The deal with red hair?

[dukeofpain]

I have it, I have a sister with it; whom also shares brown eyes, though both my parents were born blond with blue eyes (which has darkened, and in my dad's case "receded") and my other two sibling were also born blond with blue eyes. I was wondering what could be the reasons for this red-haired brown-eyed atavism?

Also, what I have found out, is that Scotland, England and Ireland are the red hair capitals of the world, Scotland being number one with 16% of the population. I was wondering if perhaps given that the aforementioned counties all share strong Germanic and Celtic ancestry, that this has to do with the prevalence of the gene? Because my understanding is that red hair is an idiosyncrasy of the Nordic sub race, and for this reason it can be used to connect Nordic ancestry to red headed remains found in Egypt, china, easter island etc. Early Celtic and early Germanic were both said to be Nordic peoples, both being described by Tacitus as having large limbs; blue/Grey eyes; and red or fair hair. Could the mixing perhaps potentiate the prevalence? since a country like Norway isn't the leader with regard to red hair. BTW, I am a mutt of English, Norwegian, Danish, and German/polish descent.

[nymos]

I don't get it. Are you a ginger or a daywalker?


Did you read this?
www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun2001/993598918.Ge.r.html

[Edwin]

I also have red hair and brown eyes, and the combination has been inherited in at least four straight generations. My mother has it, as did her mother, and her mother, and almost surely my great-great-grandfather. The line is this case is Scottish.

[dukeofpain]

nymos said:

I don't get it. Are you a ginger or a daywalker?


Did you read this?
www.madsci.org/posts/archives/jun2001/993598918.Ge.r.html

Ginger, daywalker?

[australoserbicus]

Ginger, daywalker? ... One of the recent South Park episodes dealt with the issue of red heads.

[Hairless]

My sister was born with a red "Mohawk" but now has dark brown, almost black, hair. I always wonder where that came from, since my father and her mother (we have dfferent mothers) have black hair. My own hair is dark brown with red highlights, inherited from my mother's side. She thinks we inherited it from Venetian ancestors, and I noticed that most of my cousins in Italy have hair that is light brown with reddish highlights or reddish blonde.

[kingpin]

hehe fire crotch

[jp13323]

I have red facial hair does that count? I am "Puerto Rican" but most of my heritage can be traced back to Catalonia, Spain Barcelona,Spain and France.

[Evan1211]

australoserbicus said:

Ginger, daywalker? ... One of the recent South Park episodes dealt with the issue of red heads.

That was a hilarious episode. I have been constantly referring to people as gingers or daywalkers lately. Pretty funny stuff.

[Mimers]

I guess red hair and brown eyes is a lot more common than I thought. I always thought red hair and blue/green eyes were more common.