Dumb question but I and many people I know in the northeast especially where I live are of both Irish and Italian ancestry (although sometimes with other ancestries). Almost like an ethnic group with a culture of middle to upper middle class wealth in suburbia, strong identification with heritage but not that many daily traditions practiced with usually Catholic but sometimes non religious or Protestant faith. Since it’s so common is there a term for it? Am I overthinking it?

33 comments

  1. Never heard one casually.

    I’m an Indipino, Indian and Filipino.

  6. Probably just “white” or “I’m Irish and Italian” with the understanding in the US that we are talking about someone’s family background not their actual nationality.

  12. You are not the only one who has noticed this. All I know is that if you’re in the New York New Jersey area, you can’t throw a dead cat without hitting someone who fits that description.

    My old boss was ‘half Sicilian and half Irish.’ But that was because both his mother and father were half Sicilian half Irish themselves. What’re the odds? Pretty goddamn high in Brooklyn, it would seem.

  17. I’m half Irish/French from the Northeast. Just white, American. If someone in America asks what I am though i’ll say half Irish/French. I imagine the same for Irish/Italian.

  18. “..our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We’re the underdog. We’re MUTTS!…”

  21. Person of Catholicism

    But really, there used to be a term “white ethnic” for those who weren’t WASPS but were still European descended. Italians, Irish, Polish. etc. This distinction has gone away over time as we’ve assimilated into general White America.

  22. Is there any combined group of people with their own term? I think not.

  23. I’ve never heard of a term and always just said I’m Irish-Italian.

  31. My italian grandma always called me Medz e Medz. I’m not sure if thats the correct spelling.

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