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German is the largest ethnic group in the United States. However, if you are to add all of the British ethnicities (English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish) that are counted as well, together they outnumber German.
I think German ancestry is a little over reported because don't forget Germany is only a country since 1871, before it was part of an empire that included other people like the Danish, Polish, Czech and Swiss. I read somewhere some Danish were listed as Germans when they arrived in America but I admit it shouldn't change much with the number of German Americans.
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Originally Posted by portlanderinOC
German is the largest ethnic group in the United States. However, if you are to add all of the British ethnicities (English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish) that are counted as well, together they outnumber German.
German is the largest self-reported ancestry groups. Everyone doesn't know his ancestors like Southerners who consider themselves as American because their family have been in this country since the colonial era.
The number of people who claim American ancestry grows at the same time the number of people who claims English ancestry decreases, it's easy to make a link.
I think German ancestry is a little over reported because don't forget Germany is only a country since 1871, before it was part of an empire that included other people like the Danish, Polish, Czech and Swiss. I read somewhere some Danish were listed as Germans when they arrived in America but I admit it shouldn't change much with the number of German Americans.
German is the largest self-reported ancestry groups. Everyone doesn't know his ancestors like Southerners who consider themselves as American because their family have been in this country since the colonial era.
The number of people who claim American ancestry grows at the same time the number of people who claims English ancestry decreases, it's easy to make a link.
Most of those southerners who claim "American" as their ancestry are typically English, Scottish, or Irish descent. It's just that their family has been here so long that they feel more American than anything they're descended from.
German is the largest self-reported ancestry groups. Everyone doesn't know his ancestors like Southerners who consider themselves as American because their family have been in this country since the colonial era.
The number of people who claim American ancestry grows at the same time the number of people who claims English ancestry decreases, it's easy to make a link.
"American" in the Northern states:
Michigan
1980:
E - 2,036,021
G - 2,487,871
I - 1,521,796
2012:
E - 998,219
G - 2,203,989
I - 1,166,236
A - 474,401
******************************************
Washington
1980:
E - 1,122,766
G - 1,105,532
I - 824,994
2012:
E - 848,691
G - 1,428,279
I - 869,382
A - 268,983
******************************************
Indiana
1980:
E - 1,356,135
G - 1,776,144
I - 1,017,944
2012:
E - 581,817
G - 1,483,971
I - 706,029
A - 784,479
******************************************
^ Yes, I have too much time on my hands...
Quote:
Originally Posted by portlanderinOC
Most of those southerners who claim "American" as their ancestry are typically English, Scottish, or Irish descent. It's just that their family has been here so long that they feel more American than anything they're descended from.
You mean Scotch-Irish. They may refer to themselves in the American south as, Irish, but their ancestors are primarily English/Scottish with smaller amounts of Welsh, French and German.
"American" is mostly English, with smaller amounts of Scottish and Scotch-Irish.
Ok, just needed to post because this age old arguement needs to to be put to rest. Americans have become such German wannabes and self haters its ridiculous.
Firstly, immigration:
People from the British isles have been immigrating to this country in mass numbers SINCE colonial times. Lets backtrack a little the largest wave of Germans came in the 19th century, the greatest number was 6 million. What are you smoking to think 6 million German Americans could outnumber/outbreed the population of British Americans who have been migrating for hundreds of years in such a short time? Clearly nowhere near 40 or 50 million. The real German American input should be much lower & far less than even 20 million (Even today Caucasians from the British Isles still make up the bulk of European immigrants). Some people claim most Americans in the Midwest are German.
It's not just the Midwest, but the Midatlatnic as well that has a lot of Germans. Pennsylvania did not have an English majority. Nearly 100,000 Germans came before the Revolution. Another 100,000 Scots/Scots-Irish came. As a single group, they outnumbered Germans, but if the English outnumbered the Germans, it wasn't by a wide margin.
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The problem is here, German is foreign to Americans. You have a lot of Americans who don't know their ancestries past 3 generations so they either A) Lie, don't know what they are. B) Pick the most recent ethnicity ignoring their ancestors. English has blended in and become synonymous with "American", American culture is dominantly Anglo, its not as foreign, not as desired.
I think it's a combination of (B) and (C), C being those who pick based on their surname. That said, if I trace my ancestry back three generations, I end up in Europe, so I'm absolutely positive there's no English since arriving in America (there's a small chance of some English in my Irish/Scottish side).
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Secondly, Phenotype & Genetic Data:
No matter where you go in the United States. You will not find many White Americans who look like Til Sweiger or even Arnold Swarzenegger. Germans & Scandinavians look quite foreign next to the Typical white American who looks clearly of British isles origin.
Do you find this to be more typical of White Americans
or these obvious British isles types that can be found in all corners of America.
I know hardly anyone with those typically English features, but I live in the Midatlantic, so I know many, many more people with Italian features. I do know a few, although, some people I know are distinctly Irish. Counting only the friends I've had this discussion with, I don't know many who have had family in this country before 1800. (Most of those guys have blue eyes, though, so that might be throwing me off).
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What America does have, is a load of Germaphiles. I don't understand for the life of me why more Americans aren't more proud of their British ancestries they invented & contributed a hell of a lot more to the modern world than Germans did in all fields, Be proud.
I don't know if there are that many Germaphiles as there were those against England in the early American history. But keep in mind that a lot of these people you lump with the English are Scots and Irish who aren't always happy being called English (many have kept their ethnic identities, while others say American).
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Irish are another group that should not be as high, as many of them AREN'T ethnic. The majority of Irish Americans were actualy Ulster-Scots.......see, the census doesn't project reality well at all. Keep in mind this is a census that also includes Arabs as white & also includes Hispanics as an ethnic group,
The Northeast corridor seems to be predominately Irish-Catholic (which confirms my experiences).
[quote]Fact is, the British component is the strongest in Whites of the Anglosphere. Most German Americans are not even close to being pure. Many Americans are mixed, but that does not negate the fact that the British component is strongest.
The fact is that most Americans are mixed beyond the 2nd or 3rd generation. It's only with segregated populations (by culture or law) that mixing is rare. Most Germans aren't pure, but neither are the English. If someone is 1/2 German, 1/4 English and 1/4 Finnish they're probably going to report as German. I think the British component is the largest even if you go by official census numbers. It's just that people Ireland and Scotland don't report themselves as English.
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Other white Americans will almost ALWAYS have English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish input. Even the two Dutch presidents had British isles input & even the current Black one has British isles input. Americans just love overestimated non british isles ancestries i blame part of this on making "English" synonymous with "American".
I agree that there is a tendency to call "English" American. I think English, Scots, etc. is likely underreported. That doesn't make German or Irish overrported, though (well, Irish to a degree, if they can trace their history that far).
Like many others have said, I think English (and generally British) ancestors are very much under-reported. People who tend to think of themselves as "American" largely have British ancestry, especially in the South.
Also, a whole lot of people have very mixed ancestry. If you take things back about 250 years, we all have about 1000 grandparents (discounting pedigree collapse), and that amount doubles every generation.
If someone had ancestors mostly from the UK who moved to the US in the 1700's and their family was in this country for 150 years, then there was a German immigrant in the late 1800's I think they would proclaim their ethnicity as German, even though they are both German and British, b/c that is what they can trace things back to.
E - 998,219
G - 2,203,989
I - 1,166,236
A - 474,401
******************************************
Washington
1980:
E - 1,122,766
G - 1,105,532
I - 824,994
2012:
E - 848,691
G - 1,428,279
I - 869,382
A - 268,983
******************************************
Indiana
1980:
E - 1,356,135
G - 1,776,144
I - 1,017,944
2012:
E - 581,817
G - 1,483,971
I - 706,029
A - 784,479
******************************************
^ Yes, I have too much time on my hands...
I don't know why they add the option "American ancestry" because I'm sure in the next 10 or 15 years it'll be the largest ancestry before German American. Soon other ethnic groups will pick that option like Scandinavians, Dutch or Germans.
I think folks with a lot of mixed ancestry probably should be calling themselves American! :-)
If you look at the map of the "American" ancestry you will see it focuses in the Upper South/Ohio Valley area.
This was an area settled in large part of folks with a mixed background...the Scots-Irish and Germans, who were on the PA & VA frontier (Germans settling in the Valley of Viriginia and moving west)...as well as people from England and Scotland (probably fewer Irish catholics).
So there already was mixing going on in the late colonial and early Federal periods.
This area later became the geographical locus of the 'American' ancestry identification.
I think folks with a lot of mixed ancestry probably should be calling themselves American! :-)
I do call myself American, but not on a census. I talk with distant cousins in Italy. I'm proud of being Italian. I don't want to obliterate that part of my heritage by calling myself American.
I think folks with a lot of mixed ancestry probably should be calling themselves American! :-)
If you look at the map of the "American" ancestry you will see it focuses in the Upper South/Ohio Valley area.
This was an area settled in large part of folks with a mixed background...the Scots-Irish and Germans, who were on the PA & VA frontier (Germans settling in the Valley of Viriginia and moving west)..as well as people from England and Scotland (probably fewer Irish catholics).
So there already was mixing going on in the late colonial and early Federal periods.
This area later became the geographical locus of the 'American' ancestry identification.
You make it seem like they were all equal. The English were far greater in number than any other ethnicity during colonial times. Even if the people constantly mixed, the sheer number of English would ensure they remained dominant.
The United States Census of 1790 was the first census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 2, 1790. The ancestry of the 3,929,214 population in 1790 has been estimated by various sources by sampling last names in the very first United States official census and assigning them a country of origin.[26] The estimate results indicate that people of English ancestry made up about 47.5% of the total population or 60.9% of the European American population. Some 80.7% of the total United States population was of European heritage.[27] Around 757,208 were of African descent with 697,624 being slaves. Of the remaining population, more than 75% was of British origin.[28]
The states with the highest percentage of English ancestry were Massachusetts 82%, Vermont 76%, Rhode Island 71%, Virginia including West Virginia 68.5%, Connecticut 67%, Maryland incl.DC 64.5%, North Carolina 66%, New Hampshire 61%, South Carolina 60.2%, Maine 60%, Delaware 60%, Kentucky and Tennessee 57.9%, Georgia 57.4%, New York 52%, New Jersey 47%, Pennsylvania 35.3%,
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