Demonym - Irregular Forms

Irregular Forms

There are many irregular demonyms for recently formed entities, such as those in the New World. There are other demonyms that are borrowed from the native or another language.

In some cases, both the location's name and the demonym are produced by suffixation, for example England and English and English(wo)man (derived from the Angle tribe). In some cases the derivation is concealed enough that it is no longer morphemic: France → French (or Frenchman/Frenchwoman) or Flanders → Flemish or Wales → Welsh.

In some of the latter cases the noun is formed by adding -man or -woman, for example English/Englishman/Englishwoman; Irish/Irishman/Irishwoman; Chinese/Chinese man/Chinese woman (versus the archaic or derogatory terms Chinaman/Chinawoman).

From Latin or Latinization

• Ashbourne → Ashburnian (Essiburn)
• Colchester → Colcestrian
• Courland → Couronian (Curonia)
• Exeter → Exonian
• Guernsey → Sarnian (Sarnia)
• Halifax → Haligonian
• Leeds → Leodensian (Ledesia)
• Lviv → Leopolitan (Leopolis)
• Manchester → Mancunian (Mancunia)
• Melbourne → Melburnian (Melburnia)
• Naples → Neapolitan (Neapolis)
• Newcastle → Novocastrian (Novum Castrum)
• Orkney Islands → Orcadian (Orcadia)
• St Albans → Verulamian (Verulamium)
• Tripoli → Tripolitan (Tripolis)
• University of Cambridge → Cantabrigian
• University of Oxford → Oxonian
• Venice → Venetian

From native or other languages

• Aberteifi → Cardi
• Andhra → Andhraite
• Aguascalientes (lit. "hot waters") → Hidrocálido, from Mexico's state and city.
• Barbados → Bajan A colloquial term a shortened form of Barbadian → Bar-bajan → Bajan
• Birmingham → Brummie
• Botswana → Batswana (plural), Motswana (singular)
• Brittany → Breton (from French)
• Brussels → Bruxellois (from French)
• Burkina Faso → Burkinabè
• Burma/Myanmar → Myanma
• Cambodia → Khmer (also Cambodian)
• Colchester → Colcestrian
• County Cork → Corkonian
• Dundee → Dundonian
• Fontainebleau → Bellifontain (from French)
• Glasgow → Glaswegian
• Hartlepool → Hartlepudlian
• Karnataka → Kannadiga (from the local demonym)
• Kerala → Keralite
• Kiribati → i-Kiribati
• Kosovo → Kosovar (Albanian language)
• Lesotho → Basotho (from Sesotho), Mosotho (singular)
• Liverpool → Liverpudlian or Scouser
• Lyon → Lyonnais (from French)
• Meru → Merian (Residents of Meru, Kenya)
• Mumbai → Mumbaikar (either gender), Mumbaikars
• Netherlands → Dutch (from Middle Dutch: Duuts, High German: Deutsch, or Proto-Germanic: *þeudiskaz (all three meaning "national/popular"))
• Nice → Niçois (from French)
• Niger → Nigerien (from French)
• Nunavut → Nunavummiuq (from Inuktitut)
• Paisley → Buddie
• Parma → Parmesan in English, Parmigiano in Italian, Pram'zan in emilian, while Parmense is for people born in the province of Parma, (emilian language: Arijoz)
• Philippines → Pinoy (m.)/ Pinay (f.)
• Puerto Rico → Boricua
• Pegswood → Pegswardian
• Quebec → Québécois (from French)
• Rivière-du-Loup → Louperivois
• Stockport → Stopfordian
• Tamil Nadu → Tamilian
• The Hague → Hagenees (people born in the inner city), Hagenaar (people born elsewhere)
• Twente → Tukker
• Vanuatu → ni-Vanuatu

Irregular singular forms

• Bali → Balinese
• Balochistan → Balochi
• Bashkortostan → Bashkir
• Chechnya → Chechen
• Croatia → Croat (also Croatian)
• Denmark → Dane
• Finland → Finn
• Greece → Greek
• Ingushetia → Ingush
• Isle of Man → Manx
• Java → Javanese
• Kazakhstan → Kazakh
• Kurdistan → Kurd
• Kyrgyzstan → Kyrgyz
• Poland → Pole
• Saxony → Saxon
• Serbia → Serb (also Serbian)
• Seychelles → Seychellois
• Slovakia → Slovak
• Soviet Union → Soviet
• Spain → Spaniard
• St Etienne → Stephanois
• Sweden → Swede
• Switzerland → Swiss
• Tajikistan → Tajik
• Tatarstan → Tatar
• Thailand → Thai
• Turkey → Turk
• Turkmenistan → Turkmen
• Uzbekistan → Uzbek
• Wallonia → Walloon
• Yakutistan → Yakut

New World forms

In the case of most Canadian provinces and territories and U.S. states, it is unusual to use demonyms as attributive adjectives (for example "Manitoba maple", not "Manitoban maple" and "Canada geese", not "Canadian geese"); thus they are generally used only predicatively ("Ben Franklin was Pennsylvanian") or substantively ("Eight Virginians have become Presidents of the United States"). There are some exceptions – the attributive adjective for Alaska for many is Alaskan; the same is true for Alberta (Albertan), Texas (Texan), and Hawaii (Hawaiian).

• Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío → Paisa
• Buenos Aires → Porteño (city), Bonaerense (province)
• Canada → Canadien (male), Canadienne (female), when referring to someone of French-Canadian heritage
• Cape Breton → Caper
• Quebec → Quebecker or Quebecer, English alternatives to Québécois (which may carry language and political implications)
• Halifax → Haligonian
• Toronto → Torontonian
• Waterloo → Waterluvian
• Connecticut → Connecticuter (uncommon), Nutmegger (common)
• Indianapolis → Indianapolitan
• Indiana → Hoosier
• Los Angeles → Angeleno
• Maine → Mainer
• Maryland → Marylander ( /ˈmærɨləndər/ MARR-i-lənd-ər, sometimes /ˈmɛərləndər/ MAIR-lənd-ər)
• Massachusetts → Bay Stater
• Mexico City → Chilango
• Michigan → Michigander or Michiganian (coming from the Upper Peninsula → Yooper)
• Minneapolis → Minneapolitan
• Moose Jaw → Moose Javian
• Newfoundland and Labrador → Newfoundlander, Labradorian, Newfie (also Newf or sometimes Newfy)
• New Zealand → Kiwi
• North Carolina → Tar Heel
• Ohio → Buckeye
• Oklahoma → Okie (derogatory), Oklahoman (formally)
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania → Yinzer
• Phoenix, Arizona → Phoenician
• Portland → Portlander
• Rio de Janeiro → Fluminense (State), Carioca (City)
• São Paulo → Paulista (State), Paulistano (City)
• Sydney → Sydneysider
• Texas → Texan (see also Texian and Tejano)
• Wisconsin → Sconnie (see also Cheesehead)

According to Webster's New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter", although many prefer "Connecticutian" or the slightly shorter "Connecticite"; Despite Webster's (West Hartford) Connecticut roots, none of these are commonly used or even recognized by residents, who prefer the nickname "Nutmegger", which is not a demonym, and more often no nickname or demonyn, simply stating, "I'm from Connecticut".

A person who is a native or resident of Indiana is a Hoosier, an irregular demonym whose origin is obscure. The state's official nickname is "The Hoosier State". Hoosier is also an attributive adjective (e.g.: "the Hoosier Lottery"). Demonyms like "Indianan" or "Indianian" are attributed to the state by federal publications and dictionaries, but are confusing at best and not used in practice. (Since "Indiana" literally means "land of the Indians", the historical mistake initiated by Columbus becomes inherently absurd and clunky: "of the people of the land of the Indians," or perhaps "of the land of the land of the Indians", or even "of the land of the land of the land of the people of India") A search of the state's official website at in.gov on June 16, 2010 found 13 instances of the word Indianian and 47 of the word Indianan, compared to more than 20,000 of the word Hoosier.