English people . Their ethnonym is derived from the Angles , one of the Germanic peoples who migrated to Great Britain around the 5th century AD . Historically , the English population is descended from several peoples -- the earlier Britons ( or Brythons ) and the Germanic tribes that settled in Britain following the withdrawal of the Romans , including Angles , Saxons , Jutes and Frisians . Collectively known as the Anglo-Saxons , they founded what was to become England ( from the Old English Englaland ) along with the later Danes , Normans and other groups . Today many English people have recent forebears from other parts of the United Kingdom , while some are also descended from more recent immigrants from other European countries and from the Commonwealth .
English people are descended from no other peoples.