On the topic of Easter-eggers versus Ameraucanas versus Araucanas - I am certainly no expert, but as I am very much interested in breeding Ameraucanas one day, I have put in a lot of research.
Araucanas - You can almost guarantee you don't have an Araucana unless you went to a breeder for them. Exceptionally rare, they are blue-egg-laying birds that are rumpless, as in they do not have tails, and tufted, not bearded. The tufts are only on the sides of their heads, quite different from the beards of the other two. Some Araucana colorations even have yellow legs, something that from my understanding is a no-no with Ameraucanas.
Ameraucanas - Ameraucanas are similar in shape to Easter-eggers--or, more truthfully, Easter-eggers are similar in shape to Ameraucanas--but there are many differences between them. Ameraucanas should lay blue eggs and have slate legs. They should also be of the several recognized colors or of the project colors. A bird can be pure Ameraucana, but if it is not a recognized color, it is considered an Easter-egger. Some even say that the project colors are Easter-eggers because they are not recognized colors. Pedigree has little to do with it.
Easter-egger - Perhaps the most interesting of the three, the Easter-egger is a name for any non-standard bird that could potentially be a carrier of the blue-egg gene. Many Easter-eggers do not actually carry the blue-egg gene and lay brown eggs instead, but they descended from blue-egg layers, which is why they are called as one. Interestingly enough, because of this definition, one could have a cross between a cream Legbar or another blue egg layer and still call it an Easter-egger - as long as the bird can potentially carry the blue egg gene, it doesn't necessarily have to be a descendant of an Ameraucana or Araucana directly.
So essentially, if you got your 'Ameraucana' from a hatchery, the feed store, or anyone that spells it as 'Americana', you most likely are not the owner of a true Ameraucana. And, unless you looked specifically for them, you probably don't have an Araucana, either.
For anyone that does not know for sure if they have an Ameraucana or an Easter-egger, the Ameraucana Breeders Club has pictures of every color for you to compare your birds to: http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html They also have the standard for Ameraucanas, both bantam and large fowl, if anyone wants to read: http://www.ameraucana.org/standard.html
And I will step off my soap box now.
Hopefully, that answers some questions.
Araucanas - You can almost guarantee you don't have an Araucana unless you went to a breeder for them. Exceptionally rare, they are blue-egg-laying birds that are rumpless, as in they do not have tails, and tufted, not bearded. The tufts are only on the sides of their heads, quite different from the beards of the other two. Some Araucana colorations even have yellow legs, something that from my understanding is a no-no with Ameraucanas.
Ameraucanas - Ameraucanas are similar in shape to Easter-eggers--or, more truthfully, Easter-eggers are similar in shape to Ameraucanas--but there are many differences between them. Ameraucanas should lay blue eggs and have slate legs. They should also be of the several recognized colors or of the project colors. A bird can be pure Ameraucana, but if it is not a recognized color, it is considered an Easter-egger. Some even say that the project colors are Easter-eggers because they are not recognized colors. Pedigree has little to do with it.
Easter-egger - Perhaps the most interesting of the three, the Easter-egger is a name for any non-standard bird that could potentially be a carrier of the blue-egg gene. Many Easter-eggers do not actually carry the blue-egg gene and lay brown eggs instead, but they descended from blue-egg layers, which is why they are called as one. Interestingly enough, because of this definition, one could have a cross between a cream Legbar or another blue egg layer and still call it an Easter-egger - as long as the bird can potentially carry the blue egg gene, it doesn't necessarily have to be a descendant of an Ameraucana or Araucana directly.
So essentially, if you got your 'Ameraucana' from a hatchery, the feed store, or anyone that spells it as 'Americana', you most likely are not the owner of a true Ameraucana. And, unless you looked specifically for them, you probably don't have an Araucana, either.
For anyone that does not know for sure if they have an Ameraucana or an Easter-egger, the Ameraucana Breeders Club has pictures of every color for you to compare your birds to: http://www.ameraucana.org/scrapbook.html They also have the standard for Ameraucanas, both bantam and large fowl, if anyone wants to read: http://www.ameraucana.org/standard.html
And I will step off my soap box now.
Hopefully, that answers some questions.
If you're wondering (but mostly because I like to show off my birds 
), the only straight run girl I've gotten is my Easter-egger, Merlin:
Fellow bird watcher here! I get all excited when I spot something in the area that I've never seen before, but it seems like no one understands. 
