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Northern Ireland: Protestants = blonde and fair/Catholics = brunette and dark

I have a friend from Northern Ireland who insists he can almost always tell the difference between Protestants and Catholics just by looking at them. He claims he is almost always correct. He insists that you can usually tell if somebody is a Protestant if they have blonde hair (especially a certain shade of ginger-blonde, he says), blue eyes, pale skin and youthful looking facial features. And he says they're usually taller and bigger boned, thus, stockier.

Catholics, he claims are almost always dark brunette in hair, often blue-eyed, but sometimes brown-eyed too. Certainly more cases of brown eyes in Catholics than you'd see amongst Protestants. He also describes them to be darker complected, and sometimes even olive-skinned. Other noticeable features usually common amongst Irish Catholics he says are curly hair, chiseled, angular facial features; fine boned, slight builds, and a crazy look in their eyes. He says that Protestants will have a sleepy, gazing look in their eyes, but Catholics usually look very intense.

He also claims surnames aren't enough to distinguish who represents which community, as Catholics can be named Smith or Taylor as much as Protestants, and it is not uncommon for a Protestant to have a surname like O'Neill or McGuinness.

Given names are usually a dead give away, however. You can guarantee if you're speaking to a Willy or a Sam, he's a Protestant. But if he is named Pat or Kevin, he's most definitely a Catholic. Girls' names are a little trickier, but a Maeve will be a Catholic and a Victoria would be safe to say is a Protestant.

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Reply 1
Original post by sydney_watts
I have a friend from Northern Ireland who insists he can almost always tell the difference between Protestants and Catholics just by looking at them. He claims he is almost always correct. He insists that you can usually tell if somebody is a Protestant if they have blonde hair (especially a certain shade of ginger-blonde, he says), blue eyes, pale skin and youthful looking facial features. And he says they're usually taller and bigger boned, thus, stockier.

Catholics, he claims are almost always dark brunette in hair, often blue-eyed, but sometimes brown-eyed too. Certainly more cases of brown eyes in Catholics than you'd see amongst Protestants. He also describes them to be darker complected, and sometimes even olive-skinned. Other noticeable features usually common amongst Irish Catholics he says are curly hair, chiseled, angular facial features; fine boned, slight builds, and a crazy look in their eyes. He says that Protestants will have a sleepy, gazing look in their eyes, but Catholics usually look very intense.

He also claims surnames aren't enough to distinguish who represents which community, as Catholics can be named Smith or Taylor as much as Protestants, and it is not uncommon for a Protestant to have a surname like O'Neill or McGuinness.

Given names are usually a dead give away, however. You can guarantee if you're speaking to a Willy or a Sam, he's a Protestant. But if he is named Pat or Kevin, he's most definitely a Catholic. Girls' names are a little trickier, but a Maeve will be a Catholic and a Victoria would be safe to say is a Protestant.



Is this possible? If the surnames aren't as separate as he attests, then you'd have to assume there was considerable inter-marriage over the centuries. Nevertheless, my Ulster-Scots friend says he can tell the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant in Northern Ireland just by looking at the people.
Reply 2
Even though it might ​partially be true I don't see as very reliable.
so basically Protestants are Aryans and Catholics are more Jewish looking.
Reply 4
Original post by FanTesticles
so basically Protestants are Aryans and Catholics are more Jewish looking.



No, I'd say the Irish Catholics dark colouring reflects their Celtic roots. Same sort of brunette complexions are often seen amongst the Welsh and Highland Scots. The Protestants of Northern Ireland are mainly descended from migrants from the Scottish Lowlands and the border areas of Northern England; hence, Anglo-Saxon, and therefore blonde Nordics.
Original post by sydney_watts
No, I'd say the Irish Catholics dark colouring reflects their Celtic roots. Same sort of brunette complexions are often seen amongst the Welsh and Highland Scots. The Protestants of Northern Ireland are mainly descended from migrants from the Scottish Lowlands and the border areas of Northern England; hence, Anglo-Saxon, and therefore blonde Nordics.


what a bunch of bull****.

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/mythsofbritishancestry/

People from Britain all look basically the same. You cant know someones ancestory from ancient times by just looking at them, especially not their religion.
(edited 10 years ago)
being from Northern Ireland, but caring little for religious differences, I would say I can't tell from seeing someone instantly, but as soon as I'm introduced to them, and speak to them for a few seconds I can usually work it out with I'd say a good 95% success rate

a few clues like clothing can give it away, but just based on hair colour and build, it would just be a guess, and since its essentially 50/50 the odds aren't bad for just guessing, but as said above, its certainly not reliable
Anybody who has spent a lot of time in Ulster will agree with what you say here. Soldiers I knew who were billeted in Belfast have told me they almost always could tell a Catholic from a Protestant (...at least the men) by their hair colour and complexion shade alone. Native Irish Catholics rarely have straw-blonde hair, but Protestants often had yellow coloured blonde hair. Catholics have a tendency to be darker skinned too. The Protestants, I am told, have round boyish faces with pink rosey cheeks, while the darker-haired, duskier skinned Catholics often have more long thin faces with more angular, sharper features.
Original post by Dodge-Slant-6
Anybody who has spent a lot of time in Ulster will agree with what you say here. Soldiers I knew who were billeted in Belfast have told me they almost always could tell a Catholic from a Protestant (...at least the men) by their hair colour and complexion shade alone. Native Irish Catholics rarely have straw-blonde hair, but Protestants often had yellow coloured blonde hair. Catholics have a tendency to be darker skinned too. The Protestants, I am told, have round boyish faces with pink rosey cheeks, while the darker-haired, duskier skinned Catholics often have more long thin faces with more angular, sharper features.


Do you know why this could be? How is interfaith/ sect marriage between Catholics and Protestants viewed in general? I'm assuming very negatively in by Ulster nationalist Protestants for example.
Original post by TheTruthTeller
Do you know why this could be? How is interfaith/ sect marriage between Catholics and Protestants viewed in general? I'm assuming very negatively in by Ulster nationalist Protestants for example.


Inbreeding, I would imagine........Protestants are descended largely from Lowland Scots and Northern English from the border counties. This area of England and Scotland was heavily settled by Vikings. Later when they were 'settled' in Northern Ireland these people brought their genes which almost never intermarried with the locals......Just a guess.
Rubbish.
Original post by Dodge-Slant-6
Inbreeding, I would imagine........Protestants are descended largely from Lowland Scots and Northern English from the border counties. This area of England and Scotland was heavily settled by Vikings. Later when they were 'settled' in Northern Ireland these people brought their genes which almost never intermarried with the locals......Just a guess.


Yeah, but there are some dark haired scotts too like Alex Salmon and good old Duncan from Dragons Den
This is interesting but not a guarantee. People migrate and mix. 2 yr old thread but still an issue on humanities, so. Relevant to discuss. :smile:

The native Irish people are Iberian, which is also where black Jamaicans come from; it's a peninsula somewhere in Spain near North Africa. Hence the dark hair many Irish would have and being called "black Irish." And then the Normans and Vikings who mostly have blond or red hair invaded and interbred and all. And the Catholics are the native Irish people who were oppressed into accepting Catholicism.

But of course it's not final to say this colour in that group.
Original post by TheTruthTeller
Yeah, but there are some dark haired scotts too like Alex Salmon and good old Duncan from Dragons Den



Yes, but these two people you mention are descended from Highlanders.........No different than Irish Catholics. Same DNA origins, I'm told.
My aunt is Northern Irish Catholic. Blonde and pale.
Original post by Cherie Amour
This is interesting but not a guarantee. People migrate and mix. 2 yr old thread but still an issue on humanities, so. Relevant to discuss. :smile:

The native Irish people are Iberian, which is also where black Jamaicans come from; it's a peninsula somewhere in Spain near North Africa. Hence the dark hair many Irish would have and being called "black Irish." And then the Normans and Vikings who mostly have blond or red hair invaded and interbred and all. And the Catholics are the native Irish people who were oppressed into accepting Catholicism.

But of course it's not final to say this colour in that group.


Many Jamaicans have Irish roots. Wasn't Bob Marley's father from an Irish family before migrating to Jamaica via a few generations in England. Bunny Wailer's real surname is O'Connor, isn't it?
I just find this hilarious 😂😂
I know Meave's who are Protestants.
I know Patrick's and Kevin's who are also Protestants. They aren't the best examples.
And you can't tell by facial characteristics.
Also who gives a s**t, we are all human!


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Original post by tengentoppa
My aunt is Northern Irish Catholic. Blonde and pale.


And I am sure there are a few swarthy dark Prods too.....No ethnic group is ever 100% anything. Just saying it is an accepted wisdom amongst people who have lived in Ulster that the Protestants tend to be blonde and fair-skinned, while Catholics are more often tanned and brunette than not.
Original post by Dodge-Slant-6
Many Jamaicans have Irish roots. Wasn't Bob Marley's father from an Irish family before migrating to Jamaica via a few generations in England. Bunny Wailer's real surname is O'Connor, isn't it?


I don't think the names are Irish because they have Irish roots; I believe it might be from colonialism and borrowing Eurocentric names or being made to have them at one point. But the Irish were exiled to the Caribbean. However Bob Marley's dad is English.
Original post by tengentoppa
My aunt is Northern Irish Catholic. Blonde and pale.


Mixing/migrating. But the thread title itself has a point. The point is just very dull, but it's still a point.

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