Is there a consistant rule for what suffix should be used with a place name to denote an inhabitant of that place? e.g., If I’m from the planet Terra, does that make me a Terran, a Terrian, a Terraed, a Territe, a Terraling, etc. ?
Since people in Maine are called Maniacs (not really) and people in Baltimore are called Baltimorons (hey, just kidding), I don’t think so.
If there is a rule, it must be one with a LOT of exceptions, I think.
Fife - Fifer
Aberdeen - Aberdonian
New York - New Yorker
Glasgow - Glaswegian
Boston - Bostonian
ah - forgot the Liverpool - Liverpudlian one
I think there is no hard and fast rule and that what becomes the accepted appellation results from a combination of a general pool of suffixes (-ian, -ite, -er, etc.) being subjected to the accepted use/aural aesthetic test.
Manchester - Mancunian
The rule is that people are to be known by whatever name they themselves prefer.
Some are pretty irregular and some are just funny. Here’s some from the UK.
Liverpool - Scouser
Lancaster - Lancastrian
Newcastle - Geordie
Birmingham - Brummie
NB: This is what we actually use, I (and wiki) haven’t just made them up.
AFAIK you truncate the place name and add each suffix used anywhere else until you find something that sounds good, and you stick with it.
I think the convention for Terra is Terran, but that’s mainly from bad sci-fi.
Some suffices are quite common, eg. -an, or -ese, you could just pick one of those.
There is no rule. The suffix is chosen for the sake of euphony and by what the inhabitants decide to use.
Good luck in English. As far as I can tell it’s a combination of euphony (sounds right), what the inhabitants decide to use, accepted historical use, whatever rules the originating language used if the word is imported (and the word may not be even imported from referred place, but from a middleman), etc., + whatever pronunciation “drift” may happen.
I am rather pleased by the term used in Spanish SF for dwellers of this planet, “Terrícola” (lifted straight from Latin)
It’s strange how it works out. You’d think “Floridan” would be perfectly acceptable, but “Floridian” rules instead.
And, there’s probably no reason why they couldn’t be “Japanians,” but that looks and sounds terrible, while “Japanese” is just fine.
Is it true that Michigan residents are Michiganders?
The -an vs. -ian doesn’t appear to follow any rule beyond tradition or local preference.
Alabama = Alabamian
Arkansas = Arkansan
Minnesota = Minnesotan
What about:
Arizona
Kansas
Iowa
Illinois?
I know that
Tennessee = Tennessean
Kentucky = Kentuckian
X Carolina = X Carolinian
Mississippi = Mississipian
Texas = Texan (duh!)
Is a New Mexico resident a New Mexican?
Which place has the least similarity to its place name?
Here’s a list for all the states:
http://www.geobop.com/World/NA/Topics/People/Names/
(Are Connecticut residents really called Nutmeggers, though?)
“Floridian” rolls off the tongue more easily. It’s more euphonious. We used to call people who lived in Japan “Japs,” but that’s derogatory now. It was derogatory then but it was OK then.
I say Japanzies. But only to my husband. No offense intended.
People from Tampa are Tampons.
People from Plano are Plano Texans. Heh.
As a United Stateser, born and raised Californish, I couldn’t agree more.
As far as I know, yes. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything different–other than the Spanish version, of course.
Yes, Zeldar, folks from New Mexico are New Mexicans.
Most names for local inhabitants probably can be said to come down to phonological rules. Within a given language, some suffixes simply sound right and proper following a given root word (in this case, the place name), and others just don’t work. So even though it ultimately comes down to whatever is accepted by the majority, it starts with what sounds appealing.
I went to college in Dallas, where a lot of people cringed when they heard “Dallasite”, but never suggested anything better. After all, what were their alternatives?
- Dallasan
- Dallasian
- Dallaser
None of them sounds very appealing to me, but there seemed to be a consensus among those I talked to that “Dallasite” was the least of the available evils.
Yes, tho’ you also hear “Michiganian” used. Contrary to what that list says, however, we do not call ourselves “Wolverines.” That’s the University of Michigan’s team nickname.
As for the oddball ones: people from Ohio are “Buckeyes,”
People from Indiana are “Hoosiers,”
and I’ve heard people from Maine called “Down Easters”
(No, I don’t know who the Up Easters are )
Can we get a resident of Connecticut in here to confirm that people there actually call themselves “Nutmeggers”?
Speaking of confirmation on what that link says, is there anyone from Alabama who thinks Alabaman is right? I used to grow up there and everybody I had any dealings with called themselves Alabamians. That’s why I made the comments I did in my first post here.
I heard it said while we were in Maine on vacation that “down East” is in reference to the Maine coast, which, for the other residents in the state is both “down” and “east.”
Dallese?