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One common assertion that you will unfortunately encounter is that anyone can be English; so long as they have a British passport and live in England. Granted, some might be so "generous" as to include the prerequisite of cultural assimilation, but that is about the extent of it. In other words, you (or your ancestors) could've immigrated to Britain from Pakistan, but if you have a British passport and live in England, well, congratulations, you're English!

 

Yeah, not so fast!

 

There is, indeed, a definable English ethnicity. (Sorry to shatter the fantasies of some). So please allow me to provide you with a brief summary of what genetically makes one English (as opposed to just a British citizen living in England).  The English are not the product of a single origin but rather a fusion of multiple ethnic groups that had settled, conquered, and assimilated over centuries in what we call England. To understand English ancestry, we must return to the moment of England’s creation in 927 AD, when King Æthelstan united the Anglo-Saxon and Danish territories into a single kingdom.

 

England came into existence in 927 AD, when King Æthelstan of Wessex defeated the last independent Viking kingdom in Northumbria and brought all Anglo-Saxon and Danish-controlled territories under his rule. Before this, England was divided into multiple competing kingdoms:

 

• Wessex (Saxons) – The dominant power by the 9th century, from which England’s first king hailed.

• Mercia (Angles) – A powerful kingdom with both Anglo-Saxon and lingering Celtic influences.

• Northumbria (Angles and Danes) – A former Anglian kingdom, partially controlled by Viking settlers.

• East Anglia (Angles and Danes) – A Viking stronghold before being absorbed by Wessex.

• Kent (Jutes) – A smaller but historically significant kingdom.

 

At the time of unification, the population of England was ethnically mixed, shaped by successive waves of migration and conquest. By the 10th century, England’s population was primarily composed of four major groups:

 

GROUP 1: Anglo-Saxons (Angles, Saxons, and Jutes) whose genetic contributions make up approximately 60-70% of the English ethnicity. The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic tribes from present-day Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands, who had migrated to Britain in the 5th–6th centuries.  Allow me to break those down even further:

 

• The Angles (who hailed from southern Denmark and northern Germany) are immortalised in the name England (i.e., Englaland, which means "Land of the Angles" in Old English).

• The Saxons (who hailed from Germany) formed the ruling class of Wessex, which eventually unified England.

• The Jutes (who hailed from Denmark) were fewer in number, settling mostly in Kent and the Isle of Wight.

 

By Æthelstan’s time, the Anglo-Saxons were the culturally-dominant group, having established Old English as the primary language.

 

GROUP 2: Danes ("Vikings") whose genetic contributions make up approximately 15-20% of the English ethnicity.

 

• Vikings from Denmark and Norway raided and settled large portions of northern and eastern England, known as the Danelaw.

• Many intermarried with Anglo-Saxons, influencing culture, language, and genetics—especially in areas like Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and East Anglia.

• Some English rulers, including King Cnut (1016–1035), were of Danish descent.

• Many place names in the north (e.g., those ending in -by or -thorpe) reveal Viking influence.

 

GROUP 3: Celts (Britons, Cornish, and Welsh) whose genetic contributions make up approximately 15-20% of the English ethnicity.

 

• The original inhabitants of Britain, the Celts, had been present long before the Anglo-Saxons arrived.

• While many Britons were pushed west into Wales, Cornwall, and Scotland, some remained in England, intermarrying with the Anglo-Saxons (hence their contribution to what is English).

• Areas like Mercia and Cumbria retained Celtic influences well into the medieval period.

• Genetic studies show that modern English people still carry a significant amount of pre-Germanic (Celtic) DNA.

 

GROUP 4: "Other" (Frisians, Gaels, and Romans) whose genetic contributions make up approximately 5% (or less) of the English ancestry.

 

• Frisians, a Germanic group from the Netherlands, migrated alongside the Anglo-Saxons. Their language closely resembled Old English.

• Gaels (from Ireland and Scotland) settled in small numbers in the west.

• Romans (and Romanized Britons) left a cultural impact, but their genetic influence on England was minimal compared to the Anglo-Saxon migrations.

 

By the time Æthelstan unified England, the concept of "being English" was already forming. It was primarily based on Anglo-Saxon culture and language, but with a substantial Danish and Celtic presence. The ruling elite were mostly of Saxon and Anglian descent, but they ruled over a multi-ethnic population (as detailed above) that had gradually fused into a single identity; they spoke Old English, a Germanic language influenced by Norse and Latin, they followed Anglo-Saxon laws and customs, and they were ruled by the House of Wessex, which had absorbed former rival kingdoms.

 

In conclusion, based on the historical and genetic evidence from England’s founding in 927 AD, the English people are primarily a blend of Germanic (Anglo-Saxon and Danish) and Celtic bloodlines, with minor contributions from a few other groups. This unique mixture is what defines the English as an ethnicity.

 

Now, you may ask, "what about the Normans?"

 

The Norman conquest occurred 139 years after England was formed, and while the Normans became the new ruling elite, they were not present at the time England was founded, so it can be argued that they should not be included by technicality.

 

You see, you absolutely must apply rigid standards when defining something; it is for that very reason that, despite the Normans also having Germanic origins, I've not included them in what defines English as an ethnicity. In any case, the Normans did not significantly alter the existing English gene pool.

 

SOURCES & RECOMMENDED READING:

 

• The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (9th–12th centuries)

• Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People (8th century)

• Asser’s Life of King Alfred (9th century)

• Higham, Nicholas J., and Ryan, Martin J. The Anglo-Saxon World. Yale University Press, 2013.

 

• Keynes, Simon. Æthelstan: The First King of England. Penguin Monarchs, 2019.

• Stenton, Frank. Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford University Press, 1971.

• Leslie, Stephen, et al. "The Fine-Scale Genetic Structure of the British Population." Nature, vol. 519, 2015, pp. 309–314.

• Schiffels, Stephan, et al. "Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon Genomes from East England Reveal British Migration History." Nature Communications, vol. 7, 2016, Article 10408.

• Thomas, Mark G., et al. "Evidence for an Anglo-Saxon Mass Migration." Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 275, 2008, pp. 2423–2430.

• Jutvik, Arne. The Danes in England During the Viking Age. Viking Society for Northern Research, 1976.

 

Submitted by Chad Smith