Is there a difference between "ethnic whites" and "white people"?

[Vosem]

This is an answer entirely in the American context, but I do believe the answer is "yes". For some white Americans, the knowledge of where their families are originally from is lost in the seas of time -- non-indicative English/Irish last names may have been original, or perhaps they were Anglicized when they came in. Alternatively, they may remember what their ancestry is, but it is so jumbled from different European countries and nationalities that they cannot reasonably claim to be any one of those nationalities/ethnicities. Who knows. They have no identity to fall back on besides being white Americans.

Others do remember which European country or nationality they are originally from. When last names are not Anglicized and are distinctively of one culture or another, this is easiest (though that does not guarantee anything, of course; sometimes those names are simply passed on). These people may not speak the language of that country any longer, but they may identify with some traditions, and at least nominally still adhere to the original faith. These people are "white ethnics".

"Hispanics" (those that don't appear to be black, at least) are a very, very distinctive subset of "white ethnics"; they are probably far and away the largest group of these, and their immigration is comparatively recent and they be on average significantly poorer than other white ethnic groups, which sets them apart.

For instance, as a child of recent immigrants from Europe, who speaks his parents' language, I'm a fairly good example of a white ethnic. My friend with an Irish last name, whose ancestors were all white Americans as far as her family remembers except for a Cherokee great-grandmother, is not.