A demonym (; ) or gentilic () is a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place (hamlet, village, town, city, region, province, state, country, continent, planet, and beyond). Demonyms are used to designate all people (the general population) of a particular place, regardless of ethnic, linguistic, religious or other cultural differences that may exist within the population of that place. Examples of demonyms include ''Cochabambino'', for someone from the city of Cochabamba; French for a person from France; and '' Swahili'', for a person of the Swahili coast. As a sub-field of

anthroponymy Anthroponymy (also anthroponymics or anthroponomastics, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος ''anthrōpos'' / 'human', and ὄνομα ''onoma'' / 'name') is the study of ''anthroponyms'', the proper names of human beings, both individual and ...

, the study of demonyms is called ''demonymy'' or ''demonymics''. Since they are referring to territorially defined groups of people, demonyms are semantically different from

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...

s (names of ethnic groups). In the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

, there are many polysemic words that have several meanings (including demonymic and ethnonymic uses), and therefore a particular use of any such word depends on the context. For example, the word ''Thai'' may be used as a demonym, designating any inhabitant of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, while the same word may also be used as an ethnonym, designating members of the

Thai people Thai people ( th, ชาวไทย; '' endonym''), Central Thai people ( th, คนภาคกลาง, sou, คนใต้, ตามโพร; ''exonym and also domestically'') or Siamese ( th, ชาวสยาม; ''historical exonym an ...

. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms. For example, a native of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

may be called a ''

British person British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

'', a ''Briton'' or, informally, a ''Brit''. Some demonyms may have several meanings. For example, the demonym ''Macedonians'' may refer to the population of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

, or more generally to the entire population of the region of Macedonia, a portion of which is in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. In some languages, a demonym may be borrowed from another language as a nickname or descriptive adjective for a group of people: for example, ''Québécois'', ''Québécoise (female)'' is commonly used in English for a native of the province or city of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

(though ''Quebecer'', ''Quebecker'' are also available). In English, demonyms are always capitalized. Often, demonyms are the same as the adjectival form of the place, e.g. ''Egyptian'', '' Japanese'', or '' Greek''. English commonly uses national demonyms such as ''Ethiopian'' or ''Guatemalan'', while the usage of local demonyms such as ''

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

an'', '' Okie'' or ''

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

ian'' is less common. Many local demonyms are rarely used and many places, especially smaller towns and cities, lack a commonly used and accepted demonym altogether. Often, in practice, the demonym for states, provinces or cities is simply the name of the place, treated as an adjective; for instance, ''

Kennewick Man Kennewick Man and Ancient One are the names generally given to the skeletal remains of a prehistoric Paleoamerican man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, on July 28, 1996. It is one of the most complete ancient ske ...

'' or '' Kentucky State Police''.

Etymology

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widel ...

'' attributes the term ''demonym'' to

Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...

editor Paul Dickson in a work from 1990. The word did not appear for nouns, adjectives, and verbs derived from geographical names in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary nor in prominent style manuals such as the '' Chicago Manual of Style''. It was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book ''Labels for Locals''. However, in ''What Do You Call a Person From...? A Dictionary of Resident Names'' (the first edition of ''Labels for Locals'') Dickson attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his ''Names' Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon'' (1988), which is apparently where the term first appears. The term may have been fashioned after ''demonymic'', which the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

'' defines as the name of an

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

citizen Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

according to the

deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and ear ...

to which the citizen belongs, with its first use traced to 1893.

Suffixation

Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the

. The most common is to add a

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carr ...

to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. These may resemble

Late Latin Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...

, Semitic,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

, or Germanic suffixes, such as ''-(a)n'', ''-ian'', ''-anian'', ''-nian'', ''-in(e)'', ''-a(ñ/n)o/a'', ''-e(ñ/n)o/a'', ''-i(ñ/n)o/a'', ''-ite'', ''-(e)r'', ''-(i)sh'', ''-ene'', ''-ensian'', ''-ard'', ''-ese'', ''-nese'', ''-lese'', ''-i(e)'', ''-i(ya)'', ''-iot'', ''-iote'', ''-k'', ''-asque'', ''-(we)gian'', ''-onian'', ''-vian'', ''-ois(e)'', or ''-ais(e)''.

Prefixation

It is much rarer to find Demonyms created with a prefix. Mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of a particular ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, and the language,

Kiluba Luba-Katanga, also known as Luba-Shaba and ''Kiluba'' ( lu, Kiluba), is a Bantu language ( Zone L) of Central Africa. It is spoken mostly in the south-east area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Luba people. Kiluba is spoken in the ...

or Tshiluba. Similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti (Viti being the Fijian name for

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

). On a country level: *

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

→ Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural) *

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...

→ Umurundi (singular), Abarundi (plural) *

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

→ Liswati (singular), Emaswati (plural) * Lesotho → Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)

Non-standard examples

Demonyms may also not conform to the underlying naming of a particular place, but instead arise out of historical or cultural particularities that become associated with its denizens. In the United States such demonyms frequently become associated with regional pride such as the burqueño of

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

, or with the mascots of intercollegiate sports teams of the state university system, take for example the sooner of Oklahoma and the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early part ...

Ethnonyms

Since names of places, regions and countries (

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

) are morphologically often related to names of ethnic groups (

ethnonyms An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and ...

), various ethnonyms may have similar, but not always identical, forms as terms for general population of those places, regions or countries (demonyms).

Fiction

Literature and science fiction have created a wealth of gentilics that are not directly associated with a cultural group. These will typically be formed using the standard models above. Examples include '' Martian'' for hypothetical people of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

(credited to scientist Percival Lowell), ''Gondorian'' for the people of Tolkien's fictional land of

Gondor Gondor is a fictional kingdom in J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, described as the greatest realm of Men in the west of Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age. The third volume of ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Return of the King'', is largely ...

, and ''Atlantean'' for

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's island Atlantis. Other science fiction examples include '' Jovian'' for those of

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

or its moons and '' Venusian'' for those of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

. Fictional aliens refer to the inhabitants of Earth as '' Earthling'' (from the

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

''-ling'', ultimately from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''-ing'' meaning "descendant"), as well as '' Terran'', ''Terrene'', ''Tellurian'', ''Earther'', ''Earthican'', ''Terrestrial'', and ''Solarian'' (from ''Sol'', the sun). Fantasy literature which involves other worlds or other lands also has a rich supply of gentilics. Examples include ''Lilliputians'' and ''Brobdingnagians'', from the islands of Lilliput and Brobdingnag in the satire '' Gulliver's Travels''. In a few cases, where a linguistic background has been constructed, non-standard gentilics are formed (or the eponyms back-formed). Examples include Tolkien's '' Rohirrim'' (from Rohan), the ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

'' franchise's '' Klingons'' (with various names for their homeworld), and the

Sangheili The ''Halo'' video game and media franchise takes place in a fictional science fiction universe. In the distant past, a race known as the Forerunners fought the parasitic Flood. The Forerunners ultimately activate weapons of mass destruction, th ...

from the '' Halo'' franchise, (also known as Elites in the game by humans, as well as players) named after their homeworld o
Sanghelios

Notes

References

Sources

* *

External links

www.geography-site.co.uk
Alphabetical list of world demonyms.
www.everything2.com
Demonyms of the World.
www.peoplefrom.co.uk
Demonyms of the United Kingdom. {{Ethnicity Semantics Types of words