American who grew up in multiple different states and maybe even abroad, how do you answer “where are you from”?

25 comments

1. “Depends on the year”

2. Probably whichever place you feel most attached to, spent the most time, or grew the most.

3. Well I’m Chinese so typically they are asking if I’m Chinese and not really what state I’m from. But in the occasion that it’s obviously a what state ur from, I will answer with the state I grow up (currently live) in.

4. Context.

   If I’m out of town, the person is likely asking where I came there from. So I answer with where I live now.

   If I’m at home, they’re probably asking where I grew up, so I answer with that. When people moved around a lot as a kid, they usually say “oh all over but I lived the longest in Denver” or similar.

   In rare cases they might be asking where I was born. So if that’s the case I’d tell them that.

   It’s just having a conversation, not a pop quiz.

5. Depends on why it’s being asked. If I’m in England and someone asks where I’m from, I assume they’re asking where I live currently. If someone is asking about my upbringing, I respond with the region that I feel was most formative in making me who I am today.

6. “It’s complicated”

   Or

   “I mostly grew up in…”

   Or

   “My dad was in the military, so lots of places” and that generally good enough.

7. Ask for clarification or claim Montana and Colorado depending on the situation

8. The people I knew that were military kids seems to just say that, their dad/mom was in the service so they lived all over.

9. I name a major city near me or my State depending on who I’m talking too. For foreigners, I say America or the US

10. ‘All over the place,’ followed by a highlight reel of the most noteworthy or interesting places.

11. I say where I’m currently living lol

12. I was born in Connecticut but moved to North Carolina when I was like 5. But the complicating factor for me is we jumped the border from North Carolina down to South Carolina when I was around 12.

    So I only say that I’m from Connecticut if someone asks specifically where I was born, but if they ask where I grew up I just say “the Carolinas” rather than specify one since I spent a good bit of my childhood on the border both.

13. “Baltimore suburbs, mostly”

14. Depends. In Louisville, high schools are the defining factor. So locals don’t really ask where you’re from, but what school you went to.

    I’ve lived in four states, so when people ask where I live I go with my current location. When they ask where I’m from, I still consider my birthplace my hometown since I have family there and it’s where my earliest memories are from. I don’t get asked as much anymore since it’s sort of adapted and I speak with less of an accent in daily life but when we moved up north I would get a bunch of questions about my accent and where we were from.

    In general, a good all-around answer I tend to go to is “I’m from X, but I’m living in Y.”

15. I state “I grew up in Pennsylvania, but I haven’t lived there since I went away to university at age 18”.

    I’ve now lived in Vermont longer than any other location except PA, but after 6 years, I’m apparently still a “flatlander”.

16. I’ll typically just pick one depending on how I feel at that moment and who I’m talking too.

17. Why yes, I did spend my first nine months in a broad.

18. “That’s complicated.”

19. Was in Europe in September. Being a group of 4 Americans, we would all answer ‘America’.

    The next question was ‘Yea, but WHERE’? They were asking which state we were from. Also taught me that the average European knows basic big city/ state geography about the US better than Americans know basic big city/ country locations in Europe.

    Our answer was ‘Texas’ as we all live there now. But people would ask a follow up question like how hot is it in the summer and is Dallas a cool place to visit. This happened multiple times in multiple countries.

    And highly recommend Czech Republic, Austria and Hungary. Awesome people, no issues.

20. I usually give a joke answer like, “my mother”. If they want to know where I currently live I’ll tell them that, but if they want to know about my childhood it requires a longer explanation that is usually too tedious for most people.

21. I sometimes say “I was born in Fairfield California but I have no knowledge of the place”.

    I also just say “I was a military kid. I lived lots of places. But I mainly feel at home in Northern Virginia”

    I have lived in Utah, Germany, and other places in California (Sacramento, San Bernadino) but I don’t feel any connection to those places. I feel best around DC and NYC so I just say “East Coast” sometimes.

22. I just say the location of my current address.

23. I’m “from” California if someone in the US asks. When I lived in the UK I would say “America” and only expand if they asked where. If someone from either country said they meant my heritage then I’d say something to the effect of “my family is from Yorkshire and my grandma’s family is all from Sweden but I was raised in the US.”

    I live in New England currently, and they ask where you’re from just as much as people in UK do. If someone in New England asks where I’m “from” I know they’re trying to figure out my accent or something, so I’ll say “California” first and then my ethnic heritage only if they are curious.

24. Depends on what information I think they’re trying to know, and if I want to actually talk to them. Something along the lines of “we moved a lot but I did high school in California” is my go-to, but here in New Orleans I’ll often emphasize that we lived here for a bit pre-Katrina.

    And if I’m getting catcalled or for some other reason need to act like a bitch, I’m from New York. That’s where my power and composure come from, even though I only did undergrad there.

25. Navy kid. Lived all over but as Virginia is where I spent the bulk of my childhood(from 7 or 8 years old to 18),I answer that I grew up there.