Hi all! As a younger lad i always remember my history teaching saying that redheads were actually scandanavian in origin and brough to the british isle through yhe viking raids. However, ive been debating this with family who state they recently went to norway and saw no or few redheads suggesting the gene must have originated in ireland. A quick google search suggests that the redhead gene may actually be Celtic. Im now confused and thought there may be one of you fone historians which could shed light on the topic? Celtic or scandanvian? Where did gingers originate? Thanks all :)
As far as I know, the genes for red hair exists among many populations - while Welsh, Irish and Scottish have the highest percentages, with Nordic people in behind, the third and fourth are actually Berbers and Arabs. It is also known among non-Arab people in the Levant and among several Central Asian peoples.
The latters are often darker than European red-haired people, but still red-haired.
See for example Princess (Royal Consort) Lalla Salma of Morocco who is of Arab descent.
Or this Uyghur (Central Asian people) child in western China.
I can only confirm that red-headedness is not restricted among people of Celtic or Nordic descent. That said, the question of genetics and red-hairedness in humans is probably better suited for /r/askscience or /r/askanthropology than /r/askhistorians.
