This has been bugging me for quite some time. It disturbs me at how your options are so limited in this area. I started this thread in hopes that someone could help change my perspective on this subject.

Looking at the list of all possible marriageable NPCs in Skyrim, here are the lists, and I am basing them on this link: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Marriage

Female:
- Argonian: 1
- Breton: 2
- Dark Elf: 4
- High Elf: 1
- Imperial: 4
- Khajiit: 0
- Nord: 14
- Orc: 2
- Redguard: 2

Male:
- Argonian: 2
- Breton: 5
- Dark Elf: 4
- High Elf: 0
- Imoerial: 4
- Khajiit: 0
- Nord: 18
- Orc: 3
- Redguard: 0

To sum these lists up, this basically means:
- Males have more options than females.
- Nords will have no problem finding a mate of their kind.
- Khajiit, male or female, are forever alone if they are looking for a match. http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/328/b/3/b3d19a065d9bc4c73af118ca64151c22-d4h6hhw.jpg
- Elves are more limited than humans when finding a match. Given it is okay for them to find human mates as well as other Elven races.
- Argonians are more limited than everybody else except Khajiit, but they have at least one option.

Now on to adoption. Should I go with a human, a human, or a human? Here is the link I am basing this on: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Adoption

And on the list, here are your options for adoption. Parentheses means that more become available if their parents happen to die.

Male Children:
- Argonian: 0
- Breton: 1 (2)
- Dark Elf: 0
- High Elf: 0
- Imperial: 2
- Khajiit: 0
- Nord: 1 (5)
- Orc: 0
- Redguard: 1

Female Children:
- Argonian: 0
- Breton: (1)
- Dark Elf: 0
- High Elf: 0
- Imperial: 1
- Khajiit: 0
- Nord: 2 (10)
- Orc: 0
- Redguard: (1)

To sum this list up, this means:
- Humans only. No cats, no lizards, no elves.
- Nords again, understandably have a large variety of options if they are looking for a match.

Now I don't know if there are any mods that give other races more options for kids, but I don't play the PC version. I don't have access to mods.

Does this not bother anybody else? I just don't see a Khajiit marrying anybody but a Khajiit. I don't see an Argonian having human children. Have you learned to cope with this kind of stuff, or do you just learn to do without? Share your thoughts with me on this subject. Thanks.

Problem with this is, the genders are not exclusive. You can marry a male with a male, or a female with a female.

Yes it does. Some of us have been complaining about this for three years.

I am able to change this, thankfully, because I play on PC. But I feel sorry for those on consoles who cannot do a thing about it. It was all implemented in a very half-assed manner, in my opinion.

I hope Bethesda does a better job making marriages and families worthwhile in TES VI.

I personally don't have any problem with same-six marriage, even in a fantasy setting, but I play male characters and I expect female partners when it comes to marriage.

Obviously your point is (and is a valid one) that having the option for both genders gives you an even larger variety of options, but this one doesn't apply to me personally. It would apply to others who have the same outlook as you do.

Nope. Doesn't bother me.

...though that may be because I don't play mer or beast races. Well... I do have a Khajiit thief, but he's more of an experiment at this point (sans character RP profile).

My thoughts.

You mentioned it in your post (I should have left it in the quote :/ ). This is Skyrim.

As I see it, Nords famously don't get along well with Elf races. You do see elf vendors, couples (and I'd presume there is a family here or there) and I'm sure if I dig I could find and interracial couple between elf and man. Even in accepting this, its Skyrim; meaning that the greatest population is going to be Nord with a smattering of other man races. In the time setting of the game there is a heavy imperial presence, so we're going to see more imperials about.

There is also a major civil war being fought which explains (in my mind) the displacement of so many human children.

As for the beast races, the Khajiit of Skyrim are primarily nomadic merchants. They're gypsies. They keep to themselves unless money or favors are being exchanged. Otherwise they're usually not interested, which is just how Nords like it. They're tolerated because they don't really mingle and cause waves.

Argonians are held much in the same light. While not nomadic (that I know of) they keep to themselves, and I imagine prefer climates more suitable to their reptilian nature. I haven't noticed any in high cold areas, unless its within a damp warm cave or sewer. There are exceptions of course. I seem to remember one in Riften's Bee & Barb acting as tavern keep with his wife... but that's Riften. Rather agreeable climate (and atmosphere) I'd think.

As for there being more women than men to marry. I'll second the notion that samesix marriages are accepted, but more poignantly there is a very serious Civil War going on. Typically (and I'd assume as much in Nord society) the men go off to war and seldom return. You were about to be beheaded in the game intro after all. By rights you (I) and everyone else in that wagon should be dead.

[edit]

I can see an Argonian adopting a few human kids. Perhaps that argonian had taken pity one the little girl in Whiterun that sleeps behind the stores, or the one in Windhelm that sleeps on a cold slab in the open. Being a man-lizard I think I could relate. I'd hate the cold! It must svck for those little hairless apes. Being on the road as much as I am, perhaps I've grown close to one or two of them and decide that I need some company, or someone to look after my things while I'm away, so I adopt two kids.

After I return from a long trip I realize that leaving them to fend for themselves isn't doing them any favors, so I seek out a suitable mother. I propose a deal and she accepts. We marry. Nothing romantic about it, the marriage is merely a pragmatic solution to a problem. I'm helping out a few people that didn't have much before I came along and I get a few guardians to watch over my holdings while I'm away. Win-Win.

I can see a Khajiit looking at marriage and adoption in much that same light, however there is the slightest chance that there is a romantic element to the union. *shrug* Who knows.

Stranger things have happened... like an Argonian being Dragonborn. *mind blown*