# Who is the earliest American that we commemorate? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666 "2025-01-07T02:18:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/1 "2025-01-07T02:18:06Z")
For purposes of this discussion I define an American as someone born in the new world. Commemorate can be a landmark named after them or a day named after them, being featured on currency, whatever. Virginia Dare was the first American but I don’t think anything is named after her, specifically. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/2 "2025-01-07T02:20:20Z")
So you mean the first non-native? Dare was born in 1587. She did get a US Stamp though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/3 "2025-01-07T02:21:12Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Virginia Dare was the first American but I don’t think anything is named after her, specifically. What about Dare County? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/4 "2025-01-07T02:25:59Z")
Squanto was born in 1580 or so but he wasn’t white. He was at the first Thanksgiving. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/5 "2025-01-07T02:33:35Z")
Some searching shows that Martín de Arguelles was born in 1566 in what’s now Florida. Dare was the first person of English descent. de Areguelles was white and Spanish. He was the first European to be born in North America. He has descendants who are alive today. There were mixed white/native kids born in the 1520s. Moctezuma II was born in 1466 and is obviously famous and commemorated. This is a really ill posed question. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/6 "2025-01-07T02:40:43Z")
Aw man, I was just about to come in with Moctezuma! He has, among other things, a waterfall, a city, a river, and numerous plant and animal species named after him. Can anyone beat 1466?? ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/7 "2025-01-07T02:46:39Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > This is a really ill posed question. In retrospect, I agree. Obviously from my Virginia Dare remark I meant us new-comers, the colonists. I was not aware of Martín de Arguelles. Is there anything to commemorative him? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/8 "2025-01-07T02:57:44Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Is there anything to commemorative him? I can’t find anything significant. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/9 "2025-01-07T03:06:11Z")
Obviously, if we remove the requirement of being born in the Western Hemisphere, the answer would be Christopher Columbus. But modern sentiments hold that past generations were wrong to commemorate him, what with the genocide and slavery and all. Removing the native-born requirement, I wonder who might be the earliest American who is well known, _and_ who few people would consider to be a horrible person? As the question is posed, I think Dare qualifies, being on a stamp and having a county named after her. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/10 "2025-01-07T03:49:01Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Aw man, I was just about to come in with Moctezuma! He has, among other things, a waterfall, a city, a river, and numerous plant and animal species named after him. If you add Cuauhtémoc, one can say that they are commemorated every time one drinks a Tecate beer. 🙂 > **[Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuauht%C3%A9moc_Moctezuma_Brewery)** > > Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma (Cervecería Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma / Heineken México) (English: Cuauhtémoc Moctezuma Brewery) is a major brewery based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, founded in 1890. It is a subsidiary of Heineken International. > The company operates brewing plants in Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toluca, Tecate, Orizaba, Navojoa and, beginning in 2017, Meoqui. The plants produce, among other brands, Dos Equis, Sol, Bohemia, Superior, Carta Blanca, Noche Buena, Indio, Casta and Teca... ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/11 "2025-01-07T03:52:26Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Martín de Arguelles was born in 1566 in what’s now Florida. Dare was the first person of English descent. de Areguelles was white and Spanish. He was the first European to be born in North America. There were Norse settlements in Greenland and Newfoundland for centuries before the Spanish settled in Florida. I suppose you can debate whether you class Greenland as part of North America, but Newfoundland certainly is. We don’t know the identity of the first European to be born in North America but it is likely that they were Norse, and were born centuries before Martín. Martín is perhaps the first _identifiable_ person of European descent to be born in North America, or the first person of European descent whose birth in North America is documented. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/12 "2025-01-07T13:19:57Z")
> [@Thing.Fish](#): > > Obviously, if we remove the requirement of being born in the Western Hemisphere, the answer would be Christopher Columbus. [Lief enters the chat.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson_Day)… (poor [Bjarni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bjarni_Herj%C3%B3lfsson) didn’t get a day named after him) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/13 "2025-01-07T13:24:21Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > We don’t know the identity of the first European to be born in North America but it is likely that they were Norse We can possibly take a stab at their mother’s name, though… > **[Freydís Eiríksdóttir](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freyd%C3%ADs_Eir%C3%ADksd%C3%B3ttir#Saga_of_Erik_the_Red)** > > Freydís Eiríksdóttir (born c. 965) was an Icelandic woman said to be the daughter of Erik the Red (as in her patronym), who figured prominently in the Norse exploration of North America as an early colonist of Vinland, while her brother, Leif Erikson, is credited in early histories of the region with the first European contact. The medieval and primary sources that mention Freydís are the two Vinland sagas: the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red. The two sagas offer differin Th... ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/14 "2025-01-07T13:42:22Z")
Although if not any get of Freydis, then Snorri Thorfinnsson is the earliest named European-American: > **[Snorri Thorfinnsson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Thorfinnsson)** > > Snorri Thorfinnsson (Old Norse and Icelandic: Snorri Þorfinnsson or Snorri Karlsefnisson; most likely born between 1004 and 1013, and died c. 1090) was the son of explorers Thorfinn Karlsefni and Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir. He is considered to be the first child of European descent to be born in the Americas, apart from Greenland. He became an important figure in the Christianisation of Iceland. > Snorri is an Old Norse name derived from the word snerra, meaning "a fight." Þorfinnsson is a patronymi... Also - a descendant of Ragnar of _Vikings_ fame. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/15 "2025-01-07T14:10:23Z")
I don’t like the “must be White” restriction at all, that’s weird. But what if the restriction is “self-identified American”? I think at that point we’re talking 1770s ([cite](https://k12database.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2012/05/EmergenceofAmIdentityPPT.pdf)), but I’d welcome a cite for someone who called themself an American prior to that, and who is commemorated in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/16 "2025-01-07T14:39:46Z")
If Montezuma counts then presumably so does the guy who United the Aztecs, Acamapichtli? Eta: actually he didn’t unite the Aztecs, he was king of Tenochtitlan only, he did found Montezuma’s dynasty though. The 4th king of Tenochtitlan is the one who unified the Aztecs. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/17 "2025-01-07T14:44:23Z")
The restriction isn’t “must be white”, it’s “must have been born in the Eastern Hemisphere”. AFAIK we don’t know the names of any of the first generation of enslaved Africans who led rebellions against the Spanish, but I’d sure be happy to name a street after them if we did. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/18 "2025-01-07T14:45:32Z")
I suppose what the OP really meant was “Who is the first person of purely European descent to be born within the territory that later became the United States of America and who is somehow commemorated by USAians now?” Which is vastly different from what the OP text asked. If instead they really mean “Who is the first person of any ethnicity born anywhere in the Americas (or maybe the Western Hemisphere) from Tierra del Fuego north who is commemorated somehow by anybody anyplace in that same vast region?” well, that’s a very different question. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/19 "2025-01-07T14:50:18Z")
ChatGTP says that the first person to self-identify as American can’t be definitively identified, but the concept of “American” as distinct from “British” identity emerged around the time that the political tensions which led eventually led to the Revolution were heating up. So I’m guessing some radicals were probably identifying as such by the 1760s, but not much earlier. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666/20 "2025-01-07T14:55:06Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I suppose what the OP really meant was “Who is the first person of purely European descent to be born within the territory that later became the United States of America and who is somehow commemorated by USAians now?” Almost. They said born in the new world. So what is now North America, South America or the Caribbean Islands. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-earliest-american-that-we-commemorate/1012666.md?page=2)