Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term Anglo-Saxon language. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in the North America, the Caribbean, South Africa, Namibia, Australia, and New Zealand. It is used in Canada to differentiate between the French speakers of mainly Quebec and some parts of New Brunswick, and the English speakers in the rest of Canada. It is also used in the United States to distinguish the growing Spanish-speaking Latino population from the English-speaking majority. It is also used, both in English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries, to refer to Anglophone people of other European origins. Anglo is a Late Latin prefix used to denote English- in conjunction with another toponym or demonym. The word is derived from Anglia, the Latin name for England and still used in the modern name for its eastern region, East Anglia. Anglia and England both mean land of the Angles, a Germanic people originating in the north German peninsula of Angeln, that is, the region of today's Lower Saxony that joins the Jutland Peninsula. It is also often used to refer to British in historical and other contexts after the Acts of Union 1707, for example such as in the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, where in later years agreement was between the British government and the Dutch, not an English government. Typical examples of this use are also shown below, where non-English people from the British Isles are described as being Anglo. Anglo is not an easily defined term. For traditionalists, there are linguistic problems with using the word as an adjective or noun on its own. For example, the purpose of the -o ending is to enable the formation of a compound term, so there is only an apparent parallelism between, for example, Latino and Anglo. However, a semantic change has taken place in many English-speaking regions so that in informal usage the meanings listed below are common. The definition is changed in each region which defines how it is identified.
The term Anglo-African has been used historically to self-identify by people of mixed British and African ancestry born in the United States and in Africa. The Anglo-African and The Weekly Anglo-African were the names of newspapers published by African AmericanabolitionistRobert Hamilton in New York during the American Civil War era. The Anglo-African was also the name of a newspaper published in Lagos from 1863 to 1865. It was founded and edited by Robert Campbell, a Jamaican born son of a Scottish father and Mulatto mother. The term has also been used historically to describe people living in the British Empire in Africa. The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketch-Book published in London in 1905 includes details of prominent British and Afrikanerpeople in Africa at that time.
Australia
In Australia, Anglo is used as part of the terms Anglo-Australian and Anglo-Celtic, which refer to the majority of Australians, who are of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish descent.
Canada
In Canada, and especially in Canadian French, the terms Anglophone, Anglo-Canadian or simply Anglo, are widely used to designate someone whose mother tongue is English, as opposed to Francophone, which describes someone whose mother tongue is French, and to Allophone, which describes someone whose mother tongue is a language other than English or French. Anglo-Metis is also sometimes used to refer to a historical ethnic group.
Israel
Immigrants from English-speaking countries are sometimes referred to as Anglos.
In Scotland the term Anglo-Scot, often shortened to Anglos, is used to refer to people with mixed Scottish-English ancestry, or people with English ancestry born in Scotland. The term Anglo-Scot is more often used to describe Scottish sports players who are based in England or playing for English teams, or vice versa. This usage is especially used in football and notably in rugby union, where the Anglo Scots were a Scottish non-native select provincial District side that competed in the Scottish Inter-District Championship.
United States
In many parts of the United States, especially those with high Hispanic populations, "Anglo-American" is shortened to "Anglo" and applied to white Americans who are not of Hispanic or Latino origin and sometimes to those who are not of French origin, but the latter criterion is based on specific linguistic considerations and limited to Louisiana and parts of Texas. If language is taken into consideration the term "Anglo-American" also excludes Franco-Americans such as the Cajuns of Louisiana, but would include them when language is excluded as a criterion. In the Southwest United States, "Anglo", short for "Anglo American", is used as a synonym for non-Hispanic Whites; that is European Americans, most of whom speak the English language, even those who are not necessarily of English or British descent. Some non-Hispanic whites in the United States who speak English but are not of English or British ancestry do not identify with the term Anglo and find the term offensive. For instance, some Cajuns in south Louisiana use the term to refer to area whites who do not have Francophone backgrounds. Irish Americans, the second largest self-identified ethnic group in the United States following German-Americans, also sometimes take umbrage at being called "Anglo".
