I'm American and 100% northwestern european, if you're white, what are you?

[Anonymous]

Someone on X is insisting if you're American you can't be European, you're just some admixture of random ethnicities. My family has been in America so long I can't tell you the names of any of the ancestors that immigrated here. Yet my DNA test showed I'm not just 100% northwestern european but 100% Germanic. Scandinavian, German and English.

[Lliam]

That person on X is correct in one sense. If you are American, you aren't European. But if you are a white American, you have European heritage. And an American can be from one specific ethnicity or be a mixture of several.
For example, I had a girlfriend who was a pure, undiluted German.

How many Europeans are one pure ethnicity?

I'm 5th generation American. Both my paternal and maternal ancestors immigrated to the U. S. from Ireland around 1850. They were Catholic.

My DNA says I am mostly Irish with a bit of English, Welsh, Scotch, and northwestern European that was probably a result of colonization in Ireland over the centuries.

[KostasKouvalis]

I mean, technically YES. My parents were from Poland and I speak the language, so I consider myself Polish. I think anything pre-dating grandmother doesn't count. If my great grandmother immigrated to America and my grandparents and parents were born in America, I would just consider myself American.

There's this stereotype that Americans love tracing their ancestry as far back as they can, but the reality is, most White Americans don't care where they come from and feel zero connection to their ancestors' homeland, aside from their last name, and just consider themselves "American"

But most "White" Americans are descended from Ireland, Britain and Germanic countries.

[KostasKouvalis]

Cajuns and Acadians are maybe the only exception, because they still maintain their French heritage

[Ariesman81]

Daughter went on Family Tree and was able to trace lineage back to BC times. Most notably... Robert de Brus, First Lord of Annandale (not The Robert de Brus). Alexander the Great. And a couple other not so well known Kings.

English, German, French, Scot, Irish, Polish... you name it!

[DrPepper12]

Pro tip: "Someone on X" is a piss poor way to begin an inquiry of any kind.

[Dargil]

Ulster Scot, Brit, French, German and... Cherokee. Somebody was fiddling back then,

[Asker]

yeah that's how it goes. I found it curious my results came back as 0% french

[seeyounexttuesday]

My family has been here since the 1740s. I’m mostly German, but also English, Scottish, Irish, and Dane

[OddBeMe]

DNA wise- you and I are both originally from Africa.

[lightbulb27]

I'm just cool...

[FunkyMonkee]

Same: Scots Irish, German, Slovack.

[BarryLiverstone]

I’m mixed