Demonym: Formation and Usage ~ Grammar

1. Demonyms (gentilics)

We will divide the demonym section into countries and cities.

1.1. Country demonyms

Country demonyms, or nationality names, are usually determined by the ending of the name of the nation. However, there are some important exceptions, which we will mention as we go on.

Countries whose names end in a usually form the demonym by adding -n to the country name. Examples:

Demonyms formed with -n (countries ending in -a)
Andorra → Andorran	Cuba → Cuban	Libya → Libyan
Australia → Australian	Galicia → Galician	Nicaragua → Nicaraguan
Bolivia → Bolivian	India → Indian	Nigeria → Nigerian
Colombia → Colombian	Korea → Korean	Russia → Russian

Exceptions:

Argentina → Argentine Canada → Canadian

Catalonia → Catalan (not ~~Catalonian~~) China → Chinese

Guyana → Guyanese Malta → Maltese Saudi Arabia → Saudi Slovakia → Slovak Slovenia → Slovene Somalia → Somali

Countries whose names end in a vowel other than a sometimes add -an to the country name, but there are many exceptions. Examples:

*Demonyms formed with -an* (countries ending in vowel other than a)**
Chile → Chilean Singapore → Singaporean	Burundi → Burundian Fiji → Fijian	Haiti → Haitian Morocco → Moroccan

Exceptions:

Congo → Congolese France → French Greece → Greek Ukraine → Ukrainian Peru → Peruvian

Countries whose names end in y generally have demonyms ending in -an, but the morphological changes vary somewhat. Examples:

*Demonyms formed with -an* (countries ending in -y)**
Germany → German Hungary → Hungarian	Italy → Italian Norway → Norwegian	Paraguay → Paraguayan Uruguay → Uruguayan

Exception:

Turkey → Turk

Countries whose names end in consonants often use the suffixes -(i)an or -ese. Examples:

*Demonyms formed with -an* (countries ending in consonant)**
Afghanistan → Afghan Belgium → Belgian	Brazil → Brazilian Ecuador → Ecuadorean	Egypt → Egyptian Iran → Iranian

*Demonyms formed with -ese* (countries ending in consonant)**
Bhutan → Bhutanese Gabon → Gabonese Japan → Japanese	Lebanon → Lebanese Nepal → Nepalese Portugal → Portuguese	Sudan → Sudanese Taiwan → Taiwanese Vietnam → Vietnamese

Note:

Niger → Nigerien should not be confused with Nigeria → Nigerian

Here are some countries whose demonyms end in -i:

Demonyms formed with -i
Azerbaijan → Azerbaijani Bangladesh → Bangladeshi	Iraq → Iraqi Israel → Israeli	Kuwait → Kuwaiti Pakistan → Pakistani

Finally, here are some demonyms that resist categorization:

Basque Country → Basque Cyprus → Cypriot

Czech Republic → Czech Denmark → Dane England → English Finland → Finn or Finnish Iceland → Icelander Ireland → Irish

Luxembourg → Luxembourger

Netherlands → Dutch Philippines → Filipino Poland → Pole Scotland → Scot

Spain → Spaniard Sweden → Swede Switzerland → Swiss

United Kingdom → Briton United States → American* Wales → Welsh

Yemen → Yemeni

*Remember that in English, American refers to citizens of the United States. North Americans are the citizens of Canada, the United States and Mexico: for example, the North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement between these three countries. People living between Mexico and Venezuela are generally referred to as Central Americans (though Mexico is sometimes referred to as being part of Central America) and those living in Venezuela and points south, South Americans. Remember too that, in English geography, North America and South America are separate continents.

There is a complete list of demonyms in alphabetical order at geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa030900a.htm

1.2. City demonyms

City demonyms are particularly difficult to predict and, in fact, are sometimes non-existent. For example, in English there are no city demonyms for Madrid, Beijing and many other cities; we simply say someone from Madrid, someone from Beijing, etc.

In this section we will limit ourselves to providing some of the most important city demonyms, organized by suffix.

-(a)n – The -(a)n suffix is especially productive for cities ending in vowels. Examples:

Barcelonan, Roman, Atlantan, Chicagoan, Singaporean.

-er – The -er suffix is also very productive for all kinds of cities. Examples: Amsterdamer, Berliner, Dubliner, Frankfurter, Hamburger, Hong Konger, Londoner, New Yorker.