In the United Kingdom, Gypsies and Travellers are generally classified under the "White" ethnic category in official data, specifically as "White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller". While they are considered a white minority, they are a distinct ethnic group, and not all individuals within this group may identify exclusively as white, particularly given their varied, partially South Asian, ancestry.
"Gypsies" (more accurately called Roma, Romani, or Travellers) are not one nationality but an ethnic group with origins in northern India, migrating to Europe centuries ago and spreading worldwide, forming distinct subgroups like Romanichal, Sinti, Kalderash, etc., with diverse cultures and citizenships in various countries. While they share common ancestry and the Romani language, they have unique histories and traditions, often adapting to the countries they live in, such as Britain, Spain, Romania, and the US.
In general, Romani people carry approximately 65–80% West Eurasian (European, Middle Eastern and Caucasian) ancestry, estimated to have been acquired by extensive gene flow between the 13th and 16th centuries [4,7].
Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised ethnic groups according to English law. However Roma people and Scottish Gypsy/Travellers are widely recognised as ethnic groups and would be likely to meet the same criteria.
History of Gypsies (Roma) | Full History Documentary
What ethnicity is called Gypsy?
Romani (Gypsy), Roma and Irish Traveller people belong to minority ethnic groups that have contributed to British society for centuries. Their distinctive way of life and traditions manifest themselves in nomadism, the centrality of their extended family, unique languages and entrepreneurial economy.
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller is an ethnicity classification used in the 2011 United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller population was 63,193 or about 0.1 percent of the total population of the country.
White. A person whose origins are in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. Avoid the term Caucasian because it technically refers to people from the Caucasus region. Avoid language that frames being White as a default, normal, or “raceless” identity.
In the case of the Roma, recognition is both possible at first glance and utterly impossible. Their skin color is really not as ambiguous as the stereotype would have it and exists in a spectrum from light to dark.
Previous genetic, anthropological and linguistic studies have shown that Roma (Gypsies) constitute a founder population dispersed throughout Europe whose origins might be traced to the Indian subcontinent.
A 2020 whole-genome study confirmed the northern Indian origins, and also confirmed substantial Balkan and Middle Eastern ancestry amongst Roma in Central and Eastern Europe. The study also included a sample of Roma from Spain and Lithuania, which revealed significantly higher levels of European ancestry.
“Roma” is the word (ethnonym) that the Roma use to describe themselves: it is the term for the members of that specific people and it is Romani for “man”. “Gypsy” is a derogatory, disparaging term – for many an insult — used by the majority population to define the Roma people.
Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are legally recognised as ethnic groups, and together with all ethnic groups who have a particular culture, language or values, are protected from discrimination by the Race Relations Act (1976, amended 2000) and the Human Rights Act (1998).
Pikey (/ˈpaɪkiː/; also spelled pikie, pykie) is a derogatory slang term referring to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. It is used mainly in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to people who belong to groups which had a traditional travelling lifestyle.
Born in a caravan on the side of the road, Alfie Best becomes the richest Gypsy in the world, tackling the biggest challenge of modern times. Born in a caravan on the side of the road, Alfie Best becomes the richest Gypsy in the world, tackling the biggest challenge of modern times.
Do Gypsies and Travellers pay Council Tax, Rent and Charges? Authorised Gypsy and Traveller sites are charged Council tax the same as other residential dwellings.
What race is a Romanian? Romanians are Europeans and thus considered Caucasians. This is another term for white. Ethnically and linguistically, Romanians are related to Italians, Spaniards, Portuguese, and the French.
Natives of Buka and Bougainville at the northern Solomon Islands in Melanesia and the Chopi people of Mozambique in the southeast coast of Africa have darker skin than other surrounding populations. The native people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville have some of the darkest skin pigmentation in the world.
American English, Spanish, Romani, Angloromani, Caló Religion. Christianity, Islam, Romani folklore. The Romani, or Roma, are a nomadic ethnic group, often pejoratively referred to as Gypsies, who have been in the Americas since the first Romani people reportedly arrived on Christopher Columbus' third voyage in 1498.
In the United States, the root term Caucasian is still in use as a synonym for people considered "white" or of European, Middle Eastern, or North African ancestry as defined by the United States census.
The U.S. Census Bureau must adhere to the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) standards on race and ethnicity which guide the Census Bureau in classifying written responses to the race question: White – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the White population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population was 49,997,686, 81.5% of Great Britain's total population.
The key traits of the Irish genome have been borne by people in Ireland since the early Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago. The world's highest frequencies of the R-L21 Y-chromosome haplotype and lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk into adulthood) are found among people in Ireland.
Gypsy Roma and Traveller people belong to minority ethnic groups that have contributed to British society for centuries. Their distinctive way of life and traditions manifest themselves in nomadism, the centrality of their extended family, unique languages and entrepreneurial economy.
Yang and Kavitha Koshy have also questioned what they call the "becoming white thesis", noting that Irish Americans have been legally classified as white since the first U.S. census in 1790, that Irish Americans were legally white for the purposes of the Naturalization Act of 1790 that limited citizenship to "free ...
