously ridiculous.

OP you are who you want to be when it comes to Scottish identity. If you were born here you can be Scottish. If you were born elsewhere but you live here now you can be Scottish. If you spent anytime at all here you can be Scottish. Most folk up here are pretty happy to welcome nice sorts into the clan.

Babdoc never fails, does she?

OP, if you consider yourself Scottish, you're Scottish.

Bedtimebear40 · 06/02/2021 18:56

I'm similar OP. Born in Scotland, lived there for a decade. Lived in England for two decades. Lived in Wales for the last decade. My parents are both Scottish, as were my grandparents and great grandparents. My immediate living family all now live in England.

Despite living in England for a very long term, a lot of English people did not make me feel particularly welcome. Most hear the way I talk and make a lot of sweeping assumptions about me. I get asked about the SNP and independence like it would ever have any impact on me living in Wales. If I had a penny for every time someone "joked" with me about deep fried Mars bars.....

My parents would be outraged if I considered myself to be anything other than Scottish. I live on the English/Welsh border. My DH is English. My DC were born in England but have lived their entire lives in Wales. They consider themselves to be Welsh, much to DHs dismay. I let them be who they want. They are not defined by their ancestry.

haggistramp · 07/02/2021 12:27

Personally I think you either have to be born in Scotland, live here in Scotland or have a parent that is Scottish. I find it amusing when I hear Americans claiming to be Scottish when they have never set foot in this country but had a distant relative who was of Scottish descent. They are free obviously to say they are Scottish but personally I wouldn't consider them Scottish.

Radglags · 07/02/2021 12:36

I always wonder if my Mum is Scottish. Scottish mother (English father) and born in Scotland but left at 1yr old and has lived in England since.
It’s all a bit by the by as I think the whole family would just say British but if Scotland was ever independent it would be more important I guess.
And if she IS Scottish am I half Scottish or quarter?

haggistramp · 07/02/2021 12:48

I'd consider you quarter Scottish. I'm half mixed race (visibly so) but having been born and raised in Scotland I guess i consider my nationality is 100% Scottish but my ethnicticity is mixed. If I were mixed (say Scottish and a white European country) i probably wouldn't even think about it but as half of my genetic are from an Asian country its very obvious. Technically my dc are a quarter chinese but both consider their nationality as Scottish as thus is where they were born and always lived.

Y0uCann0tBeSer10us · 07/02/2021 13:39

I would have said you're British. I similarly have ancestry from England, Scotland and Ireland and have always considered myself to be British, long before national identity became the defining characteristic up here, as I'm not interested in pitting one aspect of my heritage against another.

Original poster
Grooticle · 07/02/2021 14:19

It’s all very interesting isn’t it - I don’t think there is any universally agreed definition of what your nationality is. I definitely have a fondness for Scotland, but I don’t feel anymore like I would “belong” there in some way.

Off the back of this thread I have checked and apparently if Scotland becomes independent, the SNP say I can qualify for Scottish citizenship as I was born there. Something to consider if an independent Scotland manages to join a he EU!

OP posts:
HoldontoOneMoreDay · 07/02/2021 14:23

See if anyone not from the UK was reading this they'd say you were surely British - lived in one part of the country, now live in another. But no-one is 'British' are they? I find that so odd as a 50 year old Scot (born Scotland, never left Scotland).

Bekilted · 07/02/2021 14:41

I think an important part of any national identity is the freedom to identify how you choose without prejudice.
I'm an independence supporting Scot (for political reasons) but that has absolutely zero bearing on how I feel about citizens of any other part of the British Isles or on how the nationality they identity with. There are great things about being English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish or Irish and nothing wrong with being proud of that. I'd say you don't have to identify as one or the other if it doesn't accurately cover how you feel OP.

As an aside, it's quite freeing not being hate-ridden and spiteful @Babdoc. You might fancy trying it?

Babdoc · 07/02/2021 15:05

Bekilted, I and my DC have been on the receiving end of actual anti English spite and racial abuse from SNP supporting Scots.
How revealing that you accuse ME of spite and hate for simply stating that nationalism engenders this division by its very nature.
You have made my point for me.

boredwiththeoldname · 07/02/2021 15:17

@HoldontoOneMoreDay

See if anyone not from the UK was reading this they'd say you were surely British - lived in one part of the country, now live in another. But no-one is 'British' are they? I find that so odd as a 50 year old Scot (born Scotland, never left Scotland).
I could be wrong, but I reckon that the majority of English people (when on holiday abroad and asked by a random stranger, for instance) would automatically say they were British, and then say they were from England.

Having read many threads on MN and elsewhere, it seems that most people from Scotland (and Wales/NI) would identify as that nationality first, and British second.

Although that may have something to do with another attitude. Say you are proud to be Scottish, Welsh or Irish, and people accept your pride in your national heritage unreservedly. Say you are proud to be English and there is another connotation entirely.

Barracker · 07/02/2021 15:21

If I met you as a nine year old child, born and raised in Scotland, I'd never question that you were Scottish. As an adult I'd say that continues to hold true, no matter where you have lived since.

My husband is French, French is his first language, he was born in another country (but wasn't allowed citizenship by birth of that country through an obscure regulation) to a French mother and a French-speaking dad. He wasn't born in France. He has lived his life in many countries, France for just a few of those years. He has spent more years of his life living in England than all the other countries combined. He isn't English, although he did become a British citizen before Brexit. So he's British living in England but not English, and French but not born in France or living there. He has no claim to nationality of the country he was actually born in.

Nationality, it's all pretty complicated!

StarryEyeSurprise · 07/02/2021 15:38

@Babdoc

Bekilted, I and my DC have been on the receiving end of actual anti English spite and racial abuse from SNP supporting Scots. How revealing that you accuse ME of spite and hate for simply stating that nationalism engenders this division by its very nature. You have made my point for me.
So your DC were born and raised in Scotland and you've been here for 45 years. '( As you said earlier in the thread.) Yet you appear to be alluding to anti- English abuse towards your DC by 'SNP supporters'. I'm sorry if that happened.
notanotherlockdownsurely · 07/02/2021 15:50

I was born in Scotland to both Scottish parents
We moved to England when I was a few years old
My siblings were then born
I consider myself Scottish but my siblings consider themselves English

TalbotAMan · 07/02/2021 15:53

What's your accent? If you sound Scottish, then everyone will think you are Scottish.

I was born and raised in an area with a very distinctive accent but don't have it so people don't realise I'm from there.

Original poster
Grooticle · 07/02/2021 15:54

Yeah I have one younger sibling who has no memories of Scotland and says they don’t feel Scottish at all.

OP posts:
Bekilted · 07/02/2021 17:00

@Babdoc

I don't support nationality-based discrimination or prejudice against anyone and do feel sorry that you've had such a negative experience at times. However, I see you regularly on threads being quite vitriolic towards people who have certain political views (i.e. SNP supporters). Have you ever considered that your online views are just as apparent in real life?
It's not nationalism itself that causes divides, it's the disregard for which some nationalisms are treated. You can be proud of where you're from without putting others down for the same thing.