May have been done before, but just curious.

33 years of life, 8 years in the USA and 5 years in Borneo, so only 20 years of that in England. Still I only consider myself "English" as opposed to "British" when there is a football match.

I was born in Berkshire, brought up in Surrey, studied in Manchester, worked in Dover and the Medway towns and ended up for the last 5 years of my life in the UK in South London. I consider myself English. I may say British sometimes, and probably felt more British when I actually lived there. I suppose I choose England more now just to clarify that the UK is a sum of separate parts and that, despite my own Irish great-grandparents or Welsh cousins, my personal experience is English. Perhaps it's similar here too - people denoting the state they're from rather than "America".

I was born and raised in Sotland. And I tend to say I'm Scottish.

I was born in London, England, raised there too. I class myself as English, not British.

Dawn.

I was born in England, raised in England (aside from a few years when I was v young and we moved to Norway), but consider myself American...at least in heart if not on paper (yet!). I'm a firm believer in your home being where your heart is, and where you decide to make your life, whether it's where you were brought up, or the other side of the globe. Getting my Green Card will be a great day for me, and my US Citizenship a very proud and happy one for both my and my wife.

(Equally so I know some who despite having spent the majority of their lives in the US or elsewhere, consider them British/English/Welsh/Scottish etc - which is fair enough, and some who get dual nationality coin the term "Anglo-American" as they love both countries equally, which is also fine IMO).

Anyone who calls themselves "Anglo-American" should come over to my place and I'll give them a dead arm for the privilege.

English!

"Are there any... Americans here...?"

that's my grandfather !

I'm 3rd generation American of Italian descent. I consider myself American.

Dave is born in England, raised in England, and I would say he'd call himself English and no British....especially whent he WC is on, lol

Born in England, brought up in England..call myself British.

Hmmm. Is that a regional thing?

Hubby said he's English & would call himself English.

Not sure it's a regional thing. I'd be most likely to call myself British, but would say English too (born & brought up in England)... I'd probably say I'm 'from London' rather than 'from England', though, and definitely wouldn't say I'm 'from Britain'. (Not for any reason, you understand!)

My fiance says "English." He also said he never really thought as much about the subject until living over here and our subsequent discussions.

We had lengthy talks about how he would answer "citizenship"/country of residence questions on the forms! I kept writing British and he'd say, but I'm English! Or I'd write "United Kingdom" and he's ask about that. I'm guessing there may be age/geography differences in how the question is answered.

Kind of like - and forgive the example! - in one of the Sex In the City episodes when a character is in France trying to muddle through with her French and a hotel employee says "Ah, you are American?" and she answers indicates no, "New Yorker." A rough comparison at best, I know . . . .

Same here! Have just remembered C. asking me, early on, whether he should tell people his girlfriend was English, or British... my answer was pretty much 'I'm British! Or.... you could say 'English'... no, 'British'... ah, either will do, matters not to me!'

I'm happy with either. That and 'Londoner'.

Gary was born in Ballymena, N. Ireland and brought up in Antrim, N. Ireland. He considers himself Irish.

Interesting. Not Northern Irish?

Same.

Gary sees Ireland as a whole, even tho N. Ireland is part of the U.K.

English. Born and bred in England, and since Scotland, Wales and NI would love to devolve I'll stick with England.

Hubby was born in Warwickshire, refers to himself as English.

Born in England....brought up in Kent, England....and i'm English!

Speaking for my SO, he was born in Germany (oops, messed that up on the poll, BUT it was in a british military hospital, so w/e) moved back at 2 and has lived in England ever since. Dont EVER call him British or he will go off it I do it for fun

What should someone who is both English and American call themselves then?

My husband has an English mother and American father. He went to both British and American schools, an American university, a British post-grad university, and since then he's divided his time between the UK and US.

So what is he?

(Just to confuse things he was born in Brazil )

I was born in a British forces hospital in Malta, grew up in British forces accommodation in England, Scotland, Malta and Germany, then finally my parents settled in England.

My mum is Scottish and my dad is English.

I'm British. I'm going to apply for US citizenship as soon as I can, but I think I will always just be British.

I'm sorry but that is hypocritical. Why bother with US citizenship if you are 'British' by your own terms?

I think, in a sense, it is not unlike people who identify with and hyphenate their "Americanism" (for lack of a better word). For example, African-American, Caribbean-American, Polish-American, etc. It's a distinguishing and descriptive characteristic of the person's heritage.

It's contradictory sure, but it is something that every person who is going to apply for another country's citizenship has to ponder over. I mean, I am British, I will ALWAYS be British, but when I am able I am going to apply for American Citizenship and have dual nationalities. Doesn't mean that who I am changes, I am still British. I'll still call myself British, it is also obvious as soon as I open my mouth that I'm British.

So, what to do? If you have American Citizenship and someone asks you who/what you are, would you then reply American? I certainly wouldn't, I'd feel a little silly, especially with the accent and all that.

You can take the girl out of Britain, but you can't take the Britain out of the girl.

Technically when you become a USC, you have to rescind your foreign nationality. I'm aware the UK doesn't recognize that so you will be a dual citizen.

It was the way kins worded it, like hey, I'm British but damn, the USC is handy, why not get it? I'll still be British. (OK, that's reading into it, but as a USC, it's not something I take lightly.)

Answering for my Jonny:

Born in England, raised in England, considers himself Yorkshire and would even narrow it down to Leeds.

When asked about him I reply with one of two statements: "He's from England." or "He's from Northern England." The second phrase I reserve for people who are smart enough and won't reply with, "OH! You mean Scotland!"

I myself was born in America, raised in America and consider myself an American when talking to someone outside the US but refer to myself as a Texan to anyone inside the US. Although it would seem that some states are more region specific than others and I could safely say I am from Texas and non-US folk would know where that was. (Then make lame jokes about cowboys and horses, I live in a beach town full of surfers)


Now onto this question about citizenship. How would getting a passport in another country change your nationality? When I get British citizenship does that give me the right to say I'm British? I would think it would only give me the right to say I am a British citizen. The same would go for anyone immigrating to the US. You're still British but are now an American citizen. Just my $.02

G. was born and raised in Scotland (Dundee specifically), but his Dad's Welsh (born and raised there, moved to Scotland to teach, he and G's mum taught at the same school ... he's now living in England--Derbyshire--with his second wife) ... so G. and his sister both have common Welsh first and last names (hers is Bronwen).

However, he considers himself "British." In fact, he asked me to designate his country as the UK so the profile shows the Union Jack instead of the Saltire. (However, when people ask him where his accent's from, he says "Scotland.")

I see no hypocrisy. For me, when I become a USC it will be for mundane reasons. My family is here. I pay taxes here. What the government decides effects me. Shouldn't I get a say in choosing that government?

I will still be English, in the same way that my mother-in-law says she's Italian, although she was born in the US.

I am married to an American and I have three American cldren, yet each time I leave the US for any extended period they take away my Green Card and it causes me untold cost and hassle getting another one each time we move back to the US.

So I am applying for US citizenship to solve the problem.

I have no intentions of being American, I am doing it because otherwise the US system makes it so difficult for me to live with my husband and children in their country, and can throw me out so easily.

Come up with a better system and I will happily not bother applying for US citizenship... I have absolutely nothing against Americans (obviously!) but I don't feel any need to be anything other than British.

I think dual nationality is fantastic, especially for children. Allowing them to feel at home in both countries is truely an unique experience.

As far as saying where in the UK you are from - most Americans only know "London". My fiance has grinned and bared it for many years when all of my relatives would gush and ask him London was, eventhough we often told them we lived in Manchester. After the first few hundred times, we just gave up and stopped correcting them.

Born and raised in Scotland!! I'm Scottish thru and thru

Bumping this up, 'cos I'm still curious an' that.

Born in Stoke, raised in Stoke, if I was being really finicky I'd say Northern English

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Technically when you become a USC, you have to rescind your foreign nationality. I'm aware the UK doesn't recognize that so you will be a dual citizen.

It was the way kins worded it, like hey, I'm British but damn, the USC is handy, why not get it? I'll still be British. (OK, that's reading into it, but as a USC, it's not something I take lightly.)
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Well thats a new one on me so if you do apply for Citizenship you still keep your UK status by default making you a dual citizen passport and all??

Personally I felt no need to become a USC apart from making life easier when it comes to travel however my circumstances changed somewhat and I am going to be setting up a US office for a company here in the UK. I think that USC would certainly make my life easier as an Employer but damn it I am proud to be British and was hoping to find an alternative.

Erm, honourary Welsh.

I was born and raised in England but have lived in Wales long enough and speak enough Welsh that I am considered honourary Welsh by my mates, and I feel more at home in Wales than any place i've ever lived in England. I also support Wales in rugby over England any day. As I wasn't born here I can't be considered fully Welsh though, so I normally say my nationality is British, but I'm a South Walian by choice.

-Born in PA USA left at 6 months old for England; stayed there until I was 24-then lived in various parts of Europe, then back to the USA . Been flying back and forth to England/Europe since then.
Live in TX now but I am both American AND English.