Scandinavian genetic legacy in Normandy in modern times?

[Eddan]

Does modern Normands have any noticeable Scandinavian ancestry or are they genetically more or less general northern French?

[alfieb]

By now I would imagine Normands and Bretons look the same as other Northern French.

If medieval Normans still exist anywhere, it would be the Channel Islands.

[Rudel]

No.

You probably could find a larger share of "Scandinavian" Y-DNA in Cotentin and the Caux plain, but that's it.
While in these two areas settlement was relatively heavy, inter-marriage was the rule from the get-go, and Normandy has always been a pretty busy area (meaning a lot of population movement around the area, meaning it would just homogenize with the rest).

If medieval Normans still exist anywhere, it would be the Channel Islands.

Maybe places like Sercq, but Jersey's half English, half Portuguese these days.

[Ouistreham]

Does modern Normands have any noticeable Scandinavian ancestry or are they genetically more or less general northern French?

Vaguely Danish-like physiognomies are more common on Normandy than elsewhere in France but the genetic impact can't have been more than a few percent.

And remember that prior to the Scandinavian invasion, Upper Normandy underwent heavy Frankish settlements whilst Western Normandy (including the Channel Islands) had and still has a strong Celtic substrate. Alpine-Mediterranean traits like there are in Brittany are also present there.

[Scholarios]

Didn't Normandy get 3/4 it's population killed in Henry V conquest? I remember just one example off the top of my head, half the population of Caen being expelled.

[alfieb]

Maybe places like Sercq, but Jersey's half English, half Portuguese these days.

In our lifetime Norman French will probably go extinct in the Channel Islands. It's a shame.

[Eddan]

Thanks a lot for informative answers!

[Neon Knight]

My cousin's father is a local Jersey man (LeBrun) and looks quite Nordic - tall, blond, blue-eyed. And, yes, his daughter has a Portugese boyfriend.

[Eddan]

No.

You probably could find a larger share of "Scandinavian" Y-DNA in Cotentin and the Caux plain, but that's it.
While in these two areas settlement was relatively heavy, inter-marriage was the rule from the get-go, and Normandy has always been a pretty busy area (meaning a lot of population movement around the area, meaning it would just homogenize with the rest).


Maybe places like Sercq, but Jersey's half English, half Portuguese these days.

Do you have an opinion of Guernsey?

[Rudel]

Do you have an opinion of Guernsey?

AFAIK it's pretty much the same think as Jersey. The tax policies there just drew a lot of people from the outside.
It's not like it was a hundred years ago, when everybody spoke the same on the islands or on the continent.