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| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,125 (2000 estimate)[1][a] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| New York,New England,Wisconsin,Michigan,California, andMinnesota | |
| Languages | |
| American English,Frisian,German,Dutch, Friso-Saxon | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| OtherFrisians • Dutch Americans • German Americans • Mennonite Americans • Danish Americans |
Frisian Americans areAmericans with full or partialFrisian ancestry.
Frisians are aGermanicethnic group native to the coastal parts of theNetherlands andGermany. They are closely related to the Dutch, Northern Germans, and the English and speakFrisian languages divided by geographical regions. TheOld Frisian language was once the closestGermanic language toOld English, though outside influences (from Dutch on Frisian and from Norman French on English) have made both languages grow ever farther apart than they naturally would have as they were developing separately.
Today there exists a tripartite division of the original Frisians; namely theNorth Frisians,East Frisians andWest Frisian, caused by theFrisia's constant loss of territory in theMiddle Ages, but the West Frisians in the general do not feel or see themselves as part of a larger group of Frisians, and, according to a 1970 inquiry, identify themselves more with the Dutch than withEast orNorth Frisians.[2] Therefore the moniker 'Frisian' is (when used for the speakers of all three Frisian language) a linguistic (and to some extent, cultural) concept, not a political one.
Because there is no modern united Frisian state, Frisian Americans are often included withinDutch Americans,German Americans orScandinavian Americans.[3]
In theNew Netherland colony, Frisian people from North Frisia, East Frisia and West Friesland were the largest ethnic group in the city ofNew Amsterdam (nowNew York City).[3] The New Amsterdam area was chiefly explored byJonas Bronk, who led a group of settlers from North Frisia, and one of the city's boroughs was later namedThe Bronx after him.[3] Bronk (also known as Bronck) himself is said to have been Swedish.[4][5][6] Many North-Frisian settlers were refugees of theBurchardi flood of 1634 which had destroyed the wealthy island ofStrand. According to Paulsen, "they introduced their old democratic traditions into the patrician Dutch society of that time."[3]
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| Lists of Americans |
|---|
| By U.S. state |
| By ethnicity |
… Jonas Bronck was a Dane …
However, when a descendant visited Sylt, she was told in no uncertain terms by a local historian that her ancestor was Frisian, not Danish. ... His surname Jensen indicates at least some ethnic Danish heritage, while Boy(e) is a common Frisian name.
