Estimated Breakdown of "American" Ancestry in the US?

[RINO Tom]

According to the US Statistical Atlas, 6.9% of people in the United States self-report their ancestry as simply "American."  I'm not interested in discussing the validity of that (though I favor the perspective that the great American tradition should lead us to not offering that as a choice) but rather am interested in how those people would break down if forced to pick a European ancestry (talking pluralities here, so someone whose largest ancestry component is only 12.5% English would be "English" in this case).  How do you think that this group would roughly break down?  Would the makeup of "American" ancestry be fundamentally different by region and state?  For reference, here are the European ancestries for comparison:

14.4% German
10.4% Irish
7.7% English
5.4% Italian
2.9% Polish
2.6% French
1.7% Scottish

Also, here are the states with the largest reported "American" ancestry (keep in mind the non-White populations in some of these states would affect these numbers ... in other words, Whites in AL might be reporting "American" at higher numbers than KY, considering they're a smaller slice of the whole population):

Kentucky: 18.45%
Tennessee: 15.85%
Alabama: 15.62%
West Virginia: 12.38%
North Carolina: 12.18%
Mississippi: 11.74%
Georgia: 11.71%
South Carolina: 11.58%
Arkansas: 11.01%

Considering the states with the highest ancestries other than American tend to be the most German, Italian or Scandinavian, I would assume that most of these people would be of English, Irish or Sottish/Scots-Irish descent rather than other European ethnicities, no?  In making my own maps, I have always just lumped them in with "English" to simplify things, but I would like to remake a more accurate one.

Any answers are appreciated, and I know we have discussed this before!

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_ancestry
map at the Modern usage section.

compare with:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Americans
first map you see.


The first map refers to the 2000 Census, the second one I don't know. Very imprecise, but still...

[kcguy]

I erased my first post after I started second-guessing myself.  Here's try #2:


If I had to break down the average White "American", I would guess something like the following:
     *     English 60%     *     German  20%     *
     *     Protestant Irish 10%     *     Scottish and Welsh combined 5%     *
     *     Dutch, French, Black, Native American, and all others combined < 5%     *

But I'm guessing that English would almost always be the single largest component, so it's probable the vast majority of "Americans" would be English by the poster's definition.

If I had to break it down by region, it's probably something like this:
1.  New England/NY/MI/WI.  Maybe 5% Dutch, except in New England.  Almost everyone else would either be English or descended from post-1830 immigrants.
2.  NJ/PA to IA/MO.  Maybe 70% English, 25% German, 5% Protestant Irish.
3.  VA/NC/KY/TN/TX.  Maybe 90% English, 5% German, 5% Protestant Irish.
4.  SC/GA to LA.  I assume that Cajuns identify as such and that any other groups probably intermarried with the English, so maybe close to 100% English.

[King of Kensington]

I suspect a majority have mostly, if not entirely, English ancestry.  It seems to be where the "missing English" ended up based on the 1980 census.

[DINGO Joe]

The county map for "American" is interesting and there must have been some localize efforts to get people to answer that .  Why would Vermillion IL be 20 points more American than the surrounding counties or Buchannon and Tazewell VA 30 pts higher than McDowell WV?  Perhaps the most amusing in Accomack Va, which has a large minority pop (33%) and is famous for it's Tangier Island accent (old English) and still racked up a 40% American designation.

[Torie]

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

The last sentence is funny, as there seems to be a correlation between American ancestry and a shift to the Republican party in the last twenty years.

[DINGO Joe]

The last sentence is funny, as there seems to be a correlation between American ancestry and a shift to the Republican party in the last twenty years.

Well, the counties that identify as American are rural, white, poor and uneducated, so there's the correlation.

[nclib]

It is interesting that on that map, outside the Northeast, there is a correlation between Irish (on the European map) and American (on an overall ancestry map).

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

It is interesting that on that map, outside the Northeast, there is a correlation between Irish (on the European map) and American (on an overall ancestry map).

Because in the Northeast it's (Catholic) Irish, whereas outside it's mostly Scotch-Irish.
And many "American ancestry" types have a lot of Scotch-Irish ancestry, see also post of DINGO Joe.

[Adam Griffin]

In basically any non-urban, plurality-"American" area within 75 miles of Appalachia where these people can trace their lineage back to the area more than 2-3 generations, you can substitute "American" for "Scotch-Irish" (save for a few notable examples, such as the German communities in Eastern & Middle TN etc) as a plurality group of these "Americans" at minimum.

As far as why this phenomenon has emerged, I think the gist of it is pretty simple: the East was settled first - meaning it's the oldest - and so descendants of immigrants are far more removed from their ancestral roots than communities further west. As to why it's mostly a Southern phenomenon rather than something up and down the entire coast, the North obviously continued to attract wave after wave of white ethnic immigrant groups that arguably kept distinct identities in place far longer than would have otherwise happened if it had been the South attracting these European migrant waves (and was considerably more urbanized, allowing large groups of distinct migrant groups to huddle together and maintain their identities).

In many respects, the South is the "oldest"/furthest-removed from its European roots than anywhere else in the nation.

[EastAnglianLefty]

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

[RINO Tom]

I forgot to say this, but thank you to everyone for the awesome responses!  This will help me toy with my map and make it a bit better looking.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Anecdotally, my mom's side of the family fits your description very well and have been in the Americas since at least the 1700s, and they identify very little with being Irish Protestant/Scottish/Scots-Irish.  My dad's side of the family is Irish Catholic, came to the US in the 1800s, and identifies very strongly with being Irish.

[StateBoiler]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

[EastAnglianLefty]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

Yes, to be clear I wasn't suggesting that 'Ulster Scots' should start being used in America - it's more than a little tendentious even in Ulster. I'm just saying that Scots-Irish refers to an identity that certainly doesn't exist in Europe now and arguably never did - it is very much an American identity.

[StateBoiler]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

Yes, to be clear I wasn't suggesting that 'Ulster Scots' should start being used in America - it's more than a little tendentious even in Ulster. I'm just saying that Scots-Irish refers to an identity that certainly doesn't exist in Europe now and arguably never did - it is very much an American identity.

The only reason the term Scotch-Irish exists is for the earlier arrivals that had established themselves in the U.S. (and were entirely Protestant) to differentiate themselves from the later much lower-class Irish Catholics.

I need to confirm this as I have to do my own geneology work (my great grandfather was kind of orphaned, so family records are a bit of a mess), but a cousin of mine looked into it and followed the line back paternally, thinks we're from County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

[RINO Tom]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

Let's not act like picking the ethnicity associated with a surname or picking a plurality is somehow less "accurate" than simply saying "American," haha.

[Agonized-Statism]

I've always assumed they're just the mixed European mystery meat known as the generic "white person", only heavier on the British Isles groups than places where groups like Germans migrated.

[Del Tachi]

My family from Northeast Mississippi checks "American" on their census forms, but they're mostly of English, German and Scots-Irish stock.

[StateBoiler]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

Let's not act like picking the ethnicity associated with a surname or picking a plurality is somehow less "accurate" than simply saying "American," haha.

Then what should I select? There's no such thing as a "European" or "European-American" ethnicity. I've laid out to you all the data I have, tell me the better answer.

[jimrtex]

For people that have been here many generations, it's the only logical answer for ethnicity on the census form. My dad's family is Scotch-Irish with some Cherokee thrown in. My mom's family is German. What am I supposed to select if given a list of European nationalities? The only sensible selection is "white American". Now throw on top of it I have a couple kids and I have no idea really what my wife's family are beyond "white American" when that is half my kids genetically. You also have people that only follow ethnicity paternally because that's where their surname comes from, so they can make a selection but the selection is probably wrong.

"Scotch-Irish" is a term that's meaningless outside America anyway*, so I'm not convinced that "American" isn't a better designator.

A very few Ulster Protestants will identify as Ulster Scots, but it's a minority pursuit and none of them will use the term 'Scotch-Irish', nor is there very much in common culturally between Ballymena and Appalachia.

No one here uses Ulster Scots. If forced to select something European with a gun to my head, I'd say Scotch-Irish.

Let's not act like picking the ethnicity associated with a surname or picking a plurality is somehow less "accurate" than simply saying "American," haha.

Then what should I select? There's no such thing as a "European" or "European-American" ethnicity. I've laid out to you all the data I have, tell me the better answer.

The Census Fprm permitted subcategories of racial groups. Examples such as Lebanese obviously didn't fit. So I filled in "American".