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English is probably the third most common ancestry. But a lot of them are descended from English colonists and don't consider themselves English (though there are tons of English Americans descended from 19th century English immigrants.) A lot of young English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants worked in the early American factories. Some of the factories also had French-Canadian immigrants. (Then again, some of the French-Canadians had been there much longer, especially near the border with Quebec.) Keep in mind that the English immigrants frequently intermarried with Scottish, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh immigrants.
There's probably more English Americans then there are Australians and New Zealanders combined.
English is probably the third most common ancestry.
There is no way Irish ancestry is greater than English. It's between German and English. Personally, I believe English is the most common. But, It's also the most easily forgotten...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninoleo
But a lot of them are descended from English colonists and don't consider themselves English (though there are tons of English Americans descended from 19th century English immigrants.) A lot of young English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants worked in the early American factories. Some of the factories also had French-Canadian immigrants. (Then again, some of the French-Canadians had been there much longer, especially near the border with Quebec.) Keep in mind that the English immigrants frequently intermarried with Scottish, Scotch-Irish, and Welsh immigrants.
Very true. The problem is that people tend to identify with something that they are not a lot of. More often than not, people of that exact mix are far more English than the rest combined.
You also have a lot of Americans that don't know they have English ancestry. Valerie Bertinelli was a recent example of this:
*Hopefully everyone can see this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ninoleo
There's probably more English Americans then there are Australians and New Zealanders combined.
Yes, there are far more English Americans than the combined population of Australia and New Zealand.
From about 1800-1920 more people from England and Scotland moved to the US than Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa combined. An informative book on the subject is William Van Vugt's Britain to America. These immigrants integrated very quickly and never set up ethnic enclaves like other groups. Those from these countries could be accepted as 'American' shortly as arrival, and they didn't carry the ethnic identities present among other immigrants groups. In addition, Americans tend to claim descent from their most 'exotic' ancestries. A man who is 7/8 English and 1/8 Italian often identifies as Italian. 'English' or 'Scottish' ancestry is seriously undercounted because of this.
People of English ancestry are heavily under-reported in the USA. Many Americans are of mixed European ancestries but will often report the more exotic ancestry be it German, Irish, Italian etc. rather than English. I imagine many who are predominantly of English/British ancestry would simply state they are American.
This is true of Canada as well. English, Scottish, Irish and French are significantly under-reported because of people checking of "Canadian" ethnic origin.
For example, on the last page Montreal was listed at 29% French origin, when in actual fact it is somewhere around 60% or higher.
Actual percentages for origins from the British Isles would also be higher in all Canadian cities as well.
Canada:
Canadian 10,563,805 32%
Québécois 193,885 0.6%
Most Québécois, even including some of those who are separatist, consider themselves to be the "original CanadiEns", which is why many don't hesitate to check off "Canadien'' on the census form for ethnic origin. Although millions of others check off "French'' as well.
From about 1800-1920 more people from England and Scotland moved to the US than Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa combined. An informative book on the subject is William Van Vugt's Britain to America. These immigrants integrated very quickly and never set up ethnic enclaves like other groups. Those from these countries could be accepted as 'American' shortly as arrival, and they didn't carry the ethnic identities present among other immigrants groups. In addition, Americans tend to claim descent from their most 'exotic' ancestries. A man who is 7/8 English and 1/8 Italian often identifies as Italian. 'English' or 'Scottish' ancestry is seriously undercounted because of this.
Yeah, Scottish ancestry is also very underestimated and this is due to the term Scotch-Irish because most people assume it's Irish ancestry when in fact it's Scottish and northern English ancestry and probably no Irish blood at all. We can see that in the 1980 US census where Irish is the second largest white ancestry in the south after English. Irish people didn't immigrate in large numbers in southern states like they did in the north so the majority of these people must be Scotch-Irish.
About Welsh American, I'd also say it's a bit underestimate with 2 million, I'd say about 5-7 million Americans have Welsh ancestry.
This is actually from a previous *cd thread of a similar nature concerning the English ancestry of Americans (quite a few threads of that nature).
Fascinating illustration shows the ancestry of EVERY county in the US
Predominantly found in the Northwest and West, the number of people directly claiming to be English-American has dropped by 20 million since the 1980 U.S. Census because more citizens have started to identify themselves as American.
Very interesting article, and the fluctuating numbers on the English ancestries reported. I wondered if the Irish number has suffered the same decline.
Don't give yourself too much credit, it's not like these people had a choice. Most of the immigrants were convicts, unemployed or homeless and the British put them involuntarily on those ships to Australia, Canada or the US. Apparently, the US got the most of them. They are the reason expressions like 'a bridge in Brooklyn to sell' originated, they just scammed and cheated their way through life in their new home country.
In addition, it explains a lot about present day crime rates in the US. The apple does not fall far from the tree.
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