Supriya Ghosh (Editor)

New Zealand Americans

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New Zealand-Americans are Americans born in New Zealand or born in the United States of America who have New Zealand ancestry. According to the 2010 surveys, there are 19,961 New Zealand Americans. Most of them are of European descent, but some hundreds are of indigenous New Zealand descent. Some 925 of those New Zealand-Americans declared they were of Tokelauan origin. The 2000 Census indicated also the existence of 1,994 people of Māori descent in US.

Many New Zealanders came to the United States after World War II. A significant portion (although not the majority) of these immigrants were war brides, because they had married U.S. soldiers who were stationed in the Pacific theater during the war. Since the 1940s, the majority of New Zealanders who have settled in the United States came seeking higher education or employment, especially in work related to finance, import and export, and entertainment industries.

Some small communities of New Zealanders have been created in the Chicago area and in the Green Bay and Madison, Wisconsin areas.

List of New Zealand Americans

New Zealand Americans include:

  • Peter Arnett - TV presenter
  • Huntley Campbell - philosopher
  • Ray Comfort - fundamentalist Christian evangelist
  • Rachel Hunter - model, actress
  • Phil Keoghan - host of The Amazing Race
  • Lucy Lawless - actress, singer
  • Len Lye - artist
  • Andrew Niccol - film producer
  • William Hayward Pickering - NASA chief
  • Clive Revill - character actor
  • George Silk - photojournalist
  • Peter Snell - athlete
  • Jesse Thomas - graphic designer
  • Jeremy Waldron - university professor
  • References

    New Zealand Americans Wikipedia