It ' s simply a matter of parlance . When an American says I ' m whatever nationality , he ' s referring to his ancestry . A more accurate statement would be , I have whatever nationality heritage , but we all understand the meaning . When an American citizen says this to another American citizen , there is no need to clarify that they ' re both American . The variable is where their respective ancestors immigrated from . That ' s why you ' ll hear something to the effect of I ' m Irish on my mom ' s side and German on my dad ' s side . Weird how I never see any saying I ' m English , considering that ' s where all nonnative Americans came from . Uhh , no . I have no English ancestry . A recent count puts EnglishAmericans at 7 . 6 % of the population .