How Polish am I? What is the correct formula?

Hey ya'll Im new to this forum and have a question.My grandfather on my moms side is half-Polish(Doberenski is his surname),which in turn makes my mom 1/4 Polish,which makes me 1/8 Polish right?So-is this formula correct?Thanks.

Actually, it makes you American.

There's no such thing as "1/8th Polish".

wrong, people have 8 great-grandparents. If only one of them was Polish that makes you 1/8 Polish.

Of course there is. Otherwise how do you account for the Great Mulatto, who had a great-great-great grandfather from Ireland, being feted by the Irish as a compatriot visting the ancestral homeland?

BTW, Doberenski isn't quite right. Could it have been Dobryński? Two people in Poland use it. But some 8,000 sign themselves Dobrzyński. Maybe your relative modified the spelling.

1/8 Polish means there are eight parts and only one part is Polish. That's like having a dash of salt or sugar.

That only happened once and she didn't tell me she was married.


Oh, like the dark haired, dark eyed Vlad the Impaler?
Btw, I've got blue eyes too, but mine mesmerize, captivate and enchant those looking into them.


That's when Romania was big and suffocating Bulgaria.

I saw an article in the news or in a documentary that stated the majority of those who are of mixed race (black and white) generally consider themselves black, even if there was a generation of "white only" in the recent past.


He is a politician. He is looking for popular support and the "ethnic" vote of all those plastic Paddy's in Amerika. What are the Irish to do? Bring in a band of Kenyan (I mean Hawaiian) dancers?

You must be lucky she didn't tell you she was 13-yo ;-)


Have you ever met him?




It's good you remember that. My memory is not as good as it used to be ;)

Polonius3
Thats how my maternal grandfather spells it.When I was younger my mom told me that we had relatives who came from Poland to Ellis Island circa 1900.I also understand that many people who immigrated from Europe altered the spelling of their last names once they came to the US.

Well,the guys on the island changed their names for them :) Often though immigrents would,once settled Anglicise their names even further .

In the American South people with any African ancestry were always considered black. One of the posters in this thread used the term "mulatto", which was for a black with one white parent, but there were also "quadroons" and "octoroons". The last term meaning 1/8th black. Even "quintroons" (1/16th) were black. Thus, it is hardly surprizing that the majority of mixed race people today, in America, consider themselves black.

While today it's more about them embracing/ asserting their blackness against whitey, what you guys are referring to is what was/is known as the One Drop Rule. One drop of black blood and you are black.


It's more than a dash. Any recipe that calls for 1/8 of the ingredients to be salt or sugar would be either very very salty or very very sweet!

Are you romanian?

All of my Grandparents, on both sides came from Poland, and both of my parenents are, along with me, 100% per cent Polish, and am proud. My parents were born here in the U.S.A. So I guess I am Polish-American.

Poland Rules

The best place in the world I have ever been to, and the people of Poland are the Greatest, and there women are great, and HOT.

Mike

[Moved from]: Polish ancestry of a 2nd great grandparent?

What percentage would a 2nd great grandparent be?

If my math is correct one great-great grandparent= 6.25% Polish blood
A set of great-great grandparents= 12.50%, rounded off to 13% Polish blood

It would make you American.

Merged: Florjańczyk. Am I Polish even though that I might have other ethnicities mixed in?

Ok. So basically, my great grandmother's maiden name was Florjańczyk, her whole family was from Poland. Her son is my grandpa, who's last name is Sprouse. (English name) That was my moms maiden name, and now my last name is- err, let's keep that private! But anyways. Is it safe and accurate to say that I am Polish, even though that I might have other ethnicities mixed in? (my moms side would be English/Polish, my dad's French/German) Whenever I ask questions to my family members though, they always tell me that I'm just Polish. I guess, maybe it's because we just identify more with Poland? This is for something I have to fill out. I know it might be a stupid question but I just want to make sure it would be ok to label myself also as Polish from now on.

If you haven't lived in Poland, not even any of your parents has lived in Poland, then according to Poles you're not Polish, merely your ancestors were.

Why not call yourself French?


Ouch! Very true, but as you know, some people in the United States are insecure about their identity and tend to choose a grandparent from what they see as a romantic/soulful/heroic country and identify (sometimes absurdly aggressively) with it. The Boston 'Irish' or the Texan 'Ulster Scots' are among the worst offenders.

You can call yourself Susan if it makes you happy. You won't actually be Susan, but there is a process through which you can become Susan (it takes a few years and requires a few changes). It's much the same with being Polish: you can call yourself Polish but you won't actually be Polish unless you come here and naturalise as a Polish citizen.

Alternatively you could just learn to be happy with the person you actually are.

ok, I feel a little offended..? I mean I'm sorry I asked.
I know that my family comes from many different areas of the world, it's just my family still has a homestead in Warsaw and it's my Polish side that I'm most comfortable and used to identifying with. I know I may have sounded stupid earlier.. I guess I didn't really explain my situation enough. I actually do plan on moving to Poland when I come of age, to see if I can find more of my relatives.

I AM happy with who I am, I'm just interested in finding out how I got here.

Are you sure about that? I've been living in Warsaw since 1997 and I have never seen a homestead here. There's a Viking village in Zoliborz and I think there used to be a Native American themed thing in the Wilanow area, but I've never heard of a homestead. Are you sure you aren't confusing Warsaw Poland with another Warsaw somewhere?


Don't you think you're rather more something else than Polish? Why wouldn't you want to identify as being American? If you really do insist on identifying as any nationality at all.


I can certainly help you with that one: by boat.

Alright, you're really starting to make me feel really stupid, I'm sorry if I offended you. I know that I'm an American, I am a mixture of many different ethnicities; just like many other American's. Yes, I could identify as French, but if I am asked for one ethnicity, I would say that I'm Polish/American. Mainly because that's the last country my family came from, and that's the one we are most in touch with. Yes. My grandfather, last night, told me that south of Warsaw, there is a farm that belonged to the Florjańczyk's that they found (after the German invasion of 1939) that was still standing. He might not be exactly right, as I am trying to learn more. We also have another relative we are in touch with, Meryk Florjańczyk, who lives in Canada at the moment. I'll try to find out more somewhere else or talk to him. I know they got here by boat. I just want to find out more about my ancestors and my heritage (not just my polish side, but all of them at some point) because I think it's interesting. I'm sorry if I seemed stupid or close-minded.

Don't worry about it: you aren't stupid and you haven't offended me.


Isn't that two?

I guess my point would be why not take pride in who you make yourself, not in accidents of other people's birth? You (hopefully) don't take pride in which day of the week your great-grandfather was born on, or what colour eyes your grandfather had, so why take any pride in where they were born?

(I just realized that this forum is saying I'm a male and that's weird b/c I'm a girl and now I'm uncomfortable)

Anyway.
I don't know. I guess I'm just very interested in where my family originated and my roots.
And haha, yes. I guess you could say that Polish/American is 2, although I would say that it's 1 since its a blend of 2, hence creating 1. (I'm kinda confusing, sorry)

But it wouldn't be quite accurate to call myself a Polish/American, because my family has roots all over the place, like I said. I was just saying if I had to choose l would be comfortable with saying Polish/American, because we are just more involved there. Also, my religion, which I am very involved and close to, (Catholicism) which was brought over from all the Poles in my family, and most of my family is still Catholic.

I feel like I'm being annoying so I'll just keep quiet. I guess I just wanted to learn more.
PS- I do take pride in who I am myself. What exactly do you mean by "the accidents of other people's births?"

Well, on the plus side, now you can call yourself Susan if it makes you happy and you will actually be Susan!


I mean that nobody chooses where they are born or to whom they are born, so there's very little point in taking pride in it.


You aren't being annoying at all; by the standards of more than a few of the people who post here you are being positively charming.

FLORJAŃCZYK (older spelling)/FLORIAŃCZYK: surname of. patronymic origin meaning Florian's boy (Florianson).

Harry, I think you're wrong, saying that you shouldn't have pride of where you or your ancestors originated. I believe that if you realize you are interested and fascinated in the culture of your own heritage or your ancestors', then I think there should be some pride in that!

And I don't know what you mean with this whole Susan thing. But yeah, if I wanted I could change my name, but I don't fancy the name Susan.

And thank you, but I don't think I have much charm.
And thanks Polonius for the definition!! (:

cuz now he claims poland to be his country in his latest posts but gets excited about being a brit immigrant in poland showing his confused nature.