Who are the descendants of the Celtics?

Question

What i mean is, are they now called Irish or something like that? Also, just as a survey, are you a Celtic descendant?

Answer 1

Celtics (correctly pronounced like the C in Cat not in celery) are found in Ireland, Scotland, Brittany in France,Wales and  Cornwall in England.  

There is a legend that the ones in Ireland (called Scotti) went to Spain and then to Egypt and finally sailed north to Ireland. Ireland was called Scotia at one time. Some crossed over to Caledonia (now called Scotland).

Answer 2

Celtic people today include the Irish, Scots, Welsh, Cornish, Manx, and Bretons--and their colonial descendants.  These groups have preserved their Celtic cuture to a great extent.  There's probably also a strong Celtic element in the people of England, France, Switzerland,  Spain, and maybe Germany--and maybe even Turkey, since Paul's penpals the Galatians, who were Celts, lived there.

I'm of mainly Scottish and Scots-Irish descent, with smaller amounts of Engish, German, Welsh, French, and maybe real Irish.  So, yes, I consider myself mostly a Celt.

Answer 3

Just as the Irish forged a separate identity from the United Kingdom early in the 20th century, the Scots, Welsh, and Britons (from Brittany) as well as the inhabitants of Cornwall and the Isle of Man are all increasingly attempting to forge their own national and cultural identities as the descendants of the Celts. They along with a Celtic diaspora have enriched the culture of many different nations, most particularly Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.  

Since a good portion of my ancestors came from the Inner Hebrides and the Isle of Skye off the western coast of Scotland or else from Northern Ireland, I consider myself a descendant of the Celts.

Answer 4

i dont know bout the first part but my dad says we are celctic descendants

Answer 5

The Celtic civilizations inhabited much of Europe. It would be logical to conclude that most Europeans have Celtic DNA intermixed with the various other tribes that invaded the region.

Ireland has no monopoly on the Celtic tribes. They were merely the last to be absorbed by the onslaught of the people who kept coming  from "the Steppes."

Answer 6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celts

CELTIC is the group of languages spoken among the CELTS  (pronounced like kelt). During the Iron Age, Celts lived across a wide range of lands, from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain & Portugal)  to Anatolia (Turkey), but the ultimate origin of the Celts is a subject of controversy. Before the archaeological discoveries of the 19th century, the Celts were considered to be inhabitants of the south of Europe. Since then, some scholars have placed the Celtic homeland in what is now southern Germany and Austria, associating the earliest Celtic peoples with the Hallstatt culture.

    Although more recently restricted to the Atlantic coast of Western Europe (known as the 'Celtic fringe'), Celtic languages were once predominant over much of Europe, with territory largely ceded to expanding Germanic tribes and the invading Roman Empire. Archaeological and historical sources show that at their maximum extent in the 3rd century BC, Celtic peoples were also present in areas of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor. 'Celticity' generally refers to the cultural commonalities of these peoples, based on similarities in language, material artifacts, social organisation and mythological factors.  Celtic cultures seem to have had numerous diverse characteristics but the commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of a Celtic language.

     'Celtic' is a descriptor of a family of languages and, more generally, means 'of the Celts,' or 'in the style of the Celts'. It has also been used to refer to several archaeological cultures defined by unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifact is aided by the presence of inscriptions.

Today, the term 'Celtic' is generally used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany, also known as the Six Celtic Nations.

     These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). '

     'Celtic' is also sometimes used to describe regions of Continental Europe that have Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the northern Iberian Peninsula (northern Portugal, and the Spanish historical regions of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria), and to a lesser degree, France.

     'Continental Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe. 'Insular Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of the British Isles and their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts from the British Isles and so are grouped accordingly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_th...

    The origin of the various names used since classical times for the people known today as the Celts is obscure and has been controversial.  In particular, aside from a first-century literary genealogy of Celtus the grandson of Bretannos by Heracles, there is no record of the term 'Celt' being used in connection with the inhabitants of Ireland and Britain prior to the nineteenth century.

      Greek historian Hecataeus of Miletus  locates the Keltoi tribe--or Celts-- in Rhenania (West/Southwest Germany) in 517 BC. The next Greek reference to the Keltoi is by Herodotus in the mid fifth century BC. He says that 'the river

Ister (Danube) begins from the Keltoi and the city of Pyrene and so runs that it divides Europe in the midst .'  This confused passage was generally later interpreted as implying that the homeland of the Celts was at the source of the Danube not in Spain/France. The English word is modern, attested from 1707 in the writings of Edward Lhuyd whose work, along with that of other late 17th century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of these early inhabitants of Great Britain.

     In a modern context, the term 'Celt' or 'Celtic' is used to refer to six modern nations defined as Celtic: Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales.  Only four, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany have native speakers of Celtic languages and in none of them is it the language of the majority.

     So, you can claim Celtic descent if your ancestors came from:

1.  Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria in north-western Spain

2. Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro,  and Minho  in northern Portugal

3. Cumbria, Devon, Cornwall, in England

4.  Southern Scotland

5.  southern France, which traces its  northern roots to the Gauls. ( lived in the "low countries", the Alps and what is now northern Italy).

6. Ireland

7. northern   Italy (during their migrations in the early 400s BC)

8. Wales  (the word 'Welsh' comes from the  Anglo-Saxon term for 'foreigner')

9. southern and central Germany

10 Switzerland,

11. Czech Republic,

12 Slovakia

13. parts of Hungary

14.  Ukraine

15. Eastern Europe--modern day  Serbia, Turkey, Romania ,Bulgaria, etc

Since I can trace my family back --so far anyway--to 1600's England and know that my Mom's maiden name of Coston goes back at least to about 1282 and before, I would say, possibly that I am a Celtic descendant.

Answer 7

Celts were one of the many tribes to roam around in Europe during the first millenium.  Descendants of Celts include ALL of the British Isles, as well as Germans, French...

See:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Celt...  Modern Celts are those peoples who consider themselves, or have been considered by others, to be Celts in modern times, ie. post industrialisation. The term is generally used for a number of peoples in Western Europe sharing various cultural traits, including those speaking Indo-European languages with a common Proto-Celtic origin.

Since the Enlightenment, the term 'Celtic' has been applied to a wide variety of peoples and cultural traits present and past. Today, Celtic is often used in order to describe the people, and their respective cultures and languages, of Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Mann, Scotland, and Wales: the Celtic nations.

And see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_Celt...

which says:  During the Iron Age, Celts lived across a wide range of lands, from the Iberian Peninsula to Anatolia (Turkey), but the ultimate origin of the Celts is a subject of controversy. Before the archaeological discoveries of the 19th century, the Celts were considered to be inhabitants of the south of Europe (Websters Dictionary 1828). Since then, some scholars have placed the Celtic homeland in what is now southern Germany and Austria, associating the earliest Celtic peoples with the Hallstatt culture. (see List of Celtic tribes for the names of specific, early Celtic peoples). However, more recently the southern homeland has regained adherents, such as Simon James and Stephen Oppenheimer.

Although more recently restricted to the Atlantic coast of Western Europe (known as the 'Celtic fringe'), Celtic languages were once predominant over much of Europe, with territory largely ceded to expanding Germanic tribes and the invading Roman Empire. Archaeological and historical sources show that at their maximum extent in the 3rd century BC, Celtic peoples were also present in areas of Eastern Europe and Asia Minor.[2]

'Celticity' generally refers to the cultural commonalities of these peoples, based on similarities in language, material artifacts, social organisation and mythological factors. Earlier theories were that this indicated a common racial origin but more recent theories are reflective of culture and language rather than race. Celtic cultures seem to have had numerous diverse characteristics but the commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of a Celtic language.

'Celtic' is a descriptor of a family of languages and, more generally, means 'of the Celts,' or 'in the style of the Celts'. It has also been used to refer to several archaeological cultures defined by unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifact is aided by the presence of inscriptions. (see Celtic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term)

Today, the term 'Celtic' is generally used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany, also known as the Six Celtic Nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues: Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). 'Celtic' is also sometimes used to describe regions of Continental Europe that have Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the northern Iberian Peninsula (northern Portugal, and the Spanish historical regions of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria), and to a lesser degree, France. (see Modern Celts)

'Continental Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe. 'Insular Celts' refers to the Celtic-speaking people of the British Isles and their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts from the British Isles and so are grouped accordingly.

So, you see, practically everyone (or most likely, EVERYONE) of European extraction is a descendant of Celts.  Since the U.S., Canada and Australia were founded mostly by Europeans, these 3 countries are also descendants of Celts.

But, get a good history about the various tribes of Roman times up till the modern times.  Brits are also descended from Jutes, Anglos, Saxons AND Vikings, amongst others.

Answer 8

Not an answer to your question but a clarification on the pronunciation of Celtic. It is only recently (in the last 70 years) that the hard 'c' is used, it was almost universally pronounced with a soft 'c' until then.

A wee link to a Wikipedia entry in the source list for those who seek further information.