I am welsh, living in wales and honestly most of the people here are as diverse as anywhere else. I agree that most welsh people tend to have dark hair and relatively pale skin. Most of the people I know are pretty short (I have friends who are barely five foot). My entire family is welsh and we all have dark eyes, hair and are short but wales is a diverse country so not everyone here looks the same. I don't know about the tanning Britt_ditz mentioned because everyone I know burns easily but then again everyone's different. If you really want to know what welsh people look like you could always visit the country. We don't bite (well most of us anyway) and there's countryside 10 miles away from the capital. We saw a tractor driving through the suburbs yesterday. The music's spectacular and a huge part of the culture, if you did come you could always find something to listen to!
Ok coming from someone who has two full blooded welsh Imigrante grandparents, and doing my own personal research within my family, trust me on this... 1.the majority of us have very dark to black hair 2. We typically have light blue eyes though like all other races their are exceptions 3.we have high cheekbones and those of us with not as much weight tend to have a very defined jaw line 4. I would not define our noses as button noses but they honestly always fit our faces and never stand out as a facial feature 5.we naturally do have very fair milky skin ALTHOUGH we are known for not only being able to hold a tan well and for a much longer time than most, it is also extremely easy for us to tan and when we do most would call it a unique olive color. What may make it easier is to think of it this way....just like just about everyone can see a common factor between the irish and the scottish, as well you can see a common factor between the welsh and the celtic.
Oh and it is also known that the welsh people (especially the women) tend to have a naturally beautiful singing voice, but the only way that you would be able to see/know for yourself is to go there. Absolutely beautiful place, the weather can get kinda down but marvelous scenery and a very flavorful community... I go every year
Most indigenous Welsh people tend to have thick, wiry, very dark hair; and green / brown / hazel eyes. Red hair is more prominent in North Wales. They are not as fair or blue-eyed as the English, as Offa's Dyke and the Welsh mountains served as a barrier when the Saxons invaded centuries ago, and populated the British Isles with fairer genes. I have lived in Wales all my life; and have almost a pure Welsh ancestry back to the Roman era. (I have an author for an uncle, who researched our ancestry). I have no English or Scottish ancestry; but some Irish from the 8th century and one Belgian ancestor during the late 19th century. There was no blonde in my family before the Belgian; and even now, nearly all of my blood-relatives have black or dark red curly, wiry hair and green or hazel eyes. The only blue-eyed relatives I have descend from the blond Belgian. So I suppose if you want to look at what Welsh people look like, there is no better family to look at than mine! (Ignoring the Belgian, of course!)
Do not listen to the previous answer, it was a load of rubbish. Red hair and button noses are not a typical Welsh trait. Look to the Basque people to find a resemblance as the ancestors of the Welsh originally came from the Iberian peninsula and both peoples share the vast majority of their DNA.
Depend where your from. If you from the SE, you can have dark curly hair, brown eyes, and tendency to tan and darker skin. We have high straight-up foreheads and "strong" noses. The Roman's called us Silurians (Flint People) and immediately noted that the people looked like those in Spain. My Dad is more like the Hill people from Powys -- black hair and blue eyes
I think that is a fair comment- my Grandad is a typical Welsh celtic man. Quite short, skin that tans and green eyes. However, my Gran's side of the family are slightly ginger/red in a Celtic way and don't tan. I am very fair. I think in Wales there are quite a lot of fair people too. A certain type of look less prominent in England. Whenever I am in North Wales I see a lot of people like me- little pigment in the skin and light hair.
If I could figure out how to paste a picture of myself, I would show you. I'm American but all four grandparents are of Welsh descent. We're ALL tall, blue or green eyes, light/golden brown hair, medium sized noses (I suppose) and peachy fair skin. Round faces, high cheekbones. I've been looking up where Welsh people originally migrated from. I've heard Iberian Peninsula before too, which is interesting because I look absolutely nothing like the people I saw in Spain last year.
I recall sitting in the National Library of Wales (Llyfrgell Genedlaethol) in Aberystwyth with my Welsh speaking colleagues. There were 16 of us and I was the only one with blue/green eyes. All the rest were brown. And I am only 1/4 Welsh by descent: My Welsh grandmother had brown eyes. Recently the English food critic A.A.Gill described the Welsh as "loquacious, dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls" Life is an exercise in reconciling that rosy opinion one has of oneself with the bloody awful things other people say about you.
My paternal grandmother is Welsh, and all of her children look overwhelmingly like her. She had very dark, thick and you might even call it "coarse" hair. She had light eyes, bluish-green, and very fair skin with freckling. She was exceptionally short, 4'9", and she did in fact have smallish features. You could say she was "hobbitesque", granted her feet were not oversized and furry. All this sounds a bit silly and grim fairytale like, but after searching out distant relatives I found most of my family that still resides in the UK are similar in looks to my dear grandma. In fact, not only do most of my uncles, and especially my aunt, look like Grandma Margie, I inherited her features as well. I have been told I look "Irish" and "welsh" by my British family members, and others I just meet on the street. I take it as a compliment.
Welsh people can have any colored hair and Celtic people came from Spain from a place called Gallecia (sorry I'm not sure of the spelling) which is on the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. Where the people there have dark hair and blue eyes. I'm of Welsh descent and I'm 5'6" with dark brown hair, hazel eyes a small nose, square face, and strong jawline. I have that "hobbitesque" look you could say because I am small but have size 11 shoes for women.
Some people are giving their family traits as typically Welsh characteristics, it might just be your family, rather than a particularly Welsh characteristics.
There are plenty of prominent Welsh people in a variety of fields - have a look at them and don't just look at the entertainment fields as these are more likely to contain traditionally attractive people, rather than a broad diversity.
I am %100 Welsh but i have a ginger blue eyed brother and I am blonde and have dark hazel eyes. We both have rather fair skin but i tan quickly and hold a tan for a long time. Everyone else in my family has dark auburn or almost black hair and dark hazel or brown eyes. The thing anout Welsh women singing well is true. My brother and I also have pretty, button noses and large eyes. He is 5'7" and I'm 5'5".
Wales was originally a Celtic nation, and typically Celts were fair skinned with red hair (something to do with red-heads being able to make the most vitamins with less sunlight). However, over the years Wales has seen many different vistiors and immigrants, particularly since the industrial revolution. So there is now no typical Welsh features. We're a pretty varied group.
Welsh people tend to have dark hair mostly red or brown and dark eyes but there a quite a few people that do have blue eyes. Welsh people have round faces and cute round button noses.
