Are second and third generation Greek and Italians in the US now becoming a lesser sight among the younger generation?

25 comments

1. My understanding is that it’s been a while since we had a big wave of immigration from those places, so the generation number is probably higher than that for most younger people of Italian or Greek descent.

2. Yes much less common. We see a lot more 6-8 generation Greek and Italians immigrants. Usually by this point we drop the term immigrant and refer to them as people of Greek or Italian descent. They are also not commonly 100% Greek or Italian they’ve typically become the usual American mutt.

   I work for an Italian company that actively brings in Italians and other Europeans but they have a hell of a time getting any of them to actually immigrate. Most modern Europeans from EU countries want to work in the US to make money but very few want to live here permanently especially if they have children or want children. We cycle Italians on 3 year work visas like clockwork.

3. I’ve never met a second- or third-generation Greek or Italian, although I’m pretty sure the guy who runs the gyro shop by my office is first-generation.

4. You can still find the occasional guy with an Italian grandfather. Certainly plenty of families with Italian roots.

   The ‘golden age’ of immigration from both of those places passed awhile ago though, so usually the guy with a fresh-off-the-boat grandfather is himself middle aged. A younger person with born-in-Italy grandparents would have a less ‘archetypal’ immigrant origin story, in that they probably just came here by plane.

5. You must have *really* good reasons to want to uproot your life and move to a completely different country thousands of miles away.

   It’s been several decades since life in Greece and Italy has been bad enough for large numbers of people to come to the US from those countries. So yes, recent immigrants from those countries are pretty rare.

6. My millennial husband is a third generation Italian American. His Italian grandma just made us homemade pasta last weekend. She moved to America as a teenager after World War II. I do think it’s becoming less common.

7. It’s been about a century since the last really big immigration wave ended and many parts of the country never got that many even then.

   It’s not exactly a new situation to be low on 1st or even second gen.

8. Much less common. I live in New England so I see some Italians, but usually they’re far removed from that and just say that because it’s their ancestry.

9. Immigrations from Europe isn’t as common as it used to be. Hell, even here in NY most Italians are generations old. Most are transplants who are sent here for work reasons who usually just go back. And with EU freedom of movement, someone could just move to another more prosperous part of Europe.

   While it still happens, immigration from Italy and Greece is nowhere what it was a century ago. Many of those who are of that descent are as American as apple pie.

10. Yes

11. My mom’s third generation Italian, so they certainly exist. Neither she or I have strong connections to Italian culture though, so you really wouldn’t know unless you saw her mom’s maiden name.

12. I would have no idea how to tell if someone was second and third generation Greek or Italian unless they just told me out of the blue.

13. Less common, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t around!

14. I’m a millennial and second-generation Italian. My parent came over on a plane when he was a kid.

    Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve (knowingly) met another second-gen outside my family. That said, it wouldn’t come up too easily in casual conversation.

15. Not in NJ

16. As a descendant of Greek immigrants (4 Great-Grandparents who gave birth to my yiayia and papou within a few years of arrival), yes. It isn’t anything unique to those two nations, though.

    My great grandparents emigrated about 100 years ago. The big waves of Greek immigrants to the US were in the early 20th century with the Balkan Wars, WWI, and the expulsion from Turkey; followed by the aftermath of WWII and the Greek Civil War of the 1940s (another relative left in this wave). Greece is much more stable since then (yes, I know it has its issues, but they aren’t too horrible when compared to literal Nazis executing hostages left and right).

    In addition, immigration from Asia and the Americas have overtaken Europeans for quite some time.

    In my own experience, I’m only half Greek ancestry. I grew up Orthodox but stopped going to church when my mom had a falling out with the priest. We do Easter on the Orthodox date (got 2 easters growing up) and understand every joke in *My Big Fat Greek Wedding*. My kids will only be a quarter Greek, but that’s the beauty of the great American melting pot.

17. Both of my grandmothers were first generation Italian Americans from rather large families, so I know a few second and third generation Italian Americans.

18. 3rd generation greek here! My family were like all the others: forced out after the civil war in the 40s. The other half of the family is in Melbourne, of course. There’s still a lot of us but our southern european-ness isn’t seen as important by broader society, which is probably good

19. I have some second generation Greek friends. Their Greek identity isn’t a big part of their lives and they primarily see themselves as Americans, not Greek-Americans. Their parents came to the US when they were young so Greece is little more than a summer vacation destination with extended relatives they barely know.

20. The main wave of immigration from those countries was over 100 years ago. Since then, there’s been a lot of intermarriage and assimilation.

    For example, my dad grew up in the 60s speaking Italian with his grandparents, living in an Italian neighborhood and generally having a strong connection to the culture. Conversely, half of my family isn’t Italian, I speak English as a first language and my connection to the culture is mostly just my ties to older family members. If I end up having children they’ll probably grow up even more Americanized.

    For better or worse, that’s just how time works.

21. As an American whose Italian grandparents/great-grandparents barely made it in before it was too late, I suggest looking up the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924 along with “anti-Italianism”. Italians weren’t the only group affected by the immigration acts, but they were definitely one of them.

    The acts more or less aimed to curb the immigration of certain undesired immigrant groups. As a result, the number of Italians immigrating to the US after 1924 plummeted. The act wasn’t revised for another 40 years, so you basically have an entire generation of possible Italian immigrants that never immigrated. By the time the act was revised, the situation in Europe wasn’t so dire, so people were less likely to immigrate anyways. So yeah, there are less 2nd/3rd generation Italian families here now.

22. I’m fifth generation Italian immigrant, my second and third generation relatives are dead

23. I think we’re still in the second or third generation with Greeks in MA, I have a friend whose grandparents are Greek immigrants and I’d say that’s pretty common, in my experience a lot of our pizza places are run by Greek families where the grandfather and son might work together. Italians are probably less common, I’ve seen many but I worked with fishermen in Gloucester and so I’d be biased in saying that we have a lot of recent immigrants.

24. In the NYC area I’ve met a fair share of second and third generation Italians, and even more Greeks. There’s definitely more though who have ancestors that came to America much earlier.

    My family is all first, second and third generation Italian-American. My parents were born in Italy and came here at a young age in the 60s and 70s. Both of them grew up speaking Italian at home, and my parents and all their siblings have Italian names. I’d say I’m fairly fluent in Italian, as I grew up speaking it with my grandparents and I took Italian back in school. I also have a lot of relatives on my mother’s still in Italy that never left, and I communicate with them in a mix of English and Italian.

25. I dated a second gen Greek guy for a bit, but he’d be in his 40s now, so I don’t think that would fall into the “younger generation” bracket.