Demonym facts for kids

A demonym is a special word. It describes the people who live in a certain place. For example, someone from England is called an "English" person. The name of a country's language is often the same as its demonym. Sometimes, a place might not have a common demonym for its residents.

How Demonyms Are Made

The English language uses many ways to create demonyms. The most common way is to add a suffix (an ending) to the name of the place. These endings often come from Latin, Semitic, or Germanic languages.

Adding Suffixes

Here are some common suffixes used to make demonyms:

• -an (like from America to American, or Rome to Roman)
• -ian (like from Paris to Parisian, Russia to Russian, or Canada to Canadian)
• -ine (like from Florence to Florentine, or Argentina to Argentine)
• -ite (like from Vancouver to Vancouverite, or Moscow to Muscovite). This is mostly for cities.
• -er (like from London to Londoner). This is also mostly for cities.
• -eno (like from Los Angeles to Angeleno). This comes from the Spanish eño suffix.
• -ish (like from Spain to Spanish, or Denmark to Danish). This is mostly for countries.
  • The "-ish" ending is usually an adjective (a describing word). Many "-ish" forms have different demonyms for the people. For example, people from Spain are "Spaniards," not "Spanish."
• -ese (like from Taiwan to Taiwanese, Vienna to Viennese, or Japan to Japanese).
  • The "-ese" ending is usually an adjective or refers to a whole group. For example, "The Chinese" means all people from China.
• -i (like from Iraq to Iraqi, or Bengal to Bengali). This is mostly for places in the Middle East and South Asia.
• -ic (like from Hispania to Hispanic).
  • The "-ic" ending is mostly an adjective. It refers to a group of people who share a background or language, like Hispanic people.
• -iote (like from Cyprus to Cypriote). This is often used for Greek places.

Demonyms That Are Different

Sometimes, the name of a place and its demonym are not directly related. For example, people from France are called "French," not "France-ish." People from the Philippines are called "Filipino."

In a few cases, the country's name and the people's name are very different. For example, people from the Netherlands are called "Dutch." This often happens when the words come from different languages.

Demonyms can be nouns (naming words) or adjectives (describing words). Often, the noun and adjective forms are the same, like "Canadian" (noun) and "Canadian" (adjective). But sometimes they are different, like a "Spaniard" (noun) and "Spanish" (adjective).

Challenges with Demonyms

Some groups of people, especially those whose lands were taken over by European colonists, might not have a clear demonym. Or their demonym might be the same as their nation's name. Examples include Iroquois, Māori, and Czech. Often, their original languages had different words that were not used in English. For example, in Czech, the language is Čeština, and the people are Češi.

The demonym for people from the United States of America also has a challenge. "American" can mean someone from the United States. But it can also mean someone from any part of the two American continents (North America and South America). Other words like United Statian are not used much in English, but they exist in other languages like Spanish (estadounidense).

Adding Prefixes

It is much less common to find demonyms made with a prefix (a beginning part of a word). This is mostly seen in Africa and the Pacific. These demonyms are not usually known outside their own countries. In East Africa, a person from a certain group might have a prefix. For example, a person from the Luba people is a Muluba, and many are Baluba.

Here are some examples of prefix demonyms:

• Botswana → Motswana (one person), Batswana (many people)
• Burundi → Umurundi (one person), Abarundi (many people)
• Eswatini → Liswati (one person), Emaswati (many people)
• Lesotho → Mosotho (one person), Basotho (many people)

Unique Demonyms

Some demonyms don't follow the usual rules. They come from history or culture that became linked to the people of a place. In the United States, these often show local pride. For example, people from Albuquerque might be called "Burqueño."

See also

In Spanish: Gentilicio para niños