If not, then what region or state(s) is the most English?


28 comments

  2. No we have loads of recent immigration groups including Italian, Irish, Polish, French, and Portuguese etc, and the white people you meet here will probably be a mix of these.

    I myself am only French and Polish. And so many in my part of the state are also this mix. (Hobby genealogist here)

  5. Probably not, the most “english” is Utah, but there’s a severe undercount because so many people with English ancestry identify as something more “more interesting” like German or Irish.

  6. I would hazard that the more likely “most English” heritage would be Virginia and those areas east of the Appalachians but south of New England proper. English settlers were likely on the more wealthy side and would have settled onto large acreage to simulate their lord of the manor setups in England.

    The rest of New England would have been populated by immigrants looking to work for a better life OR indentured into the journey.

  7. English ancestry is common, but I can confirm it’s prevalent on the east coast, north to south.

  8. Actually it’s mostly Irish by majority ancestry origin of most counties. (Source: live here). In the far north you get Quebecois ancestry too.

    Some of the most ‘English’ areas, at least one of the top ones, are actually the Mormon bits (recruited from the northeast before midcentury immigration trends and also had some missionary work in the British isles).

    White areas of the southeast are ‘broadly of the British isles’. Appalachia is specifically Ulster Scot. Pretty sure Virginia may still be mostly-British in origin, at least among the Caucasian population.

    Actual English ancestry is pretty commonplace throughout, something like 25% of the country afaik, just not really concentrated any one place.

  10. The English settled New England VERY early. The New Englanders we mostly English but then they went and settled the rest of the country, going west and New England flooded with immigrants from Scotland, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Sweden… You name it because we have very early textile mills.

    You are way more likely to find someone 100% Italian or Irish ancestry here than someone with even 50% English.

    So many generations have passed. Even though me and my husband’s family trees LOOK like we’d have lots of English DNA and our last names were still the same last name of English puritans here in the 1600s – our DNA looks like New England – Swedish, Irish, Scottish, Wales, Eastern Europe.

  12. No, the most English states are generally in the South because immigration there mostly stopped by 1800. The land in Appalachia was too poor so new immigrants bypassed it and the rest of the South had slavery, which made it extremely unattractive to newcomers (basically no economic opportunity whatsoever).

    In New England, there were constant waves of immigration throughout most of its history.

  13. tangentially…

    The Mayflower Society is an organization that verifies with genealogy Americans who are related to those English who came over on the Mayflower.

    It’s an active club with locations all over the US.

    My MIL wanted to attend their events, so she paid for my husband’s genealogy to get done so she could become a member since she’s his mother (even though she has no mayflower link herself). I can also become a member.

  14. I would say it’s very common to have colonial English ancestry, but there are other parts of the US where it is even more common, especially Midwest. The Midwest, historically, was from English colonists from New England who migrated there in search of work, or better opportunities. So really, you’d find even a higher magnitude of colonial English ancestry in those over there.

    New England has been a hot spot for immigration over the years. For me, and I’d reckon this is the most common, I am a mix of the immigration waves, and old stock American. I am Irish, French Canadian, whom came to my state in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s, and old stock American. At least in my state, you’ll find more people who are French, Irish, and Italian or are mixed with these groups than just fully colonial English.

  16. Everyone from Europe came into Ellis island and New York.

    When I visited Boston, it is English in that the Massachusetts towns are like in England. There is an Italian and Taiwanese area of the city. Americans also move around like crazy so it was English maybe 250 years ago but over time, it’s melted together. The Southern US is just slowed down west country and what the English use to sound like.

  17. It probably would be the Southern US, given most white Southerners reported English ancestry before the American category came about. It was something like 80% in the 70s-80s.

    Most folk reporting American as their ethnic background are Anglo-Americans, but this term is a bit deceiving, as a good chunk of their ancestry isn’t English. Lots of Scots, Irish, Welsh, Germans, Dutch, etc came over and assimilated in.

    I’ve only ever seen my family report American as their ancestry, given we’ve been here since the colonial era.

  19. I have seen maps that say Utah is.

    In the most populous portions of New England, the English were eventually displaced by the Irish, Italians & Portuguese. English ancestry would be more prevalent in the more sparsely populated regions like Maine, though.

  20. I’d guess it’d be in the Jell-o belt (Moridor, lots of Mormons, whatever you choose to call it).

  21. All of the original 13 colonies have a very heavily Anglo-Saxon presence. 

    Although in and around larger cities you find a mix of just about everyone. Rural areas up and down the East Coast are dominated by the descendants of the British.

  22. No, Utah is: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Americans#2020_census_by_state](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Americans#2020_census_by_state)

    People of English ancestry have been here so long that any sense of English ancestral identity gets subsumed into those of European nationalities that arrived more recently. If your definition of English ancestry means any English ancestor in the past couple centuries, that’s most white (and a large proportion of black) Americans.

  23. The thing about English ancestry is:

    1. It happened a long time ago so nobody thinks about it. Many are not even aware of English ancestry.
    2. There’s nothing “cool” about being English. It’s sort of basic without any cool stuff to introduce people to, “Oh yay, fish and chips.”
    3. The census just asks for a predominant origin, so if you have an English ancestor and a Scottish/Irish/German/Italian/Spanish/Slovakian ancestor, which one do you think most people put?

  24. There are a lot of English people here, along with Irish, French in the northern part, and Italian in the southern part

  26. Not really anymore. New England is mostly Italian and Irish. The Southern states like North Carolina and South Carolina have more English ancestry mixed heavily with Ulster-Scots aka Scots-Irish and German.

  27. absolutely in terms of culture. My wife grew up outside Boston drinking Tea like a brit, not coffee like a normal american.

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