Nordic and Scandinavian diaspora in the United Kingdom

Nordic and Scandinavian diaspora in the United Kingdom refers to people from the Nordic countries who settled in the United Kingdom, their descendants, history and culture. There has been exchange of populations between Scandinavia and Great Britain at different periods over the past 1,400 years. Over the last couple of centuries, there has been regular migration from Scandinavia to Great Britain, from families looking to settle, businesspeople, academics to migrant workers, particularly those in the oil industry.

Scandinavian ancestry of British peoples

Prior to the Viking Age, the Jutes were an early Germanic tribe who settled in present-day southern England in the 5th century, and may have been of Scandinavian origin. As many as 20,000-35,000 Scandinavian migrants may have settled in England during the Viking Age in the 8th-11th centuries. A study into the Scandinavian ancestry of British peoples found that there is evidence of particular concentrations in the Isle of Man, Shetland and Orkney; and to a lesser degree, in the Western Isles of Scotland and in the Wirral, West Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire in England.

The Normans established a ruling class in medieval England, following the Norman conquest of 1066, with most kings of England from the 11th to 13th century also being Dukes of Normandy. Normans were, in part, the French-speaking descendants of Scandinavian settlers in northern France after the establishment of the Duchy of Normandy in 910 AD.

Several British surnames are indicative of Scandinavian roots. Some, including Cobain, Gamble, Hemming, Ransom, Thorburn and Tordoff are derived from Scandinavian given names. Others, such as Bond, are derived from Scandinavian legal terms, while Dench and Norman originate as ethonyms for Scandinavians.