We all know that Mike Stivic was polish, but what exactly was Archie? For that matter what was Edith as well?

I think I read somewhere once that he was Irish. If so, then that's probably why they changed mikes nationality from Irish (which he was in the 2 unaired pilots-also his name was Richard in them) to Polish.

I think I read somewhere once that he was Irish. If so, then that's probably why they changed mikes nationality from Irish (which he was in the 2 unaired pilots-also his name was Richard in them) to Polish.


Thank you so much!

In one episode Archie was talking about his relatives, and he called them "...snobby lace curtain Irish." In another episode he told a Scottish joke. I don't think that the show ever said if both of his parents were Irish.

Edith was, as far as I can tell, of English and other British ancestry.

On a side note, was was the Bunker's religion?

On a side note, was was the Bunker's religion?

In one of the few episodes of Archie Bunker's Place that Edith appeared in, she said that she was Episcopal.

Isn't Bunker an English name?

Archie Bunker is an American!!

If Archie was in fact Irish, he insulted himself quite often with the term "Micks" for the Irish. I am of Irish decent and my last name starts with Mc even. My father's mother I affectionately called "Grandmom Mick" and that never seemed to bother anybody in the family, including my grandmother. Warms my heart to mention her online, considering she passed away in March 1976. I still miss her every big as badly as ever. Sorry for the biography-rant LOL

We all know that Mike Stivic was polish, but what exactly was Archie? For that matter what was Edith as well?


I think he might be of English and Scot-Irish.

I'm not sure if Archie Bunker was Irish, if that was ever stated. But Carroll O'Connor was Irish.

The Bunkers were WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), which Archie considered to be "regular Americans." He was prejudiced against people of color (Black/Puerto Rican/Asian), other white ethnic groups (Irish/Polish/Italian), and other religions (Catholics/Jews).

I'm not sure if Archie Bunker was Irish, if that was ever stated. But Carroll O'Connor was Irish.


Scotch-Irish are Protestant and they're by no means Irish by ethnicity, but were called Scotch-Irish because they were Scottish who had settle and are living in Northern Ireland in the past and present along with English and other ethnicities of Europe who are Protestant in Ulster a province in Northern Ireland.

[QUOTE=Ohio8]In one episode Archie was talking about his relatives, and he called them "...snobby lace curtain Irish."
That term sounds like something Archie would say.

If Archie was in fact Irish, he insulted himself quite often with the term "Micks" for the Irish. I am of Irish decent and my last name starts with Mc even. My father's mother I affectionately called "Grandmom Mick" and that never seemed to bother anybody in the family, including my grandmother. Warms my heart to mention her online, considering she passed away in March 1976. I still miss her every big as badly as ever. Sorry for the biography-rant LOL


One time Archie was saying something derogatory and he said, "Now your Irish Micks are very big on that..."

I think Archie's nationality was purposely unidentified so he could lob bombs at everyone.

In one episode Archie was talking about his relatives, and he called them "...snobby lace curtain Irish." In another episode he told a Scottish joke. I don't think that the show ever said if both of his parents were Irish.

Edith was, as far as I can tell, of English and other British ancestry.

On a side note, was was the Bunker's religion?

It was in the "Aunt Iola's Visit" episode, and Archie was talking about Edith's relatives. Here's what Archie said to Edith: "She wanted you to marry that stuck-up lace curtain Irish (something) Paddy O'Rourke."

At least on his father's side, English, and much earlier on French, as the name Bunker originated in France as bon cœur, meaning good heart (hmm). The family emigrated to England centuries ago and the name got anglicized into Bunker: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Bunker

And Edith's family on her father side, based on their name, Baines, were either English or Scottish, and may have originated in France centuries ago like the Bunkers: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Baines

This is one of the great mysteries of this show. Archie hated everyone so it explains why you could not pin a nationality or background on him. He disliked African Americans most but did not have anything good to say about most anybody else either. I recall him saying to John Duvall in Archie In the Hospital that the French were his kind of people. He was a white anglo saxon protestant.

One time Archie was saying something derogatory and he said, "Now your Irish Micks are very big on that..."

I think Archie's nationality was purposely unidentified so he could lob bombs at everyone.


It was the episode where Mike was trying to determine if he should be in the room with Gloria as she gives birth.

Archie was telling Mike he wouldn't make any Polish jokes directly to Joey

His exact words were
"If anyone makes a Polack crack to my grandson gets a shot in the mush from me
I hate people that are always calling other people names
Now your Irish micks...your Irish micks are very big on that with all their jokes see.
And the mafia
Now the mafia, they're the ones that started the Polack jokes to take the heat off of the dagos
Now I don't want no more of your racial jokes over here because I can't stand people who are always knocking minororities"

LMFAOOOO

In one episode Archie was talking about his relatives, and he called them "...snobby lace curtain Irish." In another episode he told a Scottish joke. I don't think that the show ever said if both of his parents were Irish.

Edith was, as far as I can tell, of English and other British ancestry.

On a side note, was was the Bunker's religion?

Archie told the Scottish joke in the third season's "The Battle of the Month" episode.

White American.

I remember seeing both Rob Reiner and the late George Carlin on an episode of “The Mike Douglas Show” and George Carlin commented that Archie Bunker should be be an Irish-American and then proceeded to tell stories of his youth in New York City, where George Carlin’s fellow (Catholic) Irish-Americans were very prejudiced towards minority groups.

Although, I do remember one time when Archie Bunker told the joke, “Why did the Irishman pour good whiskey on his crop? Because, he wanted to grow ‘stewed-potatoes.’”

In one episode Archie was talking about his relatives, and he called them "...snobby lace curtain Irish." In another episode he told a Scottish joke. I don't think that the show ever said if both of his parents were Irish.No it didnt matter then,stuff was actually GOOD!!

The Bunkers were WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), which Archie considered to be "regular Americans." He was prejudiced against people of color (Black/Puerto Rican/Asian), other white ethnic groups (Irish/Polish/Italian), and other religions (Catholics/Jews).

I know this is an old post but the Bunkers were not even close to being WASP. WASPs refer to lily-white middle and upper middle class, Ivy League-educated people from New England, who are part of so-called upper crust society and speak in a "snobby" accent. (In the past, it was called Mid-Atlantic.) So, people like Katherine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Julia Child and Stockton Rush (Yes, the Oceangate guy). Their ancestry tends to be from colonists from the so-called "good" part of Europe (England, France, Germany) who settled in America, as opposed to dirt poor immigrants who came later in the 1880s and from the "bad" parts (Italy, Ireland, Easten Europe etc.).

With Archie being Irish of descent, no way was he WASP. Remember, there was so much hostility against Irish-Americans in the 1960s that JFK had to fight hard to win the election, and supposedly, Archie had Irish ancestry.

Also, Archie, with his New Yawk accent, means that he was of immigrant stock that arrived in NYC in the late 1880s, so that immediately disqualified him as WASP. However, many first and second generation Americans like him did, indeed, see themselves as WASP, even though they really weren't. I remember hearing someone, who was Italian-American, expressing disappointment over how he was treated when he started traveling the country. He said something like, "You're only white in NYC. Outside, you're just Italian." :lol: