Romanian American

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Romanian American

Vladimir TismăneanuAlexander VraciuJean NegulescoGeorge Emil PaladeAlexandra Nechita
Total population

367,310
0.12% of US population
Flag of Romania Flag of the United States

Regions with significant populations
Illinois, Southwest, New York
Languages
American English, Romanian
Religions
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox with Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish
See also: List of Romanian Americans

A Romanian American is a citizen of the United States who has significant Romanian heritage. For the 2000 US Census, 367,310 Americans indicated Romanian as their first ancestry[1] Other sources provide higher estimates for the numbers of Romanian Americans in the contemporary US; for example, the Romanian-American Network, Inc. supplies a rough estimate of 1.2 million.[2] However, this estimate explicitly includes allowances for other ethnicities, nationalities and second- and third-generation descendants, some of whom have not or do not primarily identify with a Romanian heritage.[3] These people may be Romanian-born US citizens or American-born descendants or the Romanian emigrants who relocated to North America from the 19th century onwards. Many of them do not speak Romanian, having emigrated to the United States more than 50 years ago.

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[edit] Distribution of Romanian American population

Romanian Americans are distributed throughout the U.S., with concentrations found in the east and the northeast of the country, such as in the states of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and New York, while in the Southeast, communities are found in Georgia (Atlanta), Florida (Tallahassee) and Alabama (Montgomery). There are also significant communities of Romanian Americans in the far west of the United States, particularly in California (Los Angeles and Sacramento) and Arizona (Tucson).

The migration of romanians the USA started in the second half of the 19th century. They came mostly from the territories who standed under austro-hungarian rule: Bucovina, Transylvania, Banat, Crişana, Maramureş. They came also some immigrants from "lesser Romania". For example, in the year 1905 7,818 Romanians migrated to US: 7,261 Romanians came from Austro-Hungary, 423 came from "Lesser Romania", the rest came from other european countries.[4]

Over 53% of all foreign-born Romanian Americans came to the US after 1980[5]. Some sources supply estimates of particular Romanian American community populations which are considerably higher than the most recently-available U.S. census count. The estimated numbers depend on the reliability of the estimation method used and how membership of the Romanian American community is defined.

In the 2000 United States census, 340,000 Americans of age 5 years and older (or 0.11% of the total US population) were identified as speakers of Romanian, ranking it 21st among languages spoken in the US.

[edit] Romanian Americans by state totals

Distribution of Romanian Americans
Distribution of Romanian Americans

The states with the ten largest estimated Romanian American populations are:[citation needed]

  1. California (248,125)
  2. New York (240,784)
  3. Florida (127,123)
  4. Michigan (119,624)
  5. Illinois (114,529)
  6. Ohio (106,017)
  7. Pennsylvania (84,958)
  8. Georgia (55,228)
  9. Texas (47,689)
  10. North Carolina (39,566)

[edit] Romanian American culture

Romanian culture has merged with American culture, characterized by Romanian-born Americans adopting American culture or American-born people having strong Romanian heritage.

Three Romanians arrive in New York wearing traditional dress, early 20th century
Three Romanians arrive in New York wearing traditional dress, early 20th century
Romanian migrants in New York. 1891
Romanian migrants in New York. 1891

The Romanian culture can be seen in many different kinds, like Romanian music, newspapers, churches, cultural organizations and groups, such as the Romanian-American Congress or the Round Table Society NFP. with Religion, predominantly within the Romanian Orthodox Church, is an important trace of the Romanian presence in the United States, with churches in almost all bigger cities throughout the country. American children of Romanian origin often learn to speak both the Romanian and English languages fluently.

Romanian food is also praised very often in the United States and included in the newspapers reviews (Chicago Tribune for example).

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