re: Why do so many southern areas refer to themselves as americans on ancestry surveys?

98% of Americans, particularly in the south have not traced back every ancestor to the country of origin.

Take your chart for example. How do you define ancestry? By father or mother? Maternal or paternal grandparents? Do you average each country vs number of ancestors per country?

I knew ‘german’ was prevalent but I didn’t know the entire Midwest identifies as such

I have a grandparent that was german as well. Rest, Irish, English mishmash mutts

Interesting fact: my girlfriend's father's parents are from rural Pennsylvania (but not the same town) and as far as I can tell from looking at their ancestry he must be 100% German as every one of their ancestors is from Germany and much of that family has been here since the Civil War days. Pennsylvania is German as phuck.

I prefer to be referred to as Texan-American.

they were born in america, but were 100% german

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Yet we have this "american" dominating southern counties and parishes

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Because the vast majority of white people in the South are of English/Scots heritage and their family trees go way back to the colonies. So far back, that most people have no idea who their first ancestor was or when he came over. Therefore, they don't even know what their heritage is (outside of their surnames). The same goes for black people in the south as well. I mean they know they are "African" but most have no idea, obviously, who their ancestors were or when they were enslaved and brought here.

Contrast this with yankees and most of them are 2nd or 3rd generation and know who their ancestors were and when they came over. This is especially true of Italians, Eastern Europeans, Jews, etc. They are all recent immigrants, relatively speaking.

Most southern families have been here far, far longer. "American" to them, I think, is synonymous with "English" or "generic white person."

I mean my family traces back to the 1600's before the declaration of Independence. Before that I believe it was Switzerland heritage. If my family was here when the U.S. was created can I consider myself American then. What kind of ancestry are we talking about. If you go far enough back nearly everyone is African or Asian.

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English, Scotch-Irish, and German

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There were way more Irish (not Scots-Irish) than Germans.

If you think about it, we are all mutts, except for the 'blueblood' royals.