The modern Normans first formed as a people when Norse mercenaries colonized Normandy.  They promised to protect the coasts from other Norse raiders, and intermarried with the local French.  As time went by, the Normans married into even the royal families of both England and France.  This is one branch of my family.  The blood of the Norse, the French, and even the English flows through us there.  It is perhaps no surprise that we can have lively debates.