St Patrick’s Day came and went. Because of the early Easter, St Pat’s Day was actually moved to March 15 in many places. I don’t think many Aussies heard the official edict, because we still drank Guinness and green beer on March 17.

Anyhow, it begs the question: how Irish am I? Sue from Beggars Shot Glass wrote a blog which prompted me to consider this question.

Gorey is an Irish name and I’ve always considered myself Irish Australian. My daughters are named Kathleen and Margaret.

The truth is I have more Dutch in me than Irish.

I can quantify my lineage by using the unscientific formula of weighting my genes as a percentage of my great-great-grandparents’ origins. The disclaimer is that some of my Dutch forebears were of German descent, but here’s the breakdown:

Irish, Irish, Welsh, English, German, German, Scottish, Scottish, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch, Dutch.

In percentage terms that means I am 50% Dutch, 12.5% Scots, Irish, German, 6.25% Welsh, English.

So I’m really a Dutchman with an Irish surname!