Unusual genitive place names

How many are there?

Oxford - Oxonian
Cambridge - Cantabrigian
Halifax - Haligonian
Liverpool - Liverpudlian
Monaco - Monegasque
Luxembourg - Luxembourgeois

Glasgow–Glaswegian
Madrid–(in Spanish)Madrileno (with the tilde on the “n”)
Germania–(in Russian) niemietski

Minneapolis: Minneapolitans
St. Paul: St. Paulites

Tim
“My hovercraft is full of eels.”

From Phoenix - Phoenicians

Oh, and from Maine - Mainiacs

I’m going to get in trouble for this…

From massachusetts: Massholes (or if you prefer, Bay Staters)
From Coxsackie, New York: Coxsackers
From Tampa, Florida: Tampons (OK, not true, but it should be)


Jason R Remy

“One pill makes you taller, and one pill makes you small, but the ones that mother gives you don’t do anything at all”
– Jefferson Airplane * White Rabbit * (Slick, G. 1966)

Indiana: Hoosiers
New York: New Yorkers
Scotland: Scots (?)

This raises a question I’ve wondered about; is there any consistant rule as to which suffix you use to describe the inhabitant of a place? We have -ite -ian -an -er -ek -ese or even the antiquated -ishman.

I think the way to pronounce a place name comes from whatever sounds best. I suppose someone more schooled in linguistics can tell you which sounds go together better.

For the record, I was born an Angeleno (which is pronounced with a long e). Los Angeles adopted a Spanish name (with an English pronunciation) even though San Francisco and San Diego use English style “-an” suffixes.

Naples - Neapolitan

Utah - Uintans

Here in Dallas we call ourselves “Dallasites,” and the standing joke is that the designation is based on people from Paris being “parasites.”


Live a Lush Life
Da Chef

Isle of Mann - Manx

Annapolis - Annapolitans
Baltimore - Baltimorons (well, I call them that, at any rate.)

Holland = Dutch

But I think this is because of a past misconception by English speakers that they were German (Deutch).

What do the Dutch call themselves? Hollanders? Neaderlanders?

The Dutch, I believe, prefer Nederlanders. According to Tom Burnam, “Considering what happened to the Netherlands at the hands of the DEUTSCH during World War I and World War II, it is not surprising that ‘Dutchmen’ are not particularly fond of the word.”

Michigan - Michiganders
Oregon - Oregonians


“Age is mind over matter; if you don’t mind, it don’t matter.” -Leroy “Satchel” Paige

To Jeff Wilson: I hope you don’t say “Michigander” to someone from Michigan. They detest that term and prefer Michiganian. (I have an uncle in St. Clair Shoes.)
Lincoln told a Michagan Representative to “quit Michigandering around.”
On Hollywood Squares, George Gobel (about 1979) said a Michigander is “a goose that’s been run over by a truck.”

Excuse me–Jeff Olsen. :slight_smile:

Having live in Michigan my entire life (so far) I’d like to say that no one I know detests the name Michigander. We prefer it to Michiganian. That term was forced on us by some bureaucrat who made it our official title. That’s reason enough to reject it right there.