Is it okay to claim all of your ancestry lines?

Question

I have been on a long project to find out my family tree and to see what other bloodlines I have in me, my tree goes way back into the 1600s, is it okay to claim the ancestry lines I found then, for example I found that in the 1600s my family was Ottoman Turks, can I say I have Turkic ancestry? I also have about 1/32 Italian blood, can I say I have Italian ancestry? I know thay we carry the bloods of our ancestors,I know that I have some blood from every nationality I have, I'm just asking if it is more acceptable to say I have ancestry from further back, I don't know if what I say here makes sense, let me know if it doesn't.

Answer 1

Yes, it is alright, it is correct, as long as it happened it is something you can claim. But the proper word would be "Turkish"; Turcik refers to the language group.

Answer 2

Yes you can. I guess what is more relevant is what cultures and languages have you retained.

Answer 3

Of course it is.  Most people are a mix of dozens of different nationalities / tribes / sects or whatever you wich to call them.  It doesn't change what you actually are (ie. your passport nationality) and you are unlikely to introduce yourself to someone by listing all your "bits" but it's always interesting to see where we come from.

Saying you have Italian ancestry doesn't mean you are Italian it just means once upon a time a member of your family lived in Italy.

Answer 4

Like everyone else on this earth, you have a mixed ancestry,

you are who you are, you have, as you have discovered, a relatively recent mix of Turkish and Italian, it is OK to say that you have those lines in your ancestry, but you cannot claim to be either Turkish or Italian.

Answer 5

Sure. You worked hard to do that research; show off a bit. Most of us do. I'm 3/128ths Huguenot, for example.

If you do something that requires a set amount - like applying for a scholarship given only to those of [Italian / French / Turkish / Norwegian . . .] descent, they will tell you how many great grand parents of that type you need to qualify.

Answer 6

no one on this earth is 100% one nationality. Every drop and ounce makes you who you are. So, yes, you have all that ancestry that you can claim. Most people identify more with their most recent ancestors bacause that is whose features, etc. they exhibit more prominently. The crazy thing about genes is they can just pop out of no where. For example, it is possible that if you have a drop of African blood from 100 years ago and both you parents where considered "white", you could have a child with darker skin. Not necessarly "black" but the dominate gene that makes them darker. Make sense.

To sum it up. You are who you are. You are who you are because of a piece of all those ancestors. Claim them-they made you.

Answer 7

I would think you can only claim what your parents and grandparents are. We are all mixed from the past history that you are finding out but it gets overly mixed that I would think you need something closer to your birth to claim what your nationality is.

Answer 8

It doesn't!

Answer 9

I usually just tell everyone I am a mutt, because I have a bit of everything. My husnand is 1/4 Irish and the rest a mix of a lot of different things, but he just says he is Irish.

I suppose you can "claim" any ancesrty you want.