Watch Out for Demonyms This Halloween

They Are All over the Place

by Bill Spaniel, ABC

You don’t have to wait until Halloween to spot demonyms. The word doesn’t mean small devils. It’s the term for words that describe people from a particular place.

For example, what do you call people from Indiana? Well, if you live with an Indiana native, as I do, you learn that you call them Hoosiers because that’s how people from South Bend to New Albany (my wife’s hometown) label themselves.

Most demonyms in the English language have obvious constructions. Depending on how the place name ends—either with a vowel or a consonant—you can usually add an “n” (Alaskan, Nebraskan) or an “ian” (Michiganian, Washingtonian). Yet there are numerous variations and inconsistencies that preclude an absolute rule. For example, an Orlandoan (an Orlando resident) is not a Floridan but a Floridian, and someone from Baltimore (Baltimorean) is a Marylander, not a Marylandian.

And what’s the demonym for Massachusetts residents? Massachusettsan? Massachusettsian? Massachusite? A Wikipedia article on state demonyms notes that all of those words have described someone from the Bay State. In fact, by Massachusetts law “Bay Staters shall be the official designation of citizens of the commonwealth.” (As Massachusetts is technically a commonwealth, why aren’t its residents Bay Commonwealthiers?)

Islanders and Yinzers

Like Massachusetts, residents of other states may boost names other than standard demonyms to refer to themselves. Nebraskans are Cornhuskers; Iowans Hawkeyes; Wisconsinites Cheeseheads (no explanation needed for anyone who lives in or has visited the state).

If your home is in Hawaii, you are not a Hawaiian unless you are descended from the original Polynesian settlers. Everyone else is an Islander or a Hawaii resident. Locals also might say Kama?āina, a Hawaiian word to denote anyone from the islands regardless of their background.

My son, the man in the white shirt, lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the home of Yinzers. This is a picture of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers to form the Ohio.

As noted above, states may have several terms for their residents. What about cities in those states? My son is a native Californian born in Santa Clarita (a Santa Claritan). But for the past three years he has worked in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and proudly calls himself a Yinzer, which supposedly is derived from yunz, Scotch-Irish for you. (Scotch-Irish immigrants fed the steel mills of the City of Bridges.)

Soos and Yoopers

Residents of Marquette, Michigan, are Yoopers, the term for people living in the Upper Peninsula of the Wolverine state.

Apparently people from Durango, Colorado, can’t make up their minds if they are Durangoans, Durangotans or Durangotangs, the latter of which sounds like a New World primate.

“Ite” pops up as a suffix for residents of the Mile High City (Denverites). Raleighites designates those living in North Carolina’s capital. Casperites are also Wyomingites.

Salt Lakers claim Salt Lake City as home. Neighbors in Sault Ste. Marie hail each other as Soos (as well as Yoopers).

Knickerbocker, meaning a style of pants in Dutch and derived from a pseudonym of storyteller Washington Irving, once referred to residents of the Isle of Manhattan but has long gone out of style.

Who Is an American?

We in the United States refer to ourselves as Americans because our nation’s official name is the United States of America. Yet anyone living on the two American continents has a perfect right to the demonym American.

Outside of the U.S. Yank usually means someone from the United States. To people living in the southern United States, however, a Yank, or Yankee, is any resident of a state north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River.

More precisely, a Yankee refers to a resident of the New England states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. So why does New York City have a baseball team named the Yankees? Supposedly the word Yankee is a combination of the Dutch names Jan (John) and Kees (Cornelis), which often were paired together. The Dutch founded New Amsterdam, which became New York when the British took over.

Meaning of Hoosier

It should be obvious by now that assuming what the demonym is for a city or state can get you in trouble if you guess wrong. Wikipedia has several articles, however, that provide lists of standard demonyms. If the word you are looking for isn’t on one of them, it is always safe to refer to someone as a resident of a specific geographic area.

Getting back to Hoosier, I’m not sure why those living in the state of Indiana so fiercely defend that word as their moniker. According to Colin Woodard in “American Nations,” Hoosier is “a Southern slang term for a frontier hick.” That is somewhat confirmed by information posted on the website of the Indiana Historical Bureau, although it offers other plausible theories.

Regardless, thanks to the joint effort of former Indiana senators Joe Donnelly (D) and Dan Coats (R), the federal Government Printing Office style guide rules that Hoosier will exclusively refer to someone from the 19th state.

Bill Spaniel, ABC, is an Erieite and a Pennsylvanian by birth.