- Oct 2023
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howaboutthis.substack.com howaboutthis.substack.com
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reply to Mark Dykeman in A mystery I would like to solve 2023-10-25
In addition to the 5-6th century invasion of Angles and Saxons from roughly Northern Germany into Southern England, there was a large movement of Scandinavian peoples (Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, etc. weren't even a glimmer of countries then), with the Viking invasions of England in the 7-11th centuries. Many of these peoples settled along the coasts and intermarried and brought their customs, traditions, language, and most importantly in your quest, their names. A lot of these peoples immigrated into Northumbria which was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland. Perhaps this history may "solve" some of the distal mystery for you? Kenneth Harl's "Vikings" may give some broad strokes of the history here if you're curious: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/vikings. (Naturally there may have been migration after that time too.) England is far more diverse in its roots than the majority give it credit for, though the branching from Celtic roots may mean that genetically traceable differences may largely be a wash for most. Some from the broader UK will find only a single broad "genetic smear" of Celtic ancestry with a 1-2% hint of Italian ancestry, often resulting from intermarriage at the time of the Roman invasion in the first century.
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