I’m from Germany and after noticing that many American personalities have German backgrounds I recently looked up that apparently German is the biggest ethnic group in America and that like 12% of all Americans have German ancestry so basically more than 1 out of every 10 people.
I knew that there are some people in America with German ancestry but I never thought it’s that many. I always thought that there were other way more common ethnic groups such as UK, Irish or something Asian/African and thought Germans are a minority. I never thought that Germans are so prevalent in America though and that they’re actually the biggest ethnic group. I wonder if that is a topic in American conversation cause I assume many Americans are curious about their ancestry and many might even have had contact to family members that are directly from Germany. And I wonder if they identify as American or German or both? (For example I always hear “African-American” being used but I’m not sure that I heard “European-American” that often)
I’d have to look it up because I don’t know the actual truth of it.
That being said, I’ve heard claims of German ancestry on both sides of my family, so I guess anecdotally that fits with what you’ve heard. A lot of my living relatives are based in places like Ohio and Pennsylvania which I believe have a lot of Dutch and German influence, so it does make sense.
On the topic of “African-American”, that’s a complex and nuanced thing that’s hardly analogous to white, Caucasian people identifying with their distant relatives such as Irish, Scottish, German, etc so I wouldn’t personally consider that being anything even remotely synonymous. It’s hard to put into words, other than to say there’s no comparison between people whose ancestors willingly came to the USA hoping for a better life versus those who were forced into it with no say on their own part.
Having said that, most multi-generational white folks don’t normally call themselves “Irish-American” or “German-American”. Those types of terms are usually only used by people, who for instance, their parent literally is a citizen of Ireland or German. Most white people whose families have been in the USA for generations toyingly refer to themselves as Irish, German, Italian, etc because of the privilege and presumption of the “American” part of it, if that makes sense.