Where would you find the most redheads?

[Argyll]

Red hair today is generally associated with the Scots and Irish, but there have been no consistent efforts to establish the prevalence of the condition.

“It has actually become harder to find the prevalence of red hair today,” said Rees. “More and more women — and some men — now dye their hair and we simply have no idea if a redhead is a real one or if a blonde is a redhead under the dye. As a result the incidence of red hair in Britain is still a bit of a mystery.”

Enter the scientists of the People of the British Isles project: thanks to their efforts, this most distinctive characteristic is now opening up its mysteries for the first time. Testing their white cell samples for two of the half-dozen red-hair versions of the MC1R gene, they were able to show their frequency in each area of the British Isles. The results were intriguing.

Where one is the maximum value, they got figures of 0.16 and 0.23 for the frequencies of red-hair genes in Cornwall and Devon. The frequency in Oxfordshire was 0.07; in Sussex and Kent 0.13; in northeast England 0.11; in Lincolnshire 0.07; and in Cumbria nil. In Wales the figure was 0.21, and in Orkney a high 0.26. But the highest was in Ireland. Using data from other research studies, the team got a figure for Ireland of 0.31, confirmation of the stereotypical image of the red-haired Irishman.

The results are remarkable, as Sir Walter Bodmer, the Oxford geneticist leading the project, acknowledges: “I was amazed at them. I didn’t expect to see something like this.”

The research gives us, for the first time, an insight into the startling numbers of native people who have been described as having red hair in ancient times.

Here is why red hair is so common in Ireland:


But why do we have such numbers in these parts of the British Isles today and not others? The answer, says Bodmer, is that red-hair genes were common among the first Britons and that populations in the archipelago’s fringes still carry their bloodline.

“Genes for red hair first appeared in human beings about 40,000 to 50,000 years ago,” agrees Rees.

These genes were then carried into the islands by the original settlers, men and women who “would have been relatively tall, with little body fat, athletic, fair-skinned and who would have had red hair”, says David Miles, of English Heritage. Redheads therefore represent the land’s most ancient lineages. So if you want an image of how those first people appeared, don’t think of a hairy savage with a mane of thick black hair. Contemplate instead a picture of a slim, ginger-haired individual: Prince Harry, perhaps, or the actress Nicole Kidman who has Scottish and Irish descent.

Why did those early Britons have so many redheads in their midst in the first place? Is there an evolutionary advantage to having red hair in this part of the world? According to Rees, the answer may be yes.

The MC1R variants that cause red hair also have an effect on the skin. As a result, redheads do not make enough of the dark pigment melanin to protect them against the sun’s powerful ultraviolet rays. Their skin rarely tans. It just burns or freckles.

In Africa, where modern humans first evolved 150,000 years ago, this would have been fatal. In northern Europe, however, melanin-free skin could have provided an advantage because we make vitamin D in our skin when sunlight shines on it.

Dark-skinned people were protected against the African sun, but their ability to make vitamin D would have been badly affected in relatively gloomy northern Europe. This could have caused rickets, resulting in weak bones and curved legs — bad news for a hunter-gatherer. Rickets is particularly damaging for women, as it increases pelvic deformations, raising the risk of death in childbirth. So, the theory goes, we evolved white, melanin-free skin that has no dark pigment to block sunlight and cause rickets. Red hair was a side effect.

So there it is: being a redhead could mean you possess an evolutionary advantage over non-red-haired people.

http://irishtribesman.blogspot.com/2...n-ireland.html

I read somewhere that the 40% of the population in Ireland carries the red hair gene, which was second in the world, but I have no idea what the first one is (maybe Scotland?). Anyway, I really don't want red hair to die out. It's part of European people's unique genes.

[Albion]

I read somewhere that the 40% of the population in Ireland carries the red hair gene, which was second in the world, but I have no idea what the first one is (maybe Scotland?). Anyway, I really don't want red hair to die out. It's part of European people's unique genes.

Scotland's is around that figure as well I think.

A lot of my mother's family who derived from Ireland (mostly Ulster Scots - Lowland Scottish settlers to Ireland, but perhaps intermarried with some native Irish) had red hair.
Most of my very English paternal side has blonde hair.

[GeistFaust]

The early populations of the British Isles might have possibly been of red hair. This coincides with the fact that a lot of Cro-Magnon types(Brunn) started to migrate into the island at this time frame from parts of Scandinavia. There migration to the island would have been slow and would have been in small amounts. Societies were smaller back then and the movement was slower from one place to other.


Groups tended to identify themselves in a tribal way and this did not change until the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures introduced themselves to Europe. Their was a large collection of diversity in the British Isles that accumulated over the periods from the migration of the Upper Paleolithic age to the Neolithic age.

The populations of the British Isles in terms of their anthropological orientation, genetic composition, and skin pigmentation and hair color were probably fairly diverse. A lot of the original Britons probably were squeezed into tighter and tighter corners as more invaders occupied England most notably.


I think though that Britain was homogenous for a rather small fraction of time and quickly began to diversify starting in the Mesolithic era. Its is though amazing to observe how strong the Upper Paleolithic influences are around the island especially in places like Ireland.

[Argyll]

Scotland's is around that figure as well I think.

A lot of my mother's family who derived from Ireland (mostly Ulster Scots - Lowland Scottish settlers to Ireland, but perhaps intermarried with some native Irish) had red hair.
Most of my very English paternal side has blonde hair.

How common is red hair and blonde hair in the U.K. right now?

[Albion]

How common is red hair and blonde hair in the U.K. right now?

Blonde hair is very common in Eastern and Northern England and Eastern Scotland.
Generally the further West you go the less blonde it gets.

It's quite the opposite with red hair - it is associated with Western areas with it's highest ranges in Ireland, Highland Scotland and far Northern England.

Brown hair predominates like almost everywhere else in Europe I'm afraid, with Wales being largely brown haired and most of Southern England and Cornwall being mostly brown haired.
Even in Ireland and Scotland; brown hair is by far the dominant type. I think it is partly because brown hair is basically what Europeans have by default - red, blonde and black hair (in Europe) evolved from brown hair.

It would be hard for me to quote numbers here as I'd have to look for them and such numbers are usually vague estimations but I'll have a look round for you.


Blonde hair in Europe


Red hair in England and Wales - I could't find a map for the whole of the British Isles

I'll try and find you a few figures and maybe post some more stuff later.

I have a diagram which shows how eye colour is passed on to offspring (because certain colours are dominant or recessive) and hair works in a similar way so I'll try and find a diagram like it.

[Albion]

It's estimated nearly half of Irish people carry the gene,although only 10% have red hair (as opposed to 43% with dark brown.) 13% of Scots have red hair, the Welsh 10% and England has a substantial amount too (between 7 or 8%).

(Note: take these maps with a pinch of salt, the accuracy is dubious and the methodology poor. At best these maps are based on guestimates, but they'll give you a general idea.)

Blonde hair map:



Red hair map:

Notice how red hair declines as you move towards blonder regions such as Eastern England.

Also notice the massive error for far Northern England - Cumbria and Northumberland should show a higher percentage as on the earlier map from a better source I posted (The Guardian).

Judge for yourself.

[Albion]

Generally the distributions of different hair colours in England do one good thing though - they clearly show areas which had large Germanic settlement or areas with large Celtic continuity.
Whilst red hair for example also occurs in most Germanic regions in low percentages, in the British Isles it is generally attributed to Celts or Norse Vikings (supposedly there is a small area of Western Norway where a lot of Vikings came from which is largely red-haired compared to the rest of Norway - it's dubious but an interesting theory).

[Siberyak]

I don't think that red hair is common in any part of Spain, the common is the brown with reddish tones and I do not think red hair is especially Celtic.

How common are blondes in spain?

[Siberyak]

The Udmurts of Russia are the most red headed people in the world.

[Osweo]

Red hair in England and Wales - I could't find a map for the whole of the British Isles

Nice maps... I recall a similar one in Dr. John Beddoes' 1880s book The Races of Britain in which, as well as Cumberland/Northumberland, red hair was also notably commoner in the English county of Devon.

For my own part, my half Geordie mother and her brothers are all red, and now that I live here in Devon, I do notice a lot of redheads about. I like it, I wish there were more of them: they should be captive bred on special reserves to bump up the proportions....