Birth Name:
Alyson Lee Hannigan
Birth Place:
Washington, D.C., United States
Date of Birth:
March 24, 1974
What Race or Ethnicity?:
Irish, Jewish
Her dad is Irish and her mother is Jewish. Jweekly.com states that Hannigan’s mother is Jewish and in an interview in the The Sunday Times newspaper, it was mentioned that her father is of Irish background.
Source:
http://www.jewishsf.com/
Pearce, Garth (13 July 2003). “Alyson Hannigan Interview”. The Sunday Times.
profile by mzpreciousz
image via Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Celebrities sharing similar heritage:
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
This is cool, my father is Irish and my mother is of German-Jewish descent.
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People that have Irish ancestry shouldn’t be afraid to declare themselves Irish or Irish American because that is part of their heritage, and it doesn’t make them any less proud of being American but you have to remember that Irish history is riddled with alot of sorrow in it, and alot of anger.
They didn’t necesarily immigrate to America because it was thier dream, they felt they had no other choice because of the famine. You had only 2 choices, which were ‘stay, starve and die’ or ‘leave and live’. Of course when they came to America, they didn’t expect the negative ‘welcome’ on its shores-or the hardships they would have to endure-they were lucky if they were able to get a job. They were told they would recieve land and freedom in America (which was an English influenced idea). The Irish were basically evicted from thier homes by thier English landlords, and if there were good potato crops, they were sent to the English Royalty or the landlord of that particular property in Ireland. Ireland today is still trying to free itself from England after close about 900 years of rule.
Study up on its history and you’ll understand why alot of Irish Americans still refer to themselves as Irish or Irish American. America is a country of Immigrants and you can be american but also embrace your heritage.
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most people got some irish ancestry
me too also english and spanish
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Oh. Being Irish in America in the 1840s….
My husband has gratiously reminded me that I’m personally old enough to remember all the “Irish need not apply” signs.
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Yeah. Lotsa us Irishers out there. The Potato Famine and Upper Class ( landowners loved they could seize the farms) and English greed (no one English lost a meal) left one million dead and five million of us scattered all over the place. (Many of us writing the longest and confusedest paraparenthetical sentences).
a.k.a. Alyson Denisof. She’s married to fellow Buffy / Angel actor Alexis Denisof and have a child together.
Thanks to her the husband (Never capitalized) has the weirdest look whenever we pass the music store…
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Maybe it’s due to the fact that over a million Irish emmigrated to the US during the famine?
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Is it just me… or is everyone fuckin Irish…??? Get hold of yourself….. Ur just American… ! HAAAWWOOOW
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I think the name Hannigan is a clue to the Irish bit. I’ve read that Irish ancestry in the US is greatly exaggerated by a lot of people. There is a lot more English ancestry than declared.
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I’m Irish myself. It would be great if people would comment as I have read that Irish ancestry is greatly exaggerated in the States. The reason being that there was a lot more English that went to the US. Also if you look at population there are about 55 million people in England (not incl Scotland, Wales and NI) and only 6 million approx in Ireland (incl NI). I think a reason could be that people have mixed ancestry and will state the Irish but not English (possibly). I’m not trying to upset anyone just interested.
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