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Where do demonyms come from? At times they take -ite, some times -an, -er and this one is jaw-dropping '-siders!'

A person living in New York is a New Yorker (-er)
A person living in Delhi is Delhiite (-ite)
A person living in Sydney is Sydneysider (-sider -OMG! Really?)
A person living in Las Vegas is Las Vegan (-an)

There are innumerable cities across the world and remembering a demonym for each of them does not seem practical.

I don't get demonyms without searching them on the Internet (and trust me, even after searching I fail to get them for some cities' residents!).

This becomes further difficult when the city name is long - say St. Louis, Amsterdam, Rio de Janeiro (Cariocas -full marks who knew this!) and many more.

Is there any way we can assume/know the demonym of the city by looking at its spelling?

200_success
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Maulik V
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    Related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjectivals_and_demonyms_for_cities – Damkerng T. Apr 16 '14 at 06:51
  • @DamkerngT. I know the list but I'm concerned about is there any way to fix it? That's why I wrote that in title - Is it random always? Thanks for the link though! :) +1 for reminding me the term - demonym. – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 06:56
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    I guess that it follows some sort of patterns, though I couldn't figure the patterns out. Btw, greeting, my Ahmedabadi friend! (Sorry if I guessed it wrong. :-) – Damkerng T. Apr 16 '14 at 07:07
  • @DamkerngT. Yeahhh! You searched or knew that...tell me the truth!!! – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 07:08
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    I guessed it! I was right, I think, then. :-) – Damkerng T. Apr 16 '14 at 07:09
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    Bull's eye! :) you know what at first I read Nashvillians as Nashvillains :( By the way, put the method of guessing that as an answer. It might be useful then. Haha...great guess! – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 07:10
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    In the UK alone we have Newcastle - Novocastrian, Glasgow - Glaswegian, Manchester - Mancunian, Liverpool - Liverpudlian. – mjsqu Apr 16 '14 at 08:53
  • @mjsqu See there... the question is getting deeper :( – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 09:01
  • Yes, I suppose I was just trying to illustrate that a city decides what to call its inhabitants and it's just something you learn along with the name of the place! And beyond that there are colloquial names, e.g. Geordies, Scousers, Mackems, Cockneys, Brummies. Good Luck! – mjsqu Apr 16 '14 at 09:11
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    I can't help but laugh at Las Vegans. Is that for real? :^) – J.R. Apr 16 '14 at 09:24
  • @J.R. haha..true.. at least they din' put 't' after 's' in Las or else they could have been very precious species! :) The Last Vegans on the earth! – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 09:26
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    St. Pittsburgh? I have clearly not been keeping up with the Canon of Saints. :) – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 16 '14 at 10:45
  • @StoneyB Am I missing something? Isn't it known as St. Pittsburgh? Or should I change it to St. Louis? – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 11:05
  • @MaulikV There are lots of saints who have given their names to US cities - St. Louis, St. Paul, St. Charles, San Antonio, Santa Barbara, to name just a few - but there is no St. Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was named after an English prime minister, William Pitt. -In St. Louis, we call ourselves St. Louisans. – StoneyB on hiatus Apr 16 '14 at 11:17
  • @StoneyB thanks. Edited. But I had read that manywhere in addresses. Maybe, I'm mistaken. – Maulik V Apr 16 '14 at 11:22
  • Since there is no generic rule, you should ask a specific question for each [tag:demonym]. [english.se] even has a tag for such questions; I've proposed the same tag for [ell.se] too. – 200_success May 18 '14 at 17:45

1 Answers1

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Is there a hard and fast rule? Sadly, no. But there is a rule of thumb--which means it works, except when it doesn't.

First: if the city is outside of the United States, US English usually (but not always) uses the naming convention of the native country. So "Liverpudlian" and "Muenchner" don't follow these rules; you need to learn that country's rules.

Within the United States, look at the sound (not the spelling!) of the last syllable of the city's name.

Does it end in a vowel sound? Add -n or -an.

  • Atlantan
  • Cincinattian
  • Kenoshan
  • Pennsylvanian

Does it end in a hard d or k? Add -er.

  • New Yorker
  • Oaklander
  • Portlander
  • Salt Laker

Does it end in an -l, or -r sound? Consider adding -ite.

  • Seattleite
  • New Hampshirite

Does it end in an -s sound preceded by a schwa? Replace the s with an n.

  • Kansan
  • Texan

For all other consonants, the most common rule is to add an -ian

  • Oregonian
  • Bostonian
  • Knoxvillian

As always with English, there are then a ton of exceptions that you just have to learn.

chapka
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