Coptic Americans ( ''niremenkāmi enamerika'') are American citizens of Coptic descent or persons of Coptic descent residing in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. As of 2018, there were some 500,000 Copts living in the United States.

Immigration history

The immigration of the

Copt Copts ( cop, ⲛⲓⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ; ar, الْقِبْط ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group indigenous to North Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt and Sudan since antiquity. Most ethnic Copts are Co ...

s to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

started as early as the late 1940s. After 1952, the rate of Coptic immigration from

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

to the United States increased. The first Coptic church in the United States is St. Mark's Coptic Orthodox Church, which was established in the late 1960s in Jersey City. As of 2013, researchers estimated that there were about 350,000 Copts who settled in the United States before the Egyptian revolution of 2011, with up to 100,000 additional Copts who settled in the U.S. after the revolution, fleeing instability and violence in Egypt. Many came to the U.S. on grants of

asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea ...

. The new post-2011 migrants to the United States included both educated middle-class Copts and poorer, more rural Copts. As of 2018, it was estimated that a half-million Copts lived in the United States.Shira Telushkin
The Americanization of an Ancient Faith
''The Atlantic'' (March 28, 2018). The historic centers of Coptic American life have been in New York,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. In the 1990s, there were more than 50 Coptic congregations in the United States; by 2018, there were more than 250 Coptic congregations in the United States.

Notable people

This is a list of notable Coptic Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants. * Nader Anise, founder of Coptic American Chamber of Commerce (Coptic Chamber) and attorney *

Halim El-Dabh Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh ( ar, حليم عبد المسيح الضبع, ''Ḥalīm ʻAbd al-Masīḥ al-Ḍab''ʻ; March 4, 1921 – September 2, 2017) was an Egyptian-American composer, musician, ethnomusicologist, and educator, who had ...

, composer and ethnomusicologist * Fadi Chehade, founder of

RosettaNet RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium aimed at establishing standard processes for the sharing of business information ( B2B). RosettaNet is a consortium of major Computer and Consumer Electronics, Electronic Components, Semiconductor Manufacturing ...

* Gamal Helal, retired interpreter and diplomat * Raymond Ibrahim, author and commentator * Magdi Khalil, commentator *

Marty Makary Martin Adel Makary is a British-American surgeon, professor, author and medical reporter, medical commentator. He practices surgical oncology and gastrointestinal laparoscopic surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, is Mark Ravitch Chair in Gas ...

, scientist and author * Rami Malek, actor *

Emil Michael Emil G. Michael ( ar, إيميل مايكل ; born September 19, 1972) is an Egyptian-born American businessman. Michael was the Senior Vice President of Business and Chief Business Officer at Uber, and the Chief Operating Officer of Klout. Ea ...

, businessman, former vice president of

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), packa ...

Michael Mina Michael Mina ( ar, مايكل مينا; born 1969) is an American celebrity chef, restaurateur, and cookbook author. He is the founder of the Mina Group, a restaurant management company operating over 40 restaurants worldwide. He is the exec ...

, award-winning chef and restaurateur *

Dina Powell Dina Powell, also known as Dina Powell McCormick (née Habib , ar, دينا حبيب; June 12, 1973) is an American financial executive, philanthropist, and political advisor, best known for having been the United States Deputy National Securit ...

, former

Deputy National Security Advisor The United States Deputy National Security Advisor is a member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and the United States National Security Council, serving under the President's National Security Advisor. Among other res ...

* Morris Sadek, attorney and activist *

Fayez Sarofim Fayez Sarofim (, arz, فايز صاروفيم‎; 1929 – 27 May 2022) was an Egyptian Coptic American, Coptic-American heir to the Sarofim family fortune, fund manager for a number of Louis Dreyfus Company, Dreyfus family stock funds, large ...

, billionaire and heir to the Sarofim family fortune *

Matthew Shenoda Matthew Shenoda is an Egyptian-American poet, writer, and professor based in the United States. Born July 14, 1977 in California to Coptic parents who immigrated from Egypt, Matthew Shenoda is a writer and educator whose poems and writings have app ...

, poet, writer, and professor * Bassem Youssef (FBI agent), Unit Chief in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division * Nabih Youssef, structural engineer

References

External links

https://www.unionbetweenchristians.com/2020/09/coptic-orthodox-dioceses-in-usa-2020.html {{African immigration to the United States * Coptic diaspora in North America Coptic American North Africans in the United States Middle Eastern American Ethnic groups in the United States

Immigration history

Notable people

See also

References

External links