Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

Well it seems possible that I got one side of the recessive combination from Poland... it seems like no one is really sure where red hair originated from or it originated from several places. As for discrimination... I really havn't faced any other than being jokingly called a ginger by my friends. It might have something to do with living in a part of the world with a very high concentration of scots-irish people, or the fact that picking on a 6'1 broad shouldered man isn't the best idea.

Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

I've red the English wiki page, but that doesn't have much info on where red hair is or where it originated in early European groups. It mostly just talks about the gene that was discovered. And I hope it wasn't the mailman, as that mailman would look strikingly similar to my relatives(maybe some family secret I don't know of ; ) ). I am a northern european mutt in terms of my genetics... so I figure the Polish side gave me some Viking genetic recessive gene for read hair to mix with my British isle side. (Though my German side could have carried the gene for A LOT of generations before it actually appeared).

News / What's the stupidest question asked about Poland? [414]

When I reveal that my last name (Merecki), is straight from Poland, people often ask why the Polish charged at tanks with cavalry, which is absolutely not accurate. Poland fought hard against two of the mightiest armies on the planet at once, and I wish I could link people to the Battle of Wizna when they ask that question.

Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

The Vikings spreading the gene around makes a lot of sense, as red hair evolved in far north climates to deal with small amounts of Vitamin D, and the Vikings spread their gene pool around northern Europe quite a bit, through simple settlement or raping and pillaging. I know I got part of the recessive gene from my scots-irish side, and the Vikings had quite a bit of red hair too... and they invaded a lot of the baltic, and Poland too. I guess if I go far back enough I'm descended from the Viking invaders. There is red hair in Northwestern Germany (where my Grandma is from), though my Grandma says it wasn't in her family for at least the generation dating back to my great great grandparents. The only other possibility is Polish red hair genes mixing with my scottish or irish genes to give me red hair. I havn't faced much red hair discrimination here in America, maybe due to my physical size or simply because no one thinks anything of it due to the large percentage of scots-irish where I live, easily 75% of the population. (My Polish grandpa is a mountain of a man, and I inherited his genes for that part). I guess I am a werewolf or witch as well, as I have deep green eyes with red hair. I assume that was inherited from my German side, as the only person with green eyes in my family is my German grandma and cousins. Otherwise everyone on both sides of my family has blue eyes. I think I have inherited more of my dad's side of the family, as I am much more similar to the German/Polish side than my mom's irish/scottish side in terms of physical size (I'm already 3 inches taller than anyone on that side, and I'm still growing at a fast clip at 18! i'm around 6'1 right now), and I have a big German nose, and I have a wide eastern European face similar to my Polish Grandpa's. Sorry for the wall of text.. I had a lot of things to respond to.

Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

I certainly don't think I feel more pain... but apparently some redheads do.

Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

My stepmom is a nurse anesthesiologist, and she has said that redheads sometimes need more drugs than other people.

Genealogy / Red Hair - recessive gene from Poland? [108]

I know it came from the scots-irish side, but due to it being a recessive gene it had to have come from both my Mom's side and my Dad's side, meaning either the German and Polish contributed.

Genealogy / Does your last name end in CKI not SKI [60]

My last name is Merecki, and it has always been pronounced mer-eckee by my family. My great grandparents moved from Poland to New York City in the 30s, and I'm not sure if it was always pronounced like that.