Gina from Athens, Texas, wonders if there’s any rhyme or reason to the names we give to the denizens of a particular place. There are a few general rules for creating demonyms, the names applied to the denizens of a particular locale. George R. Stewart, a professor at the University of California Berkeley, has written extensively on the topic of municipal onomastics, including the books Names on the Land and American Place Names. But there are so many exceptions to any general rules for how demonyms are formed that your best bet is simply to memorize them. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “How Are the Names of People from Places Decided?”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Gina Stevens.
I’m calling from Athens, Texas.
So my husband and I, we always listen to your program as we head over to Fort Worth on Saturday, and we always think of possible questions.
And it was funny, when we got back home, we weren’t even trying to think of the question, but we were watching the weather, and I asked him, I said, it’s interesting because he’s from New Hampshire, and they say New Hampshireites.
I am from North Carolina, and I consider myself a North Carolinian.
And then I said, I wonder if there is a grammar rule in place that helps one to know whether or not you use an IAN at the end or an ITE to know the proper moniker for ascribing the area that an individual hails from, like a Bostonian or a Canaanite?
Is there a rule to help us know?
Yeah, there’s not a single rule, is there, Grant?
No, no, there’s about five rules with a zillion exceptions.
And I usually tell folks, if you are so deep into place names and demonyms, as they’re called, that demonym is the term for a person who belongs to a place.
If you’re so deep into that, then you probably might as well just memorize the terms and forget the rules.
Because there’s so many exceptions.
It’s like the rest of English.
But in general, things like if it ends in an E or an EA, you get like an EAN at the end.
So Belize, the country Belize, becomes Belizean.
But of course, there’s an exception like France, which gets you French, right?
Yeah, or Paris.
In Paris, they’re not parasites.
No, they’re not parasites.
A Parisian.
But that doesn’t end in an E or EA, right?
So you also get ends in an A, then becomes an N.
So America becomes American.
If it ends in other vowels, it also tends to become an N.
So Morocco becomes Moroccan.
Otherwise, you also tend to do an I-N, not always.
So Iran becomes Iranian.
But again, a zillion exceptions.
And sometimes they take place names where they just decide to do whatever the heck they want.
So they have a local nickname, which becomes the point of pride, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the place name.
Or because it sounds weird, they don’t go with the actual one that follows the rule.
They go with something else.
Yeah, there was a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, George Rippey Stewart, who came up with a list of about seven of those, and H.L. Mencken helped popularize them.
If you Google his name or municipal onomastics, you’ll find that’s the term for this kind of thing, municipal onomastics.
You’ll find lots more.
He had a couple of books.
One is called Names on the Land, which I highly recommend.
Another one is American Given Names, talks about people’s names, but American Place Names.
So Names on the Land and American Place Names are two books by George R. Stewart, which I recommend.
You can find most libraries will have a copy here or there, and you can find them at archive.org as well.
Excellent.
And you said it was called municipal what?
Municipal onomastics, O-N-O-M-A, onomastics, S-T-I-C, onomastics.
Got it.
From the Greek word for name.
Yeah, so onomastics is the naming of things.
Basically, there is no fixed set rule.
There are some in place, but there are always exceptions to it.
And individuals that hail from an area, they can also come up with their own.
That’s right.
Way of naming their place.
Yeah, the exceptions are vast.
That’s a very good summary.
Would you like to come work for us?
I would love to.
In education, you know, you have to repeat.
Just make sure you’ve got it right.
Right.
Education and couples therapy.
Exactly.
If I’m understanding you correctly.
That’s right.
Yes, well, you guys have been so helpful, and we certainly enjoy your show.
Thank you very much.
Take care, Gina.
Best to your husband.
Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
