Day 38: Demonyms

Photo by Andrew Stutesman on Unsplash

Weird word, huh. I came across this word while researching something else and had never heard of it. Here’s the definition, which should add some clarity:

a word that identifies a group of people (inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place.

So think “people”. “Demo”, like “demographic”. Not “demon”. Okay glad we cleared that up.

This word actually originated in 1990, so it’s very new, relative to most other words.

The vast majority of demonyms add a suffix to the name of the place where the people are from, as in:

• Asia → Asians
• Belgium → Belgians
• New Hampshire → New Hampshirites
• Dublin → Dubliners
• Ireland → Irish people
• Spain → Spaniards
• China → Chinese

Interestingly, a few actually add a prefix:

• Botswana → Motswana (singular), Batswana (plural)
• Burundi → Umurundi (singular), Abarundi (plural)
• Eswatini → Liswati (singular), Emaswati (plural)
• Lesotho → Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)

And here are some bonus ones that Wikipedia says are real, but I’m not sure if I believe it:

• Connecticut → Nutmeggers
• Indiana → Hoosiers
• Massachusetts → Bay Staters