50 Fun Facts About Demonyms

Citizens of which country share their demonym's root with Deutsch, the German word for German?

The Netherlands' demonym, Dutch, comes from the same old Germanic word as Deutsch, meaning 'of the people'. English once used Dutch for German speakers too.

The kiwifruit, once the Chinese gooseberry, shares its name with a nickname for which country's citizens?

New Zealand exporters Turners & Growers adopted the name in 1959, borrowing kiwi, the national bird that had already given New Zealanders their nickname.

Hoosier, a word of disputed origin, is the official demonym for which Midwestern US state?

Indiana residents have been Hoosiers since the 1830s, yet nobody has settled where the word came from. An 1833 poem, The Hoosier's Nest, helped it spread.

A Scouser, a nickname taken from a sailors' stew, is a native of which English port city?

Liverpool's nickname comes from scouse, short for lobscouse, a sailors' stew with cousins across northern Europe, such as Norway's lapskaus.

Which demonym from an ancient Greek city-state now also means austere, frugal and self-disciplined?

Spartan earned its second meaning from the city's harsh upbringing: boys of the citizen class entered a state training system, the agoge, at age seven.

Wiener, the German word behind one of the hot dog's names, means a native of which European capital?

Vienna is Wien in German, so a Wiener is simply a Viennese, and the sausage name is short for Wienerwurst, or Vienna sausage.

Which dog breed shares its name with the demonym for a historic region on Croatia's Adriatic coast?

Dalmatian dogs are traced to Dalmatia, but the breed was developed chiefly in England, where a 1790 book already called it the Coach Dog.

A Muscovite, a name recalling medieval Muscovy, is a resident of which European capital?

Moscow's demonym also names a mineral: muscovite mica was once called Muscovy glass, because medieval Russia used thin sheets of it as cheap window panes.

Which demonym for natives of the western Czech lands also means an unconventional artist or writer?

Bohemian gained its artistic sense in France, where the Romani were called bohémiens in the mistaken belief that they had come from Bohemia.

In much of Germany, which city demonym is also the everyday name for a jam-filled doughnut?

Berliner is the pastry's name in northern and western Germany, but in Berlin itself it is just a Pfannkuchen, so the locals never order one by that name.

The demonyms for citizens of China, Portugal, Vietnam and Senegal all end in which shared suffix?

The suffix -ese came into English from Italian and goes back to the Latin ending -ensis, meaning originating in.

Deutschland, the name Germans themselves use for Germany, is an example of which kind of name?

Endonym joins the Greek for 'within' to the word for 'name'. Germany, Allemagne and Niemcy are the reverse: labels that outsiders use for the same country.

A true Cockney is traditionally born within earshot of the Bow Bells in which English city?

London's Cockney began as a Middle English word for a small, misshapen egg, literally a cock's egg, and was a taunt for soft town-dwellers before it settled on Londoners.

A Brummie is a native of which city in the English Midlands?

Birmingham was Brummagem in local speech, a word that also came to mean cheap, shoddy imitations, a sense that seems to date from its 17th-century reputation for counterfeit coins.

Mancunian, from the Latin name of a Roman fort, is the demonym for which city in northern England?

Manchester grew from the Roman fort of Mamucium, also written Mancunium, founded around AD 79 in what is now the Castlefield district.

A Geordie, a pet form of George, is a native of which city in northern England?

Newcastle's Geordies are named after a familiar form of George, a name once very common among the region's coal miners.

Neapolitan, as in the three-flavoured ice cream, is the demonym for which southern Italian city?

Naples was refounded in the sixth century BC as Neapolis, Greek for new city, and its demonym still echoes that older name.

Jovian describes the moons and imagined inhabitants of which giant planet?

Jupiter was also called Jove, which is why its adjective is Jovian. Astrologers' older form, jovial, came to mean merry, a mood they credited to the planet's influence.

Buckeyes, also the name of a famous college football team, are residents of which US state?

Ohio is the Buckeye State after its state tree, whose nut has markings that were said to resemble the eye of a deer.

Tar Heel is a nickname for natives of which US state, long a producer of tar, pitch and turpentine?

North Carolina's Tar Heel label was first pinned on poor labourers in its pine forests, then embraced with pride by the state's soldiers in the Civil War.

Sooners, originally settlers who jumped the gun in an 1889 land rush, are residents of which US state?

Oklahoma's Sooners began as rule-breakers who slipped into the Unassigned Lands before the official start, and the word was an insult at first. The state university's football team took it up in 1908.

An Angeleno is a resident of which California city, founded as a Spanish pueblo in 1781?

Los Angeles began as a pueblo whose long Spanish name honoured Our Lady the Queen of the Angels, and Angeleno comes from the American Spanish Angeleño.

Knickerbocker, also a word for old-fashioned knee breeches, is an old term for a native of which American city?

New York owes the word to Diedrich Knickerbocker, the invented historian whom Washington Irving named as the author of his 1809 satirical history of the city.

Bay Staters is the official name, set by state law, for citizens of which US state?

Massachusetts fixed Bay Staters in its General Laws, while federal style, set by the Government Publishing Office, prefers the tongue-twisting Massachusettsan.

Nutmegger is a nickname for residents of which New England state?

Connecticut's Nutmeg State label has no agreed origin. One tongue-in-cheek tale says its peddlers sold carved wooden nutmegs to unsuspecting customers.

Kamaʻāina, literally a child of the land, describes residents of which US state, whatever their ancestry?

Hawaii's kamaʻāina need only be local, not Native Hawaiian, and many shops, hotels and attractions offer them a kamaʻāina rate, a discount for residents.

Which future US president popularised Michigander in an 1848 speech attacking Michigan's Lewis Cass?

Abraham Lincoln, then a Whig congressman, used it as a jab at Cass, though the word had been around since at least 1820.

Cajun is a worn-down form of which demonym for French settlers deported by the British from Nova Scotia?

Acadian became Cadien in Louisiana French and then Cajun in English, after thousands of the deportees resettled in Louisiana in the late 1700s.

Manx is the demonym, and the name of a tailless cat breed, from which island?

The Isle of Man's Manx name also covers its Celtic language, whose last native speaker died in 1974 before learners revived it.

Hibernian, from the Romans' name Hibernia, is a poetic demonym for natives of which European island?

Ireland was Hibernia in Classical Latin, a name its emigrants carried abroad: Edinburgh's Hibernian football club was founded in 1875 by the city's Irish community.

Malagasy is both the demonym and an official language of which country?

Madagascar's Malagasy language is most closely related to a tongue still spoken on Borneo, a legacy of settlers who crossed the ocean from what is now Indonesia.

A Monégasque is a citizen of which European country?

Monaco's native citizens are a minority in their own country, and their traditional tongue, also called Monégasque, is a variety of Ligurian.

A Nigerien, spelled with an e, is a citizen of which West African country?

Niger and neighbouring Nigeria both take their names from the same river, which leaves a single letter to tell a Nigerien from a Nigerian.

A Mauritian is a citizen of which country, named after a Dutch prince?

Mauritius was named in 1598 after Prince Maurice of Nassau, while look-alike Mauritania takes its name from Mauretania, an ancient region of North Africa.

Burmese is the demonym for citizens of which Southeast Asian country, whose English name changed in 1989?

Myanmar and Burma both come from the name of the country's largest ethnic group, one in the literary register and one in the spoken, so the demonym survived the 1989 change.

Magyar, as in Magyarország, is the name which landlocked Central European nation's people use for themselves?

Hungary calls itself Magyarország, built from magyar, meaning Hungarian, and ország, meaning country.

Ticos, nicknamed for their love of diminutives ending in -tico, are citizens of which Central American country?

Costa Rica's Ticos are named for diminutives such as momentico, and the country's own colloquial expressions are known as tiquismos.

Boricua, from the Taíno name Borinquen, is a term for a native of which Caribbean island?

Puerto Rico was Borinquen to the Taíno, and the name lives on: the island's 65th Infantry Regiment of the US Army was nicknamed the Borinqueneers.

Bajan, a clipped form of the formal demonym, is the everyday name for citizens of which Caribbean island country?

Barbados gets Bajan from a shortening and alteration of Barbadian, and the same word names the island's English-based creole.

While citizens of Afghanistan are usually called Afghans, the afghani is the name of the country's what?

Currency is the afghani's main job: it replaced the Afghan rupee in the 1920s. Some dictionaries also list Afghani for a person, but Afghan is the standard demonym.

A Mackem is a native of which place in north-east England, once famed for its shipyards?

Sunderland's Mackem may come from mak 'em and tak 'em, the local way of saying make them and take them, a phrase linked to its shipyards.

Cantabrigian, often shortened to Cantab, is an adjective for which English city and its ancient university?

Cambridge was Cantabrigia in medieval Latin, a name invented on the basis of the Anglo-Saxon Cantebrigge.

Wulfrunians, named after the Anglo-Saxon noblewoman Wulfrun, are natives of which West Midlands city?

Wolverhampton means Wulfrun's high farm or enclosure, after the lady who was granted land there by King Ethelred the Unready in 985.

A Haligonian is a resident of which city in Canada's Atlantic provinces?

Halifax shares its odd demonym with Halifax in West Yorkshire, England; the Canadian city was named in 1749 after the 2nd Earl of Halifax.

A Carioca, a word that comes from Old Tupi, is a resident of which Brazilian city?

Rio de Janeiro keeps Carioca for natives of the city alone, while anyone born in the wider state of the same name is a Fluminense, from the Latin for river.

Which demonym belongs to residents of the city of Buenos Aires, but not to the surrounding province?

Porteños means people of the port, and the label is not shared with the surrounding province, whose inhabitants are Bonaerenses.

Tapatío, also the name of a hot sauce brand, is the demonym for natives of which Mexican city?

Guadalajara's demonym reached American tables in 1975, when a California hot sauce took the name Tapatío and put a charro from Jalisco on its label.

An Edokko, literally a child of Edo, is someone born and raised in which Asian capital?

Tokyo was called Edo until 1868, and Edokko, a label thought to date from the late 18th century, implied an assertive, straightforward and cheerful character.

Cytherean, a word taken from an island sacred to Aphrodite, is a rare adjective for which planet?

Venus got Cytherean because astronomers shied away from the traditional adjective, venereal, with its medical overtones, and borrowed a byname of Aphrodite instead.

In Botswana a single citizen is a Motswana; which plural form is the demonym for the nation's citizens?

Batswana first named the Tswana people and now covers every citizen, while the same root with a different prefix, Setswana, names the language.