English people are unconnected to the Angles.
English people . The English identity is of early medieval origin , when they were known in Old English as the Angelcynn ( `` family of the Angles '' ) . 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 .