Kathryn Hahn

AFI Fest 2013 - "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" Premiere - Arrivals

Hahn in 2013, photo by PrPhotos

Birth Name: Kathryn Marie Hahn

Place of Birth: Westchester, Illinois, U.S.

Date of Birth: July 23, 1973

Ethnicity: German (62.5%), Irish, small amount of English

Kathryn Hahn is an American actress and comedian. Her roles include the series Crossing Jordan, Parks and Recreation, Transparent, I Love Dick, Mrs. Fletcher, I Know This Much Is True, Central Park, WandaVision, The Shrink Next Door, and Tiny Beautiful Things, and the films How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Step Brothers, Revolutionary Road, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard., Our Idiot Brother, We’re the Millers, Afternoon Delight, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), This Is Where I Leave You, Tomorrowland, The Visit (2015), Captain Fantastic, Bad Moms, Private Life, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Story, and, in voice performance, Hotel Transylvania parts 3 and 4, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

She was raised Catholic. Her father is of half German and half Irish descent. Her mother’s ancestry is three quarters German, with the rest being Irish and English.

Kathryn is married to actor Ethan Sandler, with whom she has two children.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2022) stated that Kathryn’s genetic ancestry consists of:

*40% England & Northwestern Europe
*26% Ireland
*22% Germanic Europe
*10% Norway
*2% Scotland

Genetically, she was found to have a common ancestor with actress and director Regina King, through her mother’s side, through shared European ancestry.

Kathryn’s paternal grandfather was George Joseph Hahn (the son of John Nicholas Hahn and Mary Elizabeth Weber). George was born in Ohio. John was German. Mary Elizabeth was born in Ohio, the daughter of German parents, John B. Weber and Johanna.

Kathryn’s paternal grandmother was Frances Jane O’Connell (the daughter of Charles David O’Connell and Ella Madeline Harrington). Frances was born in Ohio. Charles was born in Michigan, the son of Irish parents, John Edmond/Edmund O’Connell and Mary Daly, from Limerick. Ella was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Irish parents, David Harrington and Mary Brown.

Kathryn’s maternal grandfather was Norman Frederick Bunker (the son of Henry F. Bunker and Mary Ann Motsch). Norman was born in Ohio. Henry was born in Ohio, and was likely the son of Ferdinand Bunker, who was German, and of Julia A. DeWitt, who was born in Ohio, to German parents. Mary Ann was also born in Ohio, the daughter of Joseph Motsch, who was born in Ohio, to Bavarian German parents, and of Elizabeth Oster, who was born in Ohio, to Prussian German parents.

Kathryn’s maternal grandmother was Mary Catherine Lunenschloss (the daughter of Edward Joseph Lunenschloss and Mary Margaret “Mae” Dougherty). Kathryn’s grandmother Mary Catherine was born in Wisconsin. Edward was born in Wisconsin, the son of Francis Xavier “Frank” Lunenschloss, who was born in Wisconsin, to German parents, with roots in Barmen, Dusseldorf, Rhineland, and Köln, Rhineland; and of Anna “Annie” Riek/Rieck, who was also born in Wisconsin, also to German parents. Kathryn’s great-grandmother Mary Margaret was born in Wisconsin, of Irish and English descent, including roots in County Donegal, and was the daughter of Clement Francis Dougherty and Kansas A. Elliott.

Sources: Kathryn’s paternal grandfather, George Joseph Hahn, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
George Joseph Hahn on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Genealogy of Kathryn Hahn (focusing on her mother’s side) – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com

Kathryn’s maternal great-grandmother, Mary Margaret Dougherty, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

3 Responses

  1. Jason 7 says:

    Norwegian (and other Scandinavian ancestry) often show up at random in people whose most recent Norwegian ancestry was contributed by Vikings over one thousand years ago.

  2. andrew says:

    she looks German

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.