Q: I have a few family members who absolutely insist that our family has Irish roots. I'm not sure what the reason is for the insistence, but genealogical research on my part hasn't yielded anything of note. When I ask why they claim we're Irish, they usually say something to the effect of "Oh, well, so-and-so told me once but I forgot the links now". Nothing concrete or logical. Obviously, stories get started and forgotten so perhaps there's some truth to their claims. I think in my research I've failed to see the forest for the trees, so to speak. I'd like to list the last names in my tree and see if any names are Irish or could be Irish, just to give me a starting point to dive into. The names are: Haug, Veck, Theby (Tibi), Weihrauch, Hetzler, Dahlem, Korn, Palm, Ockenfels, Rademacher, Arens, Adams, Ley, Jasper, Kesseler, Stahl, Lang, Ernsberger, Laufer, Benedik, Montag, Erschens, Kandel, Biver, Howen (Hoven), Erasmi, Reifer, Miller, Rick, Wiskirchen, Gustin, Moths, Schreiber, Boehme, Schoedel, Degnitz, Hoerig, Otto.... I know it's a strange question, but it bothers me that so many family members seem to think this but have nothing to back it up. I'm just curious to learn more about my roots, but no one in the family seems to mind the transient nature of word-of-mouth claims. Any point in the right direction would be great...thanks! MMM - I'm wondering if you meant Dutch or Danish in your answer. I was a little confused. Adair - I definitely get what you're saying. I realize that a last name does not make a heritage. I was only asking because I wanted to dig more deeply into a section of the family tree and was looking for direction. I have names in my tree that are German, the people that I know of are German with that name, yet the name's origin suggests it came from another country. I'm guessing that if someone lived in Germany with the last name of O'Malloy, we might think someone in the family came from Ireland at some point. Even the Adams in my family tree came from Germany according to my records. I was only asking in case there would be a breakthrough on my end from someone with more genealogical research skills than I have.
A: I had the same experience. My husband's family said his last name was Welsh, but I had my son do a DNA test and it's English, not Welsh. Just looking at the name, people have assumed it was Welsh as there are some that are Welsh. There are more than 15 separate lines now in the DNA Group and each from different areas, only one Welsh. There was also a story that his mother's line was related to the Kizer because of their last name, but this was a story that someone started and it stuck, though untrue. Through my research, I've been able to prove where his lines came from. From my research of many lines, I see most of your lines are German or Bohemian. So if you are serious about finding out each of your lines origins, start your family tree and go up each line until you find where they came from.
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