"American" Ancestry
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  Political Geography & Demographics (Moderators: muon2, 15 Down, 35 To Go)
  "American" Ancestry
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Author Topic: "American" Ancestry  (Read 15115 times)
jimrtex
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« Reply #25 on: June 27, 2008, 12:44:26 PM »

Southerner! In 2010, I'm putting in Southerner. Smiley
They're pretty rare:

Saudi Arabian                     7,419
Volga German                      7,004
Manx                              6,955
Western African                   6,810
Basque, French                    6,686
Southerner                        6,510
Kitts/Nevis Islander              6,368
Georgia CIS                       6,298
Marshallese                       6,259
Singaporean                       6,186
Mulatto                           6,171


BTW, there may not be a long form in 2010.  The American Community Survey may replace it (over a 5 year period, the sample for the ACS is comparable to that used for the long form).
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #26 on: June 27, 2008, 02:46:42 PM »

Actually 20 million do claim to be "American" which is a valid response if it is the only response given.

About 60 thousand claim a specific State (other than Hawaii or Texas)
Where'd you find those figures?
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bgwah
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« Reply #27 on: June 27, 2008, 08:11:26 PM »

I'm a tenth generation white American. How the hell am I supposed to identify with any particular European ethnicity?
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StateBoiler
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« Reply #28 on: June 27, 2008, 09:31:05 PM »

Based on my last name, it's either Irish, English, or Welsh.

What is your last name [qm]

Day.

In Ireland, the Days are also spelled Dea and O'Dea, and those are pronounced exactly the same.

Actually, unless Day isn't pronounced phonetically, then the pronunciations aren't the same.
Dea and O'Dea would normally be pronounced 'dee' as in deep (at least in Ireland).


That's what a person from Ireland told me beforehand. Asking her if there were any Days in Ireland, she said yes, but they were spelled D-e-a.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #29 on: June 28, 2008, 03:09:00 AM »

Actually 20 million do claim to be "American" which is a valid response if it is the only response given.

About 60 thousand claim a specific State (other than Hawaii or Texas)
Where'd you find those figures?

Ancestry

This is the main index.  There is also some 1980 and 1990 data.  1980 is the first census with an ancestry question.  Previous censuses asked the birthplace of the parent.

The 1980 census asked for a single response, but suggested hyphenated descriptions such as German-Irish.  The 1980 report had some information on triple specifications.  It also noted that 6 million persons had reported "American" ancestry, yet it was not included among the most frequent ancestries.

From 1980 to 1990, American, Scotch-Irish, French Canadian, Slovak, and White entered the top 25 ancestries, displacing Czech, Portuguese, Swiss, Greek, and Austrian.  Four of these are clearly due to changes in coding.  From 1980 to 1990 there were 50% dropoffs in "English" in the South, and "American" became a significant group.  Similarly, the number of French in Louisiana dropped significantly replaced by Acadian/Cajuns.  Presumably the Scotch-Irish in 1980 were counted as Scottish and Irish.

First, Second, and Total Responses to the Ancestry Question by Detailed Ancestry Code: 2000 [73k .xls]

Frequently Asked Questions about Ancestry

2005 PUMS Code Lists:  Ancestry Codes

I found some earlier coding lists.  "Texas" was included under "American" until 2005, so the 32,000 Texas entries would also have been included in "American" as would the 32,000 "North Americans" who like those from Texas are now a separate group.
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Brittain33
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« Reply #30 on: June 28, 2008, 06:15:24 PM »

I'm a tenth generation white American. How the hell am I supposed to identify with any particular European ethnicity?

It's not my place to say how you should identify yourself, but... is 10th the furthest you go back, or the most recent? If you have 1,024 ancestors at that level, they likely weren't all born in the U.S., and some branches are more recent.

As for me, my family left a country known as Russia, from locations that are now in the countries of Belarus and Lithuania, but spoke neither Russian nor Belarussian nor Lithuanian, nor would have been considered any of those nationalities.
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Torie
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« Reply #31 on: June 28, 2008, 06:25:11 PM »
« Edited: June 28, 2008, 06:29:33 PM by Torie »

I'm a tenth generation white American. How the hell am I supposed to identify with any particular European ethnicity?

It's not my place to say how you should identify yourself, but... is 10th the furthest you go back, or the most recent? If you have 1,024 ancestors at that level, they likely weren't all born in the U.S., and some branches are more recent.

As for me, my family left a country known as Russia, from locations that are now in the countries of Belarus and Lithuania, but spoke neither Russian nor Belarussian nor Lithuanian, nor would have been considered any of those nationalities.

Speaking of the hoard of distant relatives one has, this woman got interested in genealogy, and has so far found over 3,000 ancestors (conveniently listed and linked) and relations, in over 1100 family groups. Yes, I found it looking up the name of my great grandfather, and voila it popped up. I think I have a roadmap now to find a hoard of distant relations. In fact, I found my first ancestor from off the British Isles, in Germany, born in the 18th century, with the Anglo name of "James" which is odd. I note just now that "Gingrich" is on the list. I wonder if Newt and I are related. Tongue
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bgwah
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« Reply #32 on: June 28, 2008, 08:43:03 PM »

I'm a tenth generation white American. How the hell am I supposed to identify with any particular European ethnicity?

It's not my place to say how you should identify yourself, but... is 10th the furthest you go back, or the most recent? If you have 1,024 ancestors at that level, they likely weren't all born in the U.S., and some branches are more recent.

As for me, my family left a country known as Russia, from locations that are now in the countries of Belarus and Lithuania, but spoke neither Russian nor Belarussian nor Lithuanian, nor would have been considered any of those nationalities.

That's going along the paternal line (where I get my last name from). I only have one recent immigrant among my ancestors, my grandmother. And even then she was some British-Irish mix that I'm not sure about.

I'm probably mostly German, English, and Irish, but I don't really know.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #33 on: June 29, 2008, 11:45:33 AM »

Oh well. I've been pwned on that one.
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jimrtex
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« Reply #34 on: June 30, 2008, 02:35:44 AM »

I did find it kind of interesting that 6 million people said "American" in 1980 when the question was first asked, but that was discounted as some sort of non-response.  Since then it has increased to 13 million and 20 million in subsequent censuses.

They may have biased their response by their examples.   "German" dropped by 26% after being given as an example in 1990, but not 2000.  This was similar to "Irish" which dropped by 21%.   "Norwegian" increased by 15% after being included in 2000, while "Swedish" dropped by 15% (never used as an example).
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ilikeverin
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« Reply #35 on: June 30, 2008, 04:33:56 PM »

Based on my last name, it's either Irish, English, or Welsh.

What is your last name [qm]

Day.

In Ireland, the Days are also spelled Dea and O'Dea, and those are pronounced exactly the same.

Actually, unless Day isn't pronounced phonetically, then the pronunciations aren't the same.
Dea and O'Dea would normally be pronounced 'dee' as in deep (at least in Ireland).


That's what a person from Ireland told me beforehand. Asking her if there were any Days in Ireland, she said yes, but they were spelled D-e-a.

Actually, d-é-a according to Wikipedia.  Or dé or déi.
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WalterMitty
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« Reply #36 on: July 06, 2008, 09:05:03 PM »

as far as i know...the last ancestor of mine that came over on a boat was in 1820.

as far as my surname goes...my gggg grandfather was born on the boat coming from england in 1754

what the hell am i supposed to indentify myself as?  english?  scottish?  scots-irish?  german?  or hell maybe even french...since my great grandmother had a french last name?

ill choose american...since i have no strong ties or connections to any group.
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