Globally - they would be called “New Yorkers”. But what about each borough? 'Staten Islander" seems straight forward, but what about a resident of Queens? (The) Bronx? Manhattan? Brooklyn?
For Manhattan and Brooklyn I’ve heard Manhattanite and Brooklynite a number of times.
I lived and/or worked in the Bronx for 10 years and never heard Bronxite, but here’s a couple of articles written in the Bronx that use it:
Bronx Roots: Successful Bronxites Share Their Stories – The Literary Bronx
Father’s Love Helped Save Life of Bronxite Born Prematurely (montefiore.org)
I’ve never heard any of the many Queens natives I know say Queensite; here’s an article that comments on it, and on labels for inhabitants of the other boroughs:
The Big Apple: Queensite (inhabitant of Queens) (barrypopik.com)
" “Queensite” has been cited in print since at least 1944, has made books such as Labels for Locals (1997), and has been used frequently in the Queens Tribune, but many New Yorkers believe that “Queensite” is an awkward and improper label."
Queens is always different - unlike the other boroughs, we tend to identify with the neighborhood ( even our addresses - when you mail something to a Queens address, it’s not " Queens, NY" , it’s “Forest Hills, NY” or " Flushing, NY" ) So you wouldn’t hear 'Queensite" but rather “Ridgewoodite” “Summysider” “Astorian” .
Staten Islanders commonly refer to themselves as “Islanders”.
Manhattanites dismiss residents of other boroughs as the “bridge and tunnel crowd”.
Those residents describe a trip to Manhattan as “going into the city”.
I thought the bridge and tunnel crowd was the people from the suburbs (Long Island, Connecticut, Westchester, New Jersey, etc.)
Them, too - it’s really used for anyone who crosses a bridge or tunnel to get to Manhattan. Which is everyone who isn’t already in Manhattan.
I’m a native of Queens, from 1951, and I’ve never heard Queensite. I’m from Bayside myself (about as far from the bay as you can get) but aside from the address I never noticed any particular loyalty to your neighborhood. And not much for Queens in general.
True enough, but it’s also true that, unlike B, B, and SI, you use your neighborhood for addressing. You don’t say 123 Main St., Queens, NY, you say 123 Main St., Bayside, NY. Manhattan in NY, NY, and the other three boroughs use the borough name.
ETA: For the FQ, Brooklynite and Manhattanite are the only ones that I’ve heard, from my memory.
ETA ETA: This NY Times column from 1999 directly addresses this:
(That’s a gift link)
Not loyalty to the neighborhood , identify with the neighborhood. Which might not have been the best way to word it, but I was talking about the tendency for people to say they live in Howard Beach or Long Island City and so on , rather than just saying they live in Queens.
Born and raised in Canarsie (and still live here), a neighborhood in Brooklyn.
We always referred to ourselves as Canarsiens.
I don’t know of any other Brooklyn neighborhood (except rarely Coney Islanders) where the residents themselves had their own name.
I’ve heard of Brooklynite and Manhattanite, but never Queensite.
Just asked my husband, who said growing up he and his friends called themselves Astorians (from Astoria, Queens), but I doubt anyone still does.
I was talking about loyalty in the sense of identification. Here in exile on the left coast, I self identify as a New Yorker, never as someone from Queens and certainly never as someone from Bayside. A mailing address, that’s about it. And we Baysiders who lived near the LIE had little contact with those who lived near the actual bay.
Astorian here. I’ve never heard people from the other boroughs referred to as ‘the bridge and tunnel crowd.’
I would’ve guessed people from Queens would be Queensmen and Queenswomen.
Rockaway native, and I’ve definitely heard us outer-borough folks referred to as the bridge and tunnel crowd. And, we refer to you all as DFDs (down for the dayers – you keep the lifeguards busy).