Given a graphon
$W$ and a finite simple graph
$H$, with vertex set
$V(H)$, denote by
$X_n(H, W)$ the number of copies of
$H$ in a
$W$-random graph on
$n$ vertices. The asymptotic distribution of
$X_n(H, W)$ was recently obtained by Hladký, Pelekis, and Šileikis [17] in the case where
$H$ is a clique. In this paper, we extend this result to any fixed graph
$H$. Towards this we introduce a notion of
$H$-regularity of graphons and show that if the graphon
$W$ is not
$H$-regular, then
$X_n(H, W)$ has Gaussian fluctuations with scaling
$n^{|V(H)|-\frac{1}{2}}$. On the other hand, if
$W$ is
$H$-regular, then the fluctuations are of order
$n^{|V(H)|-1}$ and the limiting distribution of
$X_n(H, W)$ can have both Gaussian and non-Gaussian components, where the non-Gaussian component is a (possibly) infinite weighted sum of centred chi-squared random variables with the weights determined by the spectral properties of a graphon derived from
$W$. Our proofs use the asymptotic theory of generalised
$U$-statistics developed by Janson and Nowicki [22]. We also investigate the structure of
$H$-regular graphons for which either the Gaussian or the non-Gaussian component of the limiting distribution (but not both) is degenerate. Interestingly, there are also
$H$-regular graphons
$W$ for which both the Gaussian or the non-Gaussian components are degenerate, that is,
$X_n(H, W)$ has a degenerate limit even under the scaling
$n^{|V(H)|-1}$. We give an example of this degeneracy with
$H=K_{1, 3}$ (the 3-star) and also establish non-degeneracy in a few examples. This naturally leads to interesting open questions on higher order degeneracies.