Demi Lovato

LOS ANGELES – DEC 6: Lovato at the 29Rooms West Coast Debut presented by Refinery29 at the ROW DTLA on December 6, 2017 in Los Angeles, CA, photo by kathclick

Birth Name: Demetria Devonne Lovato

Place of Birth: Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.

Date of Birth: August 20, 1992

Ethnicity:
*father – Mexican, including Spanish, Indigenous, distant English, and remote Jewish, Portuguese, and French Huguenot
*mother – English, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish

Demi Lovato is an American actress, singer, and songwriter, known for starring in the Disney movie Camp Rock and the television series As the Bell Rings. Demi arrived onto the pop scene with her debut album, Don’t Forget, and has toured extensively across the United States.

Demi is the child of Dianna Lee (Smith) and Patrick Martin Lovato. Demi is a maternal half-sister of actress Madison De La Garza. Demi’s step-cousin is actor Braeden De La Garza.

Demi’s father was from a Mexican family that has lived in New Mexico for many generations. Demi’s father, like many people of Mexican descent, had Spanish and Indigenous Mexican ancestry. Demi has also stated that Demi traced her father’s genealogy and found that he had distant Portuguese and Jewish ancestry. It is not atypical for people of Spanish-Mexican descent to have distant/remote Portuguese and/or Sephardi Jewish ancestry. Demi’s father also had distant English and remote French Huguenot and Native American ancestry.

Demi’s mother is from a Southern family of English, as well as Scottish and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, ancestry.

Demi is able to speak a little Spanish, as when appearing on Spanish TV. A video of this appearance can be seen here.

A DNA test whose results Demi displayed on her Twitter page stated that Demi’s genetic ancestry is:

*85% European
——–*32% Iberian Peninsula
——–*16% Scandinavia
——–*14% Ireland
——–*11% Great Britain
——–*7% Europe West
——–*5% Trace Regions
*10% Native American
*3% West Asian
*1% African
——–*1% Trace Regions
*<1% Asian
——–*<1% Trace Regions

Lovato in 2010, Dfree/bigstock.com

Demi’s patrilineal line traces back to Andres Lovato and Inasita Pena, who lived in New Mexico in the 1800s.

Demi’s paternal grandfather was Francisco Nathaniel “Frank” Lovato (the son of Atanacio Lovato and Anita Sanchez). Francisco was born in New Mexico, and was of Mexican descent. Atanacio was son of Donaciano Lovato and Maria Cristina Perea. Maria Cristina’s father, Demi’s great-great-great-grandfather, was businessperson and politician Francisco Perea. Francisco was born in Los Padillas, Nuevo México, First Mexican Republic, now Bernalillo County, New Mexico, and was a Union Army Officer in the American Civil War, and a Republican Party delegate to the U.S. Congress from the Territory of New Mexico, from March 4, 1863 to March 3, 1865. Through this line, Demi’s paternal great-great-great-great-great-grandfather was Francisco Xavier Chávez/Chaves, who was the second géfe político (similar to Governor) of the Santa Fe de Nuevo México territory, from 5 July, 1822 to November 1822. He was born in Santa Fé de Nuevo México, now Santa Fé. Demi’s great-grandmother Anita was the daughter of Jesus M. Sanchez and Carpia.

Demi’s paternal grandmother was Evangeline Celina Herrera (the daughter of Antonio Aranda Herrera and Maria/Mary Juana Ortiz). Evangeline was born in New Mexico, and was of Mexican descent. Antonio was the son of parents surnamed Herrera and Tello. Maria was the daughter of Jose Cecilio Rafael Gatin y Lucero and Beatriz/Beatrix Cordova Enos. Beatriz had Hispanic, English, and remote Native American and French Huguenot, ancestry.

Demi’s maternal grandfather was Donald Lee Smith (the son of Hugh Emory/Emery Smith and June Snodgrass). Donald was born in Texas. Hugh was the son of Thomas Allen Smith.

Demi’s maternal grandmother was Sue Dianne Emmons (the daughter of Aaron Jefferson Emmons and Patty Marie Davlin). Sue was born in Texas. Demi’s step-grandfather was The Rev. Perry Eugene Hart. Aaron was the son of David George Emmons and Nancy Caroline Pipes. Patty was the daughter of Thomas Charnel Davlin and Gertrude Annie May/Mae Reed.

Sources: Genealogies of Demi Lovato – http://www.geni.com
http://gw.geneanet.org

Article about Demi’s father’s ancestry – http://archive.is

Obituary of Demi’s father, Patrick Martin Lovato, including much of his genealogy – http://www.findagrave.com

Demi’s paternal grandmother, Evangeline Celina Herrera, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Genealogy of Demi’s maternal grandmother, Sue Dianne Emmons (under “37. SUE DIANNE7 EMMONS”) – http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

348 Responses

  1. Deutschland9France says:

    Isn’t “she” a man now?

  2. jonasbttencourt says:

    How long will this site keep with this “Scots-Irish/Northern Irish” nonsense ? Lol it’s literally not a real ethnicity, people from northern Ireland are heavily Scottish, with some northern english ancestry too, and more distant REAL irish and welsh. It’s way better to simply put “British&Irish”, british isles peoples are really not wildly different genetically anyway, it’s basically one big germanic-celtic family(with also a significant amount of iberian influence, especially in Ireland), you can’t tell an avarage irishman from an avarage englishman by looking at them. The differences between english, scottish, irish, and welsh people are really too mild to say that they are each one a specific ethnic group. It’s an over-categorization, by this logic, sub-saa african it’s not a ethnicity as well…

    • Alice says:

      Northern Irish also have “real” Irish ancestry also but I agree the Scot-Irish/Northern Irish thing is irritating. However there is not a significant amount of Iberian influence, especially in Ireland. I do think also that while close genetically they are specific ethnic groups.

      • andrew says:

        The Scots-Irish are a huge part (even sometimes underreported in this site) of American culture, you are talking nonsense.

        • Alice says:

          They could then call them Scottish if that is their ethnicity or Northern Irish. If in a historical context they were all just Irish at the time and it was only with the mass migration of Irish Catholics that the Scots Irish description came into use. It’s entirely American. I’ve noticed with the Northern Irish actors now on this site such as Jamie Dornan he is listed as Northern Irish/Irish and the same with Kenneth Branagh. However they have Liam Neeson as just Irish. I’m not sure what criteria they use?

      • jonassjr says:

        white people from great britain are very close genetically they belong to basically the same big mix of celtics/celtiberians, scandinavians, different germanic tribes, and romans, thats why you cant tell the difference between a welshman, a englishman, and a scotsman, they have been mixing with each other 4ever… and about the irish, well they are less mixed than the brits simply because they are more isolated geographically, specially those in the east of the isle of Ireland. But its fair to point out that alot of irish people have the same ancient indo-euro mix that the brits have, perhaps with a bit more celtic contribuition. So i basically stand by my original comment, it would be much better if they start to simply put ”british&irish” instead of dividing into all these meaningless categories, because people from this part of the world are pretty much from the same recent and ancient admixture, therefore, basically the same ethnicity.

        • Alice says:

          If the Irish were that isolated they would form a cluster of their own and they don’t. They just cluster in Northwestern Europe so they obviously aren’t that isolated.

          • jonassjr says:

            I said that they are less mixed than the brits because they are from a separeted island but i pointed out the fact that many of them have been mixing with brits( that were already pretty mixed with other euro ethnicities), so given the fact that its basically Impossible to know the exact % of specific ethnicities on a white person from the british isles, it would be wiser to just put the broader “british and irish” or “british isles” to categorize these people.

  3. md65 says:

    Demi’s paternal great-grandmother was Maria/Mary Juana Ortiz was the daughter of Beatriz/Beatrix Cordova Enos and Jose Cecilio Rafael Gatin y Lucero. Beatriz had English and remote Native American and French Huguenot ancestry
    https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/9SM3-N71
    https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/L1CZ-7Z1
    https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/MMR4-6JR

  4. JayD271 says:

    Down here in Miami she would look White Latina (Spaniard). Her DNA results make sense.

  5. andrew says:

    Spot on. No Italian ancestry.

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