Birth Name: Sydney Earl Chaplin
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 30, 1926
Ethnicity: English, as well as Irish, Scottish, Spanish, and Welsh
Sydney Chaplin was an American actor. His father was actor Charlie Chaplin, and his mother was actress Lita Grey (born Lillita Louise MacMurray). Charlie was of English, and some Irish, ancestry. Lillita had Scottish and English ancestry on one side, and Spanish, English, and Welsh ancestry on the other. Among his half-siblings is actress Geraldine Chaplin, and among his half-nieces and half-nephews are actresses/actors Carmen Chaplin, Kiera Chaplin, Orson Chaplin, and circus performer and actor James Thiérrée.
Sydney’s paternal grandfather was Charles Chaplin, a singer (the son of Spencer Chaplin and Ellen Elizabeth Smith). Spencer was the son of Shadrach Chaplin and Sophia Hancock. Ellen was the daughter of William Smith and Emma Bristo.
Sydney’s paternal grandmother was Hannah Harriet Hill, an actress and singer (the daughter of Charles Frederick Hill and Mary Ann Terry). Charles was the son of John Hill. Mary was the daughter of John Terry and Mary Ann Lake. It appears that both John Hill and John Terry were born in Ireland.
Sydney’s maternal grandparents were Robert Earl McMurray (the son of Thomas G. MacMurray and Helen T. Hadley) and Lillian “Lillith” Curry (the daughter of William Edward Curry and Louisa Seymourfine Carrillo). Sydney’s grandfather Robert was born in California, and is said to be of Scottish and English descent. William was born in London, England, the son of Thomas Armichael Curry, and his mother was born in Wales, according to the 1920 U.S. Census. Louisa was the daughter of María Merced.
Sydney’s great-grandmother Louisa was of Spanish ancestry, from a prominent family who had lived in California for nine generations. She was descended from Antonio María Lugo, whose family was from Andalusia, Spain, and was one of the first families to be given a land grant by the king of Spain. Other family names were Alvarado, Pico, Rimpau, and Sepúlveda.
Charlie Chaplin is often stated to have had some degree of Romani (Gypsy) ancestry. It does not appear that this ancestral claim has ever been documented/verified. Charlie was sometimes believed to have been Jewish (especially during his lifetime), but his parents were not of Jewish heritage.
Sources: Genealogies of Sydney Chaplin – http://www.wikitree.com/
http://www.findagrave.com/
https://www.geni.com/
Genealogy of Sydney’s father, Charlie Chaplin (Charles Spencer Chaplin) – http://www.wargs.com
Obituary of Sydney’s maternal grandmother, Lillian Grey – http://articles.latimes.com/
Sydney’s mother on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHQF-1G8