photo credit: compulsiveprep_8
Birth Name:
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen
Birth Place:
Hammersmith, London, England
Birth Date:
May 2, 1985
What Race or Ethnicity?:
Welsh, English, Romani
The British singer was born to a Welsh father named Keith Allen and an English mother named Alison Owen. Her father was a comedian and actor while her mother was a film producer.
Source:
edited by Ethnic
Celebrities sharing similar heritage:
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Her name’s now Lily Cooper, she got married in June.
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Sorry posted wrong link earlier – this is correct link regarding Romany background
http://www.metrolyrics.com/2009-lily-allenaposs-gypsy-grandmother-influenced-new-jewellery-collection-news.html
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Thank you so much for your insight cymru that is what I meant actually. If someone is portuguese and has a portuguese last name, then the chances of them being “originally” chinese like my friend said are unlikely. But indeed with african americans and native americans it can be a bit more tricky. But for Europeans and Asians it is indeed more reliable.
Thank you so much for your insight.
There should be a forum on this website.
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It is more difficult to tell with those of African decent from Dutch/American/Latin American surname roots, as those were likely descendants of former slaves, who lost their real surnames if applicable in the first place, It was common for them to take on the surnames of their slave holding “masters”, or other local surnames instead.
The same is true of Native Americans, who took on surnames, often of European origins, due to the customs of the invading Westerners. Previously, they did not practice the use of surnames.
However in the case of long established areas of the world such as Europe and Asia, surnames can be fairly reliably used to determine both the area of origins, and ethnicity. There are MANY people of Scots, Welsh, and Irish descent living in England due to migration of the ancestors for jobs and a better life. Although they may consider themselves NATIONALLY as English, their roots are actually in the respective countries of origin suggested by their surnames.
Many names occur simultaneously in widely diverse countries due to conquer-ship, coincidence and migration however. The Norman conquest brought many otherwise French names to Ireland and Britain, and some names, such as Abbot, Martin, Miller, Alexander can be found in both Britain and Germany, with no immediate link between them.
Many caveats abound with analyzing surnames, but they are often a good way to determine family origins.
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That’s interesting Cymru. Though a friend of mine was disagreeing with me about a lastname saying something about your ethnicity. In my opinion you can usually know a part of someone;s ethnicity if you look at just their last name (unless their adopted or have the lastname of their stepdad). Even if someone is of african american descent and has a dutch lastname the person can have distant or not so distant dutch blood.
And then he told me but if someone is portuguese what if their ancestors were chinese. But I didn’t find that a logical statement xD. I mean if you want to go that far than you’re getting to the celts and anglo saxons etc. And Gaelic? people. And I don’t know what the “original” portuguese people were. But you don’t have to necessarily go that far. I find his statement a little exaggerated.
What do you guys think about a last name saying something about your ethnicity? And how far we should go?
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Her mother may have been born in England, but the surname Owen is of Welsh descent as well. That would make her 100% Welsh in ethnicity.
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Ugly but talented
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awesome!!!
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