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Spanish American Hispano Americano
Notable Spanish Americans: Tony Moreno · Martin Sheen · Elena Verdugo Marisol Deluna · Rita Hayworth · Mercedes de Acosta
Total population
Spanish/Spaniard/S-American Total 1,141,675 Americans1 (2006 American Community Survey) up to roughly 1% of the US population Latinos and Hispanics in the United States[1]
Regions with significant populations
The Southwest The Gulf States
Language(s)
American English · Spanish Spanish in the United States · Ladino
Religion(s)
Predominantly Roman Catholic · Protestant · Agnostic or Atheist · Jewish minorities
Related ethnic groups
· French Americans · Italian Americans · Portuguese American
Footnotes
Excludes those not identified as Hispanic or Latino.

Spanish American (Spanish: Hispano Americano, derived from Hispania now known as España, the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a citizen of the United States whose ancestry originates in the southwest European nation of Spain. Colloquially, the term is also commonly applied to people whose ancestry stems from the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America ^[2]. In the latter context, the term is employed as a synonym to Hispanic.

Spaniards are just one of over 20 Hispanic national groups — Spain being the only Hispanic country located in Europe, and in fact, the European country where Hispanicity has its origins. While other U.S. citizens or residents with national origins in any of the Hispanic countries of Latin America may be closely related to Spaniards in language, culture, and in most cases also blood ties, to avoid confusion, and for the purposes of U.S. census data collection, the term "Spanish American" is not officially used. Instead, specific most recent national origins are requested. In addition to stating Spanish/Hispanic/Latino, the respondents may then reply Spaniard to indicate that the most recent national origin of that person of Spanish ancestry was directly from Spain.

Contents 1 Number of Spanish Americans 1.1 Term 1.2 2006 American Community Survey 2 Map 3 Numbers 3.1 2000 U.S Census 3.2 1990 U.S Census 3.3 1980 U.S Census 4 Immigration from Spain to the United States 5 Notable Spanish Americans 6 Related ancestry 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

In the 2000 Census some 2,187,144 Americans reported "Spanish" as their ancestry, although this also includes persons whose recent or ancestral national origin might not have been directly to the U.S from Spain, (they are still of only Spanish descent nevertheless) and whose Spanish ancestry was via a Hispanic country of the Americas. eg: Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans ^[3]

Also in the census, 299,948 Americans specifically reported their ancestry as Spaniard, which was a significant decrease from the 1990 Census, where those who reported "Spaniard" numbered 360,858. In addition, the 2000 Census reported 861,911 Spanish Americans who identified as "Hispanic or Latino." The Census Bureau attributes the decrease to the trend among increasing numbers of Hispanics of all national groups, including those of Spanish ancestry, of identifying themselves with general labels such as "Hispanic" rather than a specific national origin.

It should be noted however that the majority of Spanish Americans are descended from the settlers of New Spain. Also, people who specifically responded "Spanish American" were not tabulated with those who responded "Spanish" or "Spaniard", and were instead tabulated as "Other Hispanic response" along with people who wrote responses such as Latin American, people of mixed Hispanic ethnicities (only collected in Census 2000), and people who checked the Other Hispanic box but did not provide a write-in entry.

Spanish Americans are Americans who have predominantly, or at least traceable, Spanish ancestry. This includes individuals who may also possess other European ancestry as well as those of multiracial descent where Spanish ancestry was one of their ascendancies, such as mestizos (White/Amerindian ancestry) and mulattos (White/Black ancestry). If one were to further include all those who did not identify either as "Spaniard" or "Spanish," although were of Spanish or partial Spanish ancestry via a Hispanic country of the Americas which was reported as such, the number of White Hispanics would more than likely surpass 16 million people. These would then include criollos (White Hispanics for U.S. Census purposes). Americans from the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Western Sahara, and the British territory of Gibraltar who are of Spanish descent are sometimes included in the statistics. [1]

The term Spanish American can be defined in at least two different ways:

• The first definition is citizens of the 'United States' who are of Spanish descent (Spanish of Spain).
• The second definition is inhabitants of Spanish America (though incorrect usage of the words), which is a term for the parts of Latin America where Spanish is spoken as the official language. Another term for this area is Hispanic America.

A disproportionate number of Spanish Americans in the first sense of the term, mentioned above, as well as Mexican Americans, and possibly some other type of Hispanic Americans, who live in the American Southwest and the subject could give much controversy.

In Spanish, the word Hispano is used as the first element of compounds referring to Spain and the Spanish people.

Spanish: 700,373

Spanish American: 64,162

Spaniard: 377,140

Total: 1,141,675^[4]

These statistics show only Spanish Americans who identified as "Hispanic or Latino." If it were to include all Americans who identified having Spanish ancestry, then the total would be much higher.

The Twenty-Second United States Census, 2000 shows the states with the largest Spanish populations:

U.S State Population

State	Spanish	% of State	Spaniard
California
New York
New Mexico		9.3%
Florida
Texas
Colorado
New Jersey
Louisiana
Country	Spanish	Spaniard	Total	% of Total
United States	2,187,144	299,948	2,487,092	0.9%

Self-identify as Hispanic

Early Spanish settlers often self-identify as: ("Hispano," "Spanish," or "Hispanic;" but generally not as "Mexican," "Mexican American," or "Chicano." )

• New Mexico — 181,268 (9.4%),
• Arizona — est. 150,000^{[citation needed]},
• Texas — 142,589 (mostly descendants of colonial Tejanos)
• Colorado and Nevada — (see also Basque Americans) and
• California — mostly consists of descendants of Californio (see also Mexican American) families of the 18th and early 19th centuries.
• Louisiana — mostly consists of the descendants of the Isleños, which are 18th and 19th century families from the Canary Islands of Spain.

Puerto Rico is an overseas (United States territory), which had 2.1% identify as Spaniard.

Part of a series of articles on Latinos and Hispanics in the United States
Groups
Argentine Americans Brazilian Americans Bolivian Americans Chilean Americans Colombian Americans Costa Rican Americans Cuban Americans Dominican Americans Ecuadorian Americans Guatemalan Americans Honduran Americans Mexican Americans Nicaraguan Americans Panamanian Americans Paraguayan Americans Peruvian Americans Puerto Rican Americans Salvadoran Americans Spanish Americans Uruguayan Americans Venezuelan Americans
History
History of Latinos and Hispanics History of Mexican-Americans Pan-Americanism
Religions
Christian Latinos · Santeria Latino Jews · Latino Muslims
Political movements
Hispanics and politics Chicano Movement
Organizations
Association of Hispanic Arts Congressional Hispanic Caucus LULAC · NALFO · SHPE National Council of La Raza NALEO · MEChA · UFW National Society of Hispanic MBAs
Culture
Hispanic culture Literature · Studies · Art · Music
Languages
Spanish · Spanish in the United States English · Brazilian Portuguese · Spanglish Ladino language
Lists
Communities with Hispanic majority Puerto Rico-related topics Notable Hispanics Related topics
Portals
Latino and Hispanic Portal
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The Twenty-first United States Census, 1990 figures show that there were 2,024,004 persons of 'Spanish' and 360,858 of 'Spaniard' origin although this number could have been higher, if including persons of Spanish ancestry via mixed ethnicity Americans and Latin/Hispanic immigrants. Census figures indicated that California had the highest number of people of Spanish origin (434,759) or (21.5% of group) out of the top 8 U.S states.^[5][6]

U.S State Population

State	Spanish	% of State	Spaniard	% of State
California	434,759	1.5%
Florida	201,059	1.6%	78,656	0.6%
New Mexico	190,700	12.6%	24,861
Texas	186,758	1.1%
New York	156,310	0.9%
Colorado	121,029	3.7%
New Jersey	71,596	0.9%
Louisiana	65,125	1.5%
Country	Spanish	Spaniard	Total	% of Total
United States	2,024,004	360,935	2,384,939	0.9%

Immigration statistics may vary since some of the immigration took place within the US still gaining its statehood or Admission to Union. In 1850 California was admitted as the 31st state of the Union so numbers may not apply before. Mexican rule lost its last territory to the U.S., Arizona on Wednesday, February 14, 1912, although emigration from Spain was negligible since 1850.

The Twentieth United States Census, 1980 was the first U.S census that asked someones ancestry.

Spanish Americans are found in relative numbers throughout America, particularly in the Southwestern and Gulf Coast. According to the 1980 US census, the 8 states with the largest populations of Spanish Americans are:

U.S State Population

State	Spanish/Hispanic	% of State	Spaniard
California	539,285	2.3%	14,357
New York	359,574	2.0%	21,860
New Mexico	281,189	21.6%	1,971
Florida	249,196	2.6%	23,698
Texas	221,568	1.6%	6,883
Colorado	154,396	5.3%	1,985
New Jersey	126,983	1.7%	8,122
Louisiana	79,847	1.9%	616
Country	Spanish/Hispanic	Spaniard	Total	% of Total
United States	2,686,680	94,528	2,781,208	1.48%

62.7% reported Spanish/Hispanic as their main ancestry.
66.4% reported Spaniard as their main ancestry.^[7][8][9]

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Years	Arrivals
1820–1830	2,688
1831–1840	2,004
1841–1850	2,091
1851–1860	9,038
1861–1870	6,390
1871–1880	5,266
1881–1890	4,419
1891–1900	6,662
1901–1910	48,944
1911–1920	102,954
1921–1930	41,954
1931–1940	4,945
1941–1949	3,287
Total (1820-1949)	240,642

These figures show there was never the mass immigration that Latin America had from Iberian settlers. However, it is evident in the figures that Spanish immigration peaked in the 1910s and 1920s; the majority settled in Florida and New York, although there was also a sizable Spanish influx to West Virginia at the turn of the last century, mostly made up of zinc workers from Asturias. Spanish Americans have intraethnic connections with Hispanic groups, other European Americans and even African Americans. In addition, they may choose not to answer the "Hispanic or Latino" category in official surveys. Since "Spaniard/Spanish" ethnicity is often classified under this category, their total population is often greatly underestimated.

The first ancestors of Spanish Americans were Spanish Jews who speak Ladino, a language derived from Castilian Spanish and Hebrew. In the 1930s and 1940s, that mostly consisted of refugees fleeing from the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) and from the Francisco Franco military regime in Spain, who ruled until his death in 1975. The majority of these refugees are businessmen and intellectuals, as well union activists, all held strong liberal anti-authoritarian feelings. The Spanish American population also has Basques, Galicians, Catalans, (Catalan Americans), Canarians known as Isleños, Gypsy, Chinese, and Portuguese ethnic groups.^{[citation needed]}

See List of Spanish Americans

For further information on other Americans who may be of Spanish ancestry via a Hispanic country of Latin America and are not accounted for in this article, please see the articles:

• Argentine American
• Chilean American
• Cuban American
• Mexican American
• Puerto Rican American

Latin Europe Hispanos Hispanic Britons Californio White American Hispanics in the United States Notable Hispanics

White Latin American Hispanic White Hispanic Spaniards Spanish Briton Spanish Brazilian

Spanish Canadian Spanish Filipino Tejano Canarian people Isleños

1. ^ Spanish/Spaniard 2006 American Community Survey Figures
2. ^ Definition Of Spanish American
3. ^ 2000 U.S Offical Cencus
4. ^ 2006 U.S Spanish Origin Statistics
5. ^ 1990 U.S Census population by "STATE"
6. ^ The Hispanic Role In America
7. ^ 1980 Census of Total U.S Population
8. ^ 1980,U.S Census by State
9. ^ 1990 & 1980 State population comparisons

• Hispanic Population in the United States
• The Hispanic Role in America
• Survey: 2005 American Community Survey:Hispanic Origin
• AsturianUS - Discussion Board for the descendants of Asturian-Amerians

v • d • e European Americans
North European	British (English • Scots-Irish • Scottish • Welsh) · Danish · Estonian · Faroese · Finnish · Icelandic · Irish · Latvian · Lithuanian · Norwegian · Swedish
West European	Austrian · Belgian · Dutch (Frisian) · French (Acadian • Cajun) · German · Luxembourg · Swiss
East European	Belarusian · Bulgarian · Czech · Hungarian · Romanian · Russian · Rusyn · Polish · Slovak · Ukrainian
South European	Albanian · Basque · Bosnian · Catalan · Croatian · Cypriot · Greek · Italian (Sicilian) · Macedonian · Maltese · Montenegrin · Portuguese · Serbian · Slovenian · Spanish (Hispano • Isleño)
Eurasian/Other	Armenian · Azerbaijani · Jewish American · Georgian · Romani · Turkish

v • d • e Hispanics
Central American and Caribbean	Cuban  · Dominican  · Nicaraguan  · Panamanian {{.}} Puerto Rican  · Salvadoran
Meso American	Mexican (Chicano)  · Californio  · Hispano  · Mexican Texians  · Tejano
South American	Argentine  · Colombian  · Peruvian  · Chilean  · Ecuadorian  · Venezuelan
Western European	Spanish American
Other terms Mestizo  · Mulatto  · Zambo  · Spanish people  · Afro Latin American  · White Hispanic  · White Latin American