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prettygoodworddemonym (DEM-uh-nim) - n., a name for a resident of a particular locality, usually but derived from the name of that locality.
So residents of Arizona are Arizonans. An example of a demonym not from the name of the place is Dutch for the inhabitants of the Netherlands. In some cases, of course, the place is named after the people -- Finland is literally "land of the Finns." Wikipedia has an extensive list of the more common suffixes used in creating demonyms. Coined in this sense (there's an older, entirely obsolescent sense of a pseudonym that is grammatically an adjective) in 1997 by Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson from Greek roots demos, people/populace + -nym.
---L.
So residents of Arizona are Arizonans. An example of a demonym not from the name of the place is Dutch for the inhabitants of the Netherlands. In some cases, of course, the place is named after the people -- Finland is literally "land of the Finns." Wikipedia has an extensive list of the more common suffixes used in creating demonyms. Coined in this sense (there's an older, entirely obsolescent sense of a pseudonym that is grammatically an adjective) in 1997 by Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson from Greek roots demos, people/populace + -nym.
---L.
