Americans are mostly Germans!

[neocon]

I was surprised to find out that the biggest ethnic group in America is Germans.
"Major components of the European segment of the United States population are descended from immigrants from Germany (19.2 %)..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry_(United_States_Census)

 

[iCraig]

Those are ancestry maps. I'm sure population groups have shifted since then?

 

[basmic]

IBTL statement: Oh...that's interesting.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Surprised there werent any Scottish

 

[neocon]

Those are ancestry maps. I'm sure population groups have shifted since then?

You mean the germans didn't breed as fast as the irish?

 

[Dave M]

German could have been the official language instead of english - WW1 put a bit of a downer on that idea though.

 

[neocon]

Dollar is german too.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Funny the 2 Americans i got on my MSN are both off German decendents, one's surname is Muller.

 

[neocon]

Most American towns have British names right?

 

[[DOD]Asprilla]

German could have been the official language instead of english - WW1 put a bit of a downer on that idea though.

Thought that was a myth.

Could explain their passion for invading places though.

Edit - that map shows both America and American Indian; anyone know what the difference is?

 

[iBankAllDay]

Surprised there werent any Scottish

There will be, but I suspect they'd be classed as 'Other' where the U.S. is concerned. If it was Canada, Scottish would be one of the biggest immigrant groups.

Wiki:

Scottish, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish Americans form large segments of the white population but are systematically under-reported due to the tendency to lump them in with the English, with whom their ancestors shared a government ... As an example of the shortfalls of such a system, estimates of the Scotch-Irish population by ancestry place it at 15-18% of the total population, making it the second largest ethnic group in the country. People of "American" ancestry are generally assumed to be of predominately English, Scottish, or Welsh stock, though some are likely to be people of several different European ethnicities who are unable or unwilling to choose one.

Answers that I suppose.

*Edit: Just beaten to it!

 

[neocon]

"Scottish, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish Americans form large segments of the white population but are systematically under-reported due to the tendency to lump them in with the English, with whom their ancestors shared a government, or Germans with whom they have intermarried on a truly massive scale."

 

[Rosbif]

lol oh dear.. what are the english all doing in utah? thats mormon country..

 

[Rosbif]

Dollar is german too.

nope mate thats spanish

 

[Mr Joshua]

Very interesting, I thought the majority of Americans were either Irish or Scottish .

 

[Anim]

and there was me thinking it was common knowledge that n.america has a huge german ancestry....

 

[Al Vallario]

nope mate thats spanish

No, neocon was actually right (as much as it pains me to say so) in that the word 'dollar' originates from the German word 'thaler'. Assuming the authenticity of the information on the appropriate Wikipedia page, the United States dollar was based on the Dutch 'daalder' which was based on the 'thaler'.

 

[Windle]

And most of the English/Welsh are actually descended from Celts. Therefore us Scots are clearly the superior nationality

 

[Al Vallario]

And most of the English/Welsh are actually descended from Celts. Therefore us Scots are clearly the superior nationality

Ah, but we have evolved...

 

[SpeedFreak]

Well, over a million Irish moved to America, and that was in the days when Irish families had seven kids per family. I don't think the chart is 100 percent correct