This Amish trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the history, beliefs and everyday life of the Old Order Amish. It starts with the Anabaptist roots in Zwingli's Zürich, the 1693 split led by Jakob Ammann and the migration to William Penn's Pennsylvania, then follows the church through the Old Order division, the Beachy and New Order groups and the Supreme Court's Wisconsin v. Yoder ruling. The rest is about how the Amish live: the Ordnung and church districts, worship every other Sunday in homes, Rumspringa and adult baptism, shunning, why men grow beards but never moustaches, hooks and eyes instead of buttons, one-room schools, the Pennsylvania Dutch language, the largest settlements in Lancaster County and Holmes County, whoopie pies and shoofly pie, plus the film Witness and the extraordinary forgiveness after the Nickel Mines shooting. About a third of the questions are easy; the rest reward people who have read beyond the tourist brochures. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia's articles on the Amish and related topics, and each question links to the page that confirms it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Amish are named for which Anabaptist leader, whose followers split from the Swiss Mennonites in 1693?
Jakob Ammann
The word 'Amish' began as an insult used by his opponents in 1710; he was born in 1644.
Q 02The Anabaptist movement from which the Amish emerged began in 1525 in which Swiss city?
Zürich
Conrad Grebel and George Blaurock baptised each other there in circles around the reformer Huldrych Zwingli.
Q 03What two-word formal name do the Amish go by, distinguishing them from the newer, more modern subgroups?
Old Order
When people say Amish today they normally mean this group, though New Order and Beachy Amish also exist.
Q 04What do the Amish call the set of church rules that governs dress, technology and daily life?
The Ordnung
It is largely unwritten, differs from district to district and is reviewed twice a year by every member.
Q 05Amish migrants of 1717-1750 settled first in the area that became which Pennsylvania county?
Berks
Land pressures and the French and Indian War later pushed many of them on to Lancaster County.
Q 06Mid-19th-century Amish immigrants settled mostly in Ohio, Illinois, Iowa and which Canadian province?
Ontario
Most of these later immigrants ended up joining more liberal groups rather than the Old Order.
Q 07As of 2024, roughly how many Old Order Amish live in the United States?
About 405,000
There are more than 6,000 in Canada too, and the population roughly doubles every 20 years.
Q 08Because of large families and high retention, the Amish population doubles roughly how often?
Every 20 years
Between 1992 and 2008 alone the North American Amish population grew by 84 percent.
Q 09What do the Amish generally call non-Amish people?
English
Outside influences are described as 'worldly'; the term applies regardless of a person's actual ethnicity.
Q 10Which language, a form of German, do most Old Order Amish speak at home?
Pennsylvania Dutch
'Dutch' here is a corruption of Deitsch, meaning German, not a mistranslation; Indiana's Swiss Amish speak a Bernese dialect instead.
Q 11Amish church membership begins with adult baptism, usually between which ages?
16 and 23
Baptism is the moment a young person commits to the church after the period of freedom known as Rumspringa.
Q 12What do the Amish call the period from around age 16 when youth experience the outside world before baptism?
Rumspringa
The Pennsylvania German word means 'running around'; elders see it mainly as a time for courtship.
Q 13How often do Old Order Amish hold worship services?
Every other Sunday
Services take place in a member's home or barn; only the more modern Beachy Amish worship weekly in church buildings.
Q 21The Amish value Gelassenheit, a German word meaning what?
Submission to God's will
Alongside it they prize rural life, manual labour and humility.
Q 22Which US county has the world's densest Amish population, about 48% in 2020?
Holmes, Ohio
Its settlement is the second-largest overall; the largest is in Pennsylvania.
Q 23The world's largest single Amish settlement is in which Pennsylvania county?
Lancaster
Its Amish community is a major tourist draw; the Holmes County, Ohio settlement is second with about 37,770 people in 2021.
Q 14An Amish church district typically contains how many families?
20 to 40
Each district is led by a bishop, ministers and deacons chosen partly by election and partly by drawing lots.
Q 15How are Amish bishops, ministers and deacons chosen?
By a mix of election and drawing lots
The practice of choosing by lot, or cleromancy, follows the New Testament account of the apostles replacing Judas.
Q 16Old Order Amish children typically finish formal schooling after which grade?
Eighth
They attend their own one-room schools; the Supreme Court upheld the practice in 1972.
Q 17Which 1972 Supreme Court case put Amish religious freedom above compulsory high-school education?
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Jonas Yoder and two other fathers had been fined $5 each for keeping their 14- and 15-year-olds out of high school.
Q 18Married Amish men grow beards but are forbidden from growing what?
Moustaches
Moustaches are associated with the military, which the pacifist Amish reject; the beard signals manhood and marital status.
Q 19Instead of buttons, which are considered too flashy, Old Order Amish clothing is fastened with what?
Hooks and eyes
Metal snaps are also used; women wear bonnets and aprons whose colours can signal marital status.
Q 20What is the Amish practice of social avoidance imposed on members who are excommunicated?
Shunning
The severity varies by community; the 1693 split itself was partly over whether banned members should be avoided even at meals.
Q 24The Amish are formally exempt from which US government programme, having a religious objection to it?
Social Security
Most also refuse commercial insurance, relying on the community to cover medical bills and disasters.
Q 25Which Amish subgroup, unlike the Old Order, drives cars and worships in the local language?
Beachy
Both the Beachy and New Order Amish also emphasise the New Birth, run Sunday schools and seek converts.
Q 26In which decade did the New Order Amish split from the Old Order?
1960s
The split came in 1966; the far more conservative Swartzentruber Amish had emerged earlier in Holmes County.
Q 27Which ultra-conservative Amish affiliation emerged in Holmes County, Ohio?
Swartzentruber
They are among the strictest groups, rejecting even the reflective safety triangles most Amish put on their buggies.
Q 28What is it called when a small founding population, like the Amish, makes some recessive conditions more common?
The founder effect
Overall the Amish do not have more genetic disorders than the general population, just a different mix.
Q 29The 1985 thriller Witness, with Harrison Ford among the Amish, was set in which county?
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Directed by Peter Weir, it earned eight Oscar nominations and won for Original Screenplay and Film Editing.
Q 30Who directed the 1985 film Witness?
Peter Weir
The Australian director later made Dead Poets Society and The Truman Show.