# French Immigration To The United States **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874 "2005-11-13T18:55:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/21 "2005-11-13T21:02:01Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I never would have thought German immigration to the US would have been that big that late (up to 1980??). German-Americans tend to have a much lower profile as an ethnic group than do groups like Italian-Americans or Irish-Americans, so I would have thought they had not provided near as many immigrants. You should come live in Texas, we have lots of Germans down here. Not sure when they all showed up, but you see lots of their culture down here, most notably Oktoberfest (yet another excuse to eat sausages and get drunk, I’m in 😃 ) and in a number of more subtle ways (Mexican Polka is apparantly a mix of traditional Mexican music and the stuff the Geman settlers brought in with them). You also see lots of Germanic sounding names for stuff down here, like small towns and such. Hell, most of my friends here in College Station drink a beer called Shiner Bock, owned by a culturally German family and based on German beers, apparantly. (I drink Corona, they tend to shake their heads sadly at me when I grab one from my fridge 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/22 "2005-11-13T22:13:15Z")
[Region and Country or Area of Birth of the Foreign-Born Population, With Geographic Detail Shown in Decennial Census Publications of 1930 or Earlier: 1850 to 1930 and 1960 to 1990](http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab04.html) 1960 - 1990 at the top, 1850 - 1930 about half-way down. * * * The Acadians/Cajuns actually did not make a big entrance to Louisiana in 1755. The original deportation was to the British American colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia, to Britain, itself, and a smaller number to France. At various times, different small groups of Acadians migrated to the Caribbean, more to France, and (following the conclusion of the war), to various places back in Canada. Those who made it to France tended to be dumped at (or later made their way to) Nantes. It was not until 1785 that a number of them (with their next generation of children) were able to secure passage to Louisiana from Nantes–and 1785 is generally reckoned as the actual foundation of the Cajuns. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/23 "2005-11-14T10:36:49Z")
French emmigration to any destination in the nineteenth century was much lower than for most other European countries. That was because because France was the great demographic exception. Compared to most other European countries, it had a remarkably low - and declining - birthrate (possibly due to the increased use of contraception), with the result that its population increased at a much slower rate. So there weren’t the same population pressures as elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Spavined\_Gelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@Spavined\_Gelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spavined_Gelding)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/24 "2005-11-14T13:20:55Z")
It is worth noting that the revocation of the Edict of Nance in the 1640s resulted in a significant immigration of French Protestants to England and to North America. Paul Revere’s family was French Huguenots, for instance. They changed the spelling – or maybe in that time of unstructured spelling it just happened. German immigration to this part of the country started after the failed Revolutions of 1848. We got some remarkable people like [Karl Schurz](http://www.germanheritage.com/biographies/mtoz/schurz.html), who was a significant player in Civil War era politics. Bad economic times in the late 19th Century and after WWI gave rise to additional waives of German immigration. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/25 "2005-11-14T14:00:41Z")
> [@APB](#): > > French emmigration to any destination in the nineteenth century was much lower than for most other European countries. That was because because France was the great demographic exception. Compared to most other European countries, it had a remarkably low - and declining - birthrate (possibly due to the increased use of contraception), with the result that its population increased at a much slower rate. So there weren’t the same population pressures as elsewhere. This is a very good point - a quick check at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars) shows that in 1800 France had 30 million people, while the UK had only 12 million. Today the UK and France both have about 60 million people. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/26 "2005-11-14T14:53:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I never would have thought German immigration to the US would have been that big that late (up to 1980??). German-Americans tend to have a much lower profile as an ethnic group than do groups like Italian-Americans or Irish-Americans, so I would have thought they had not provided near as many immigrants. German immigration began rising in the Antebellum period, due to some extremely naty wars going on in Germany at the time, including one popular rebellion which was totally and brutally crushed. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/27 "2005-11-14T16:36:15Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I have had the same impression. Throughout most of the country, it is much much more common to encounter a German, Irish, English, or even Italian surname than a French one. There are exceptions in pockets of Louisiana and upper New England, but it still doesn’t seem anywhere close to the representation of the other countries mentioned. These French surnames in upper New England are actually from French Canada. New England had a huge influx of Quebecois from the end of the 19th century, and there are still French-speaking pockets in New Hampshire and Maine. Interestingly enough, Willa Cather, who wrote extensively about new immigrants to the Plains, has some French immigrants as major characters in one of her novels, _O Pioneers_. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/28 "2005-11-14T17:04:44Z")
German-Americans are less “visible” ethnicly because many of them made a conscious decision during WWI to drop their German-ness and emphasize their American-ness. Remember liberty cabbage? And WWII cemented that further. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/29 "2005-11-14T17:12:26Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > German-Americans are less “visible” ethnicly because many of them made a conscious decision during WWI to drop their German-ness and emphasize their American-ness. Remember liberty cabbage? And WWII cemented that further. True. In my own family, it’s said that they stopped speaking German during World War I, for obvious reasons. In some places, the German-American population was big enough that German was still pretty widely spoken. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/30 "2005-11-14T18:02:40Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > This is a very good point - a quick check at [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_Wars) shows that in 1800 France had 30 million people, while the UK had only 12 million. Today the UK and France both have about 60 million people. Just to mention (since I was refering to population density) that France is roughly twice the size of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/31 "2005-11-14T18:05:17Z")
French immigrants (including Francophone Canadians) were a prominent component of the demographic make-up of nineteenth-century Los Angeles. True, for most of that time the city had fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, so we’re not talking scores of thousands of French. Still, it’s the reason the city’s oldest hospital is called French Hospital and why many downtown streets have French names. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/32 "2005-11-14T20:16:30Z")
Remember that any US Census stats on ethnicity are self-reported, and a lot of people who are actually an admixture of various nationalities have had it simplified through time (oral tradition) to a few generalities, or only answer one item on a census form. As French immigration to the US was fairly early on & French just doesn’t seem like a “cool” option for many people to answer, & people might identify most strongly with whatever ethnic group arrived most recently, I could see underreportage of figures now. Purportedly I’m something like 1/8 French although this is somewhat shrouded in whisper-down-the-lane family history and difficult for me to confirm owing to the early deaths of ancestors on that side. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/33 "2005-11-14T20:33:19Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Hell, most of my friends here in College Station drink a beer called Shiner Bock, owned by a culturally German family and based on German beers, apparantly. (I drink Corona, they tend to shake their heads sadly at me when I grab one from my fridge 😛 ) As well they should. Shiner Bock is nectar. Corona is…not. My grandparents on my dad’s side were French, who entered the US via Canada in the early 1900s. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/34 "2005-11-14T23:24:11Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > Remember that any US Census stats on ethnicity are self-reported, and a lot of people who are actually an admixture of various nationalities have had it simplified through time (oral tradition) to a few generalities, or only answer one item on a census form. As French immigration to the US was fairly early on & French just doesn’t seem like a “cool” option for many people to answer, & people might identify most strongly with whatever ethnic group arrived most recently, I could see underreportage of figures now. > > Purportedly I’m something like 1/8 French although this is somewhat shrouded in whisper-down-the-lane family history and difficult for me to confirm owing to the early deaths of ancestors on that side. I agree about ethnicities getting simplified (supposedly I’m half Scots-Irish, but God knows what all’s mixed in there), but I’m not sure I agree with people not reporting French ancestry because it seems/seemed “uncool.” I think ethnicities primarily get simplified mostly based on whichever surname happens to get passed down. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2005, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874/35 "2005-11-15T00:16:08Z")
Here’s a map of the U.S. that shows the concentration by county of people of French ancestry, based on (presumably self-reported) data from the 1990 census. As mentioned above, this kind of thing is self-reported and probably gets simplified and watered down through succeeding generations. I have French ancestry, for example, but my ancestry is so mixed that I wouldn’t think to call myself French on a census form. [http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/maps/ancestry/us/french.gif](http://www.mnplan.state.mn.us/maps/ancestry/us/french.gif) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/french-immigration-to-the-united-states/330874.md?page=1)