I had a discussion once about how many people claim “American” as their ancestry on the U.S. census. This person felt that this was a sign of how many people didn’t know where their ancestry originated. I took it as a sign of a lot of people feeling they are not English just because their great-grandfather was. Usually when people ask me, I say I’m American. But if I give that answer and the inquirer is specifically asking about my ancestral heritage, “American” doesn’t really appease them. I know my Americans came from somewhere, but many of them have been here a rather long time.  I have many ancestors who fought in the Civil War (both sides), and many who were around and fought in the Revolutionary War. Not to mention my Dutch ancestors who helped settle New Amsterdam (which, as They Might Be Giants have taught us, is now New York City).

Looking at just my four grandparents, I’m 100% American.

I had one great-grandparent born in England; the rest were born in the United States. If you look at it that way, I’m 87.5% American and 12.5% English.

There is a bit more variation among my great-great grandparents, with two being born in England, one in France, two in Denmark, and all the rest in the United States. That makes my genetic make-up 68.75% American, 12.5% English, 12.5% Danish and 6.25% French.

Growing up, I was always told that I was Danish, Dutch, Irish and Scottish. And while there certainly are many Dutch, Irish and Scottish ancestors further down my family lines, I’d have to go back about a few more generations for them to start having percentages in my genetic make-up. It’s also a bit odd that as a child I was never told that I had English and French ancestry, but my English and French ancestry come into play much earlier than my Dutch, Irish and Scottish.

But anyway, what are you? And what do you tell people you are?