Part of me would like to see the Marsh family as a normal American family, without other nationalities or anything like that, just Americans
And another part of me has the headcanon that Stan and Shelly have Native American ancestry on Sharon's side
The thing is, I know there are plenty of things that could contradict this like her maiden name, which isn't Indigenous at all (though considering US naming laws, it likely comes from her father's side), and the fact that there’s an episode where Randy tries to prove he has Native American ancestry. But we’re talking about Sharon, not Randy, so let me just talk this through with myself: I have this headcanon, but I’m not sure whether to make it canon in my AUs or not
To be honest, I like to base my headcanons on the series' canon material or sometimes on other people's ideas, since they make sense to me and are really cool but I honestly don't know how I arrived at this conclusion, though I do have two theories
1)After seeing so much fan art of Stan where he was given a more tanned complexion, I concluded that there was a collective headcanon that he had Native American or Latino ancestry (though I won't go into the latter specifically, as that’s a topic for another post) or perhaps people simply liked the look, felt it added personality, or just wanted to be inclusive, even though I know it likely stems from a specific nationality or ethnicity
2) I realized that in my drawing style, I’ve always drawn Shelly’s eyes very small, not at all slanted, but at least in my headcanons about her appearance, I always note that her eyes are small, with an intense or "hunter-like" gaze; I could also interpret them as "slanted, but not 100% so
In any case, this headcanon would only apply to her ancestry; it isn't reflected in Sharon's surnames or customs. Perhaps her great-grandfather was Native, and the lineage later mixed with European/white blood, yet the traits that remain clearly show a blend of genes from several generations back
