A misnomer?

Of course, this all raises the question whether it matters, and if it does, why it matters.

Why should I care whether I am categorized as English or Italian? What difference does it make? Aren't both a gross oversimplification in any event?

I know the answer to the third question and it's 'yes'. Dad's dad's family is from the Sorrento peninsula (Amalfi, Scala and Minori to be exact). Dad's mum's family is from that area where Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire meet with a bit of Wiltshire thrown in. Probably safe to say then that they're Germano-Celtic (on the assumption that the advent of the Angles and the Saxons didn't constitute a population replacement event).

Mum's dad's family come from Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. All Scandinavian then (on the basis that the Viking thing was a population replacement event. At least north of Watling Street). Mum's mum's family is from Jersey, Surrey and Wiltshire. A bit of a mix but Scandinavian (the Norman French having started their journey in Scandinavia), and Germano-Celtic in that order.

So ... why do I feel the need to be, or be seen to be, Italian? There's probably more Swedish in me than there is Italian.

One of my brothers had one of those ethnic DNA tests done at http://www.genetree.com/. He got 94% European, 5% East Asian and 1% Sub-Saharan African. Nothing unusual in that. His European broke down to 43% South-Eastern European, 40% Northern European, 12% South Asian and 5% Middle Eastern. I had great hopes that my questions would be answered when he told me he was getting the test done but what sort of answer is that.

Actually, it is an answer (of sorts). The average Italian profile is 46% South-Eastern European, 35% Northern European, 10% South Asian and 9% Middle Eastern. That's a fairly close match. Fairly close. This tells me that my DNA looks pretty much like the DNA of the Average Italian; especially when you compare it with the average Northern European profile (6% South-Eastern European, 82% Northern European, 1% South Asian and 11% Middle Eastern).

Is that my answer?