This week, GM is exploring the most recent Census data which reveals fascinating data about the who, what, where, and how about us.
Today, GM’s looking at the question of where we all came from.
First of all, a good number of Georgetowners came from here. Well, DC at least. Twelve percent of to be exact. Of all Georgetowners, 82% are U.S. born. So 69% were born outside of the District.
Of the Non-District born US-natives, the regional origin breakdown goes like this:
- Northeast – 41%
- Midwest – 21%
- South – 28%
- West – 10%
As a New Englander himself, GM’s glad to see that his fellow Northeasterners are still so dominant.
Of the 18% of Georgetowners who are foreign born 41% are naturalized American citizens.
The Census also asks what your ancestry is, which is sort of an odd question since most people have multiple ancestries. As you can see, the responses appear to be whatever the person volunteered, which would explain why English and British are two different categories. But for what it’s worth, here are the top ten:
- German – 15%
- English – 15%
- Irish – 12%
- Italian – 6%
- European – 4%
- Polish – 4%
- Russian – 3%
- British – 3%
- French – 3%
- Scottish – 3%
If you performed this query 100 years ago, you’d probably get a lot more Irish and whatever, probably un-PC, term they were using for African-Americans back then.
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Just as a gentle ribbing….
If you performed this query 100 years ago you would also probably find a lot fewer people who drove cars. Conversely, a lot more complaining about the piles of manure in the streets and odor of horses permeating the air. Not to mention the risk of an animal trampling or kicking pedestrians or throwing its rider. 😉
“English” and “British” are not the same, as my friends who live in Northern Ireland and Scotland and what we now know as the United Kingdom (formerly Great Britain) would be quick to note. For a long time I thought, as you apparently do, that the terms were equivalent. I got my comeuppance for that!
Charlie, as the grandson of a Glaswegian, I was properly schooled in the distinction between British and Enlish. But, so long as they were accepting British, it seems silly to accept English or Scottish as an option. Although maybe the idea is to capture people like me who are Scottish and English. Either way, it’s not terribly precise.
And actually the official name of the country now (or rather for now) is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Technically speaking, Great Britain is the island that contains England, Scotland, and Wales. Once Scotland leaves the UK, which I fully expect, I suppose they probably ought to reconsider the United Kingdom name, seeing as the country will only encapsulate one remaining “kingdom”.