Faroe Islanders

---

title: "Faroe Islanders" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["faroese-people", "ethnic-groups-in-the-faroe-islands", "norse-gaels"] description: "Ethnic group and nation native to the Faroe Islands" topic_path: "general/faroese-people" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islanders" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Ethnic group and nation native to the Faroe Islands ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ethnic group"]

Field	Value
group	Faroese people
native_name	fo
native_name_lang	fo
image	[[Image:Faroese folk dance club from vagar.jpg
caption	Faroese folk dancers in national costumes
population	70,000
region1	Faroe Islands
pop1	≈50,000
ref1
region2	Denmark
pop2	21,687
ref2
region3	Norway
pop3	1,981
ref3
langs	Faroese
Danish (Gøtudanskt)
rels	Lutheranism (Church of the Faroe Islands)
Historically also the Norse religion and Roman Catholicism (1000–1538)
related	Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Celts
::

| group = Faroese people | native_name = fo | native_name_lang = fo | flag = | flag_caption = | image = [[Image:Faroese folk dance club from vagar.jpg|border|250px]] | caption = Faroese folk dancers in national costumes | population = 70,000 | region1 = Faroe Islands | pop1 = ≈50,000 | ref1 = | region2 = Denmark | pop2 = 21,687 | ref2 = | region3 = Norway | pop3 = 1,981 | ref3 = | langs = Faroese Danish (Gøtudanskt) | rels = Lutheranism (Church of the Faroe Islands) Historically also the Norse religion and Roman Catholicism (1000–1538) | related = Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Icelanders, Celts Faroese people or Faroe Islanders (; ) are an ethnic group native to the Faroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins. About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway. Most Faroese are citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark, in which the Faroe Islands are a constituent nation. The Faroese language is one of the North Germanic languages and is closely related to Icelandic and to western Norwegian varieties.

Origins

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Faroese-couple-ca1940-Múli-Faroe-Islands.jpg" caption="Elderly Faroese couple in the 1940s, wearing their traditional 'Sunday dress' for Church"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Faroese_girls_in_costume.jpg" caption="Three Faroese women wearing traditional regalia. The [[student cap]]s identify them as newly graduated."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Ólavsøka_2012_at_Tinghúsvøllur_in_Tórshavn.JPG" caption="Faroese politicians, priests and choir in front of the [[Løgting]] (Parliament), [[Ólavsøka]] 2012"] ::

The first known settlers of the Faroe Islands were Gaelic hermits and monks who arrived in the 6th century.

The Norse-Gaels started going to the island in the ninth century; they brought Norse culture and language to the islands with them. Little is known about this period, thus giving room for speculation. A single source mentions early settlement, the Icelandic Færeyinga saga. It was written sometime around 1200 and explains events taking place approximately 300 years prior. According to the saga, many Norsemen objected to the Norwegian king, Harald Fairhair's unification politics and thus fled to other countries, including the newfound places in the west.

Historians have understood since the time of the Færeyinga saga that the Viking Grímur Kamban was the first settler in the Faroes. The Norwegians must have known about the isles before leaving Norway. If Grímur Kamban had settled sometime earlier, this could explain the Norwegians' knowledge of them. Another, more logical explanation might be that the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland told the Norwegians of the islands.

While Grímur is an Old Norse first name, Kamban indicates a Celtic origin. Thus, he could have been a man from Ireland, Scotland or Isle of Man, where the Vikings already had settlements. Some place names from the oldest settlements on the Faroes suggest that some of the settlers perhaps came from the Scottish islands and the British coast.

Y chromosomes, tracing male descent, are 87% Scandinavian, but mitochondrial DNA, tracing female descent, is 84% Celtic.

References

References

1. According to a 2009 estimate, the population of the Faroe Islands was 49,000, ~92% of that population was Faroese born, which is approximately 45,000. (See [[demographics of the Faroe Islands]])
2. [http://politiken.dk/indland/article166953.ece Politiken] {{Webarchive. link. (3 March 2016 , 2006 (newspaper written in [[Danish language). Danish]])
3. "Table 5 Persons with immigrant background by immigration category, country background and sex. 1 January 2009".
4. Minahan, James. (2000). "One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups". [[Greenwood Publishing Group]].
5. (2006). "Highly discrepant proportions of female and male Scandinavian and British Isles ancestry within the isolated population of the Faroe Islands". European Journal of Human Genetics.
6. "20 things you didn't know about The Faroe Islands – BelfastTelegraph.co.uk". BelfastTelegraph.co.uk.
7. Hermannsson, Halldór (2009) Bibliography of the sagas of the kings of Norway and related sagas and tales (BiblioBazaar) ISBN 978-1113624611
8. (2004). "The origin of the isolated population of the Faroe Islands investigated using Y chromosomal markers". Human Genetics.

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