Ukrainian Ancestry question?

Question

My cousin is wondering about this and asked me about where would the ancestors generally would be from of people who have black hair, brown eyes and sort of tannish skin in Western Ukraine (he seen one Ukrainian who has those features). He thought Ukrainians would generally have blond or brownish hair and blue eyes generally. Was Ukraine conquered a lot by foreigners?

Answer 1

My Ukrainian ancestors have dark brown hair and eyes and olive complexions. They were members of the Greek Orthodox Catholic Church and lived not terribly far from Lvov. Churches might be source of help, but mostly not a group to divulge information without knowing you.

Answer 2

The borders of the Ukraine have changed more times than we can count. The Russians and Germans invaded, reinvaded, gave it up to the Hungarians, got part back from the Hungarians, shared it with the Belarus, and saw major influx of refugees from pogroms, wars, plagues and pestilence. While parts of the Ukraine are full of blonde-haired, blue-eyed people, other parts (particularly near Lithuania) have dark-haired, dark-eyed people. Being at the center of the Euro-military playground leaves them anything but homogenous.

Answer 3

it was conquered a lot but i would say that the conquering didnt really affect the features of native ukrainians.

Ukrainians are genereally light skinned and range from blonde to brown hair and blue to brown eyes. I can't exactly dtermine the majority but as far as i know from ukrainian songs they're always about girls with brown long hair and brown eyes xD

although im ukrainian i'm tottally different (blue eyes and blonde hair)

hope this helps

Answer 4

In general/simplistic terms, you will find more dark haired/dark eyed Ukrainians in Western Ukraine, and more fair haired/light eyed Ukrainians in Eastern Ukraine. Part of this is influence of Euro-Russian ancestry on the East, and Polish/Hungarian influence on the West.

That said, it is a much more complex issue, as Ukraine has a varied past historically and ethnically. Wikipedia gives a general overview here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_p...

You will see a lot of features (high and prominent cheekbones, olive skin, etc) in Ukrainians due to Tartars and Mongols, the Turks, etc.  Many people talk of the "Jewish influence" (but keep in mind that many Ukrainian Jews are of Russian, nnot Israeli, origin). There is also Arabic influence present, as well as Germanic features (stout build, etc).

Ukrainians do pride themselves in "pure bloodlines", but like any other country there is influence from many cultures prominent throughout their bloodlines. There is variety everywhere.

Answer 5

Sounds like semitic features. Ukraine has huge Jewish population.

Ukraine changed hands quite often - it partially belonged to Poland and Russia with the border changing so many times I cannot remember. Both Russians and Polish can be described as having blond or brownish hair and blue/gray eyes.