That is the question that an article on Indolink.com poses:

…East Indian or Asian Indian, or Indian American or Indo-American or Desi. Or, to remove the slightest doubt, it may even require a mouthful as in “East Indian American” or “Asian Indian American” or “South Asian Indian American.”

Okay, I am already confused. I thought I knew my identity but now I am not sure. Labels matter to me. But…it gets even more confusing:

The ultimate dilemma is that in Britain and East Africa he is an Asian. In Russia, Southeast Asia, and Europe and Fiji he is still an Indian. In the Caribbean he is an East Indian. In Canada he may be an Indo-Canadian. But in America he can never be “Indian,” while at the same time his Asian identity is oftentimes suspect – thanks to the average American’s geographic illiteracy.

Whoa, can somebody please stop the room from spinning? Let’s go to the history books and see how it came to this. What were we “originally?”

The earliest report of The Senate Commission on Immigration (1911) by H. A. Millis was entitled “East Indian immigration to the Pacific Coast states.” Earlier too, in 1947, Gurdial Singh wrote in Sociological and Social Research on ‘East Indians in the U.S.’ And the very first detailed study of Indian immigrants in America can be found in H. Brett Melendy’s 1974 book ‘Asians in America’ in which people from the subcontinent were referred to exclusively as ‘East Indians.’

The rest of this article is an interesting read filled with fun facts that I urge SM readers to take a look at. You will be admired at the next cocktail party for your new knowledge.