 Sometimes classified an ethnic group by some demographers and sometimes as a religious identity (Judaism), American Jews of various nationalities and various denominations, but most are American-born, are a major social presence in New York.An estimated 1 to 2 million alone in New York City and another 1 to 1.5 million live in surrounding areas, sometimes New York is referred to as the "world's largest Jewish city" since the mid-19th century.The first wave of Jewish immigrants in New York are of Sephardic origin, a scant 10,000 from the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries, but in the 19th century more newcomers were first German and finally in the early 20th century millions from Eastern Europe like Poland and Russia, both of Ashkenazi origin.