Generally when I meet an American, once they have been politely corrected in their assumption that I’m Australian (honestly! I couldn’t sound less Australian if I tried) they ALWAYS say; “oh I have a friend in England/ I lived there once/ my next door neighbour’s son could point it out on a map”….or similar. Then they say: “I lived in Moss Side/ Dagenham/ Milton Keynes” or somewhere of comparable grimness. “Do you know it?”
At that point I generally make “mmm that sounds lovely but it’s not very close to where I lived” sort of noises. I’m now of the mind that I’d be best off avoiding the conversation completely. I was thinking I could just say I’m from the Isle of Wight (which from memory is pretty uniformly pleasant). Or maybe I should just invent a small European country to come from. Bet they won’t have family there.