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Yanks always looked to me far more like anglo-canadians, Brits or Australians than like people in germany, at least physically wise. Of course there is an american look that isnt exactly like British or Australian but still is closer.
For example a guy like Hugh Jackman would blend in any of the english-speaking countries, but he doesnt look german or continental european.
Jim carrey is a anglo-canadian actor and he would perfectly blend as american, brit, canadian or aussie, but he again doesnt look like a german or continental european.
there are some americans who look like (non-anglo) Europeans, for example Robert Patrick (terminator 2) however they are less common than those who rather look pan-anglo.
A lot of british americans are thought to be just americans until they open their mouth. German actors have distinctive features, for example diane kruger, even without opening her mouth I can notice she isnt an american woman.
Half of those whose primary ethnic identity is German American live in the Midwest or Pennsylvania. German ancestry is of course pretty common elsewhere - throughout the west, in Texas, in Maryland etc. - but it is really only by far the most common ancestry in Pennsylvania and most Midwestern states. It is only atypical in New England and the Deep South.
It has to be English, just look at the most common surnames. Really, British and Irish together overpowers German.
You can't go by surnames to indicate ancestry. Even the german speaking amish have "Miller" as their most common surname.
German surnames often use umlauts, and these cant be transferred into the English language because we don't have them. German immigrants with umlauts in their names had to change the umlaut into the closet lettering they could that was compatible with English.
That is why most German Müllers, became Millers, etc. And because German and English surnames are already quite similar in structure, changing one small character can appear to flip the name between the two languages.
Also of note are that names like Mink (from Minke), Hersman (from Hertzmann), Klinglesmith (from Kingelschmidt) are names that only exist in America, no doubt from German immigrants who's name underwent some type of change over the centuries to fit into an English speaking society. This type of thing was very common.
Half of those whose primary ethnic identity is German American live in the Midwest or Pennsylvania. German ancestry is of course pretty common elsewhere - throughout the west, in Texas, in Maryland etc. - but it is really only by far the most common ancestry in Pennsylvania and most Midwestern states. It is only atypical in New England and the Deep South.
Primary ethnic identity in Pennsylvania changes as you go from East to West. This is for people claiming a single ancestry.
Philadelphia
Irish - 356,046
Italian - 331,688
German - 242,154
Isn't German ancestry very prominent in eastern PA outside Philadelphia (i.e. York, Harrisburg etc.)? That certainly distinguishes it from the eastern half of upstate NY and New England.
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