There goes my street cred... I'm descended from sort of aristocracy

[Al B. Sure!]

I never knew anything about my family but I asked for more information.

My grandmother is of the Touqan family:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touqan

Yes, they have a wikipedia page with the history of the family.

Pretty crazy, right?

[giblets]

They must have slaughtered many jews and owned many goats to have such status.

[Tupac Shakur]

Palestinian aristocracy?

[Al B. Sure!]

Palestinian aristocracy?

Apparently. The family headed the Qais federation and then ruled Nablus.

Queen Alia of Jordan was a Touqan and the family produced some recent poets of note such as Ibrahim Touqan.

[Al B. Sure!]

I would think I'm only a distant relation to those two, though.

My great-grandmother was a Salam, though, a prominent Lebanese family; she was a cousin of Saeb Salam, former 4-time Prime Minister of Lebanon.

[BlackCat]

Yeah, Ottoman servant is probably more correct

[Asher]

Genetically, I am a descendant of one of the High Kings of Ireland. My street cred.

Wikipedia has a glorious picture of him.

[Al B. Sure!]

Genetically, I am a descendant of one of the High Kings of Ireland. My street cred.

Wikipedia has a glorious picture of him.

You're spawn of his bastard child, Asher

[Al B. Sure!]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_No%C3%ADg%C3%ADallach

Dude, there's no confirmation this guy even existed.

How do you know?

And when you go that far back, it's like how all Europeans are descendants of Charlemagne, who lived centuries after this Irish king supposedly lived, even.

[Asher]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_N...Dg%C3%ADallach

Dude, there's no confirmation this guy even existed.

How do you know?

And when you go that far back, it's like how all Europeans are descendants of Charlemagne, who lived centuries after this Irish king supposedly lived, even.

I've been genotyped. 8% of Ireland descends from him in some way. Outside of Ireland, the west coast of Britain is where the largest group of descendants are. My dad's family lived on the west coast of Britain until ~1690, when they came to North America.

My mom's family came to North America in ~1645 (Oyster River Point).

You are all immigrants.

[Al B. Sure!]

I've been genotyped. 23% of Ireland descends from him in some way. Outside of Ireland, the west coast of Britain is where the largest group of descendants are. My dad's family lived on the west coast of Britain until ~1690, when they came to North America.

My mom's family came to North America in ~1645 (Oyster River Point).

You are all immigrants.

23% of Irish descend from a possibly fictional 4th century Irish king?

That doesn't count, Asher!

[Asher]

You're jealous because he was a badass. Admit it.

[Asher]

23% of Irish descend from a possibly fictional 4th century Irish king?

That doesn't count, Asher!

I edited it. It's 8%. It's 23% in NW Ireland only.

He's not possibly fictional, where did you get that?

There's immensely detailed genetic history for the haplogroup that identifies his descendants.

[Asher]

Technically he was a tribal warlord, as the High King didn't exist until the 8th century IIRC. He's still included in the list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ngs_of_Ireland

Did you find out why he was called Niall of the Nine Hostages?

[Al B. Sure!]

Although generally supposed to be a historical personage, very little can confidently be said of Niall's life. The sources for the details of Niall's life are genealogies of historical kings, the "Roll of Kings" section of the Lebor Gabála Érenn, Irish annals such as the Annals of the Four Masters, chronicles such as Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, and legendary tales like "The Adventure of the Sons of Eochaid Mugmedon" and "The Death of Niall of the Nine Hostages". These sources date from long after Niall's time and their value as history is limited at best.

It's like claiming descent from King Solomon. Was there a King Solomon who ruled Israel? Probably. But our knowledge of him is based entirely on the Bible, written centuries after his time.