For instance why is “Anglo-Saxon” specifically the thing to define white Protestants in the US? At the very least they were like 600 years removed from Anglo-Saxon dominance in England when their ancestors left for America. Were settlers to the new world from England actually literal Anglo-Saxon descendants that were fleeing Britain after centuries of not being given titles or important posts by their continental overlords?

Like for a resident of the Danelaw region when William the Conqueror came through and ensured that everyone was now his subject as the king of England and this was no longer an autonomous Danish territory or whatever, would they be left with their language and culture to do what they want? And they just slowly blended into the “anglo-Saxon” and “English” culture over time under their French lords? Like why don’t northern Englanders that likely are more descended from Scandinavians more recently and more often than saxons, have an anglo-Danish or anglo-norse label or something? What made “anglo-Saxon” stay the dominant label for 1000 years of other groups coming along and jumping into the gene pool?