Talk:List of demonyms for US states and territories/Archive 1

Archive 1

Sources

There was no sources cited for the names on this page. I created a name list from the listed sources, and these include all of the names that were on this page before.

JPMcGrath 19:09, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Utahn and Utahan

For the entry for Utah, I've included the description of "Utahn" in addition to the "Utahan". Both entries respond to a google search and have citations to their credit, but there are more entries for Utahn so I've listed that first.

138.163.0.42 20:20, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Michigan

Michigan - Orlady removed the terms "Michiganer", "Michiganese" and "Michigan-man" as unsourced. That is incorrect. These terms are referenced in the cited academic articles and should not have been removed. Fladrif (talk) 14:42, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Considering that (1) people have a propensity to add bogus names here and (2) those citations are offline and cannot be easily checked by vandalism fighters, it would be helpful if you inserted a separate inline citation for every one of these terms. --Orlady (talk) 21:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Wolverine had to go. I've never heard it used to describe anything besides the University of Michigan (I know for a fact that many people would gawk at being called "Wolverines" because they're, well, "Spartans," "Broncos," "Chippewas," etc.)

Why no 'Michiganian'? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.41.244.104 (talk) 14:05, 16 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm from the Lower Peninsula, and I have never heard of "troll" being used for someone from down here. I've heard "looper"/"luper" plenty of times, but most general usage just asks about the upper peninsula, without special terms for the lower. No sources, of course, just noting that the "troll" thing, sourced or not, is wrong, at least in my part of the state. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.227.7.35 (talk) 07:36, 11 March 2012 (UTC)

I had never heard the term troll before as well, but I had a friend who went to school in the U.P. Apparently they use it frequently. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.205.169.207 (talk) 04:44, 23 May 2013 (UTC)

Rename article?

Hey, does anyone else think that there should be an apostrophe in the title? Shouldn't it be residents' names? Either that or List of names of U.S. state residents? AlexWangombe (talk) 02:04, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

I also have been bothered by the name List of U.S. state residents names. I first looked at this article because I didn't know what the name meant!

Apostrophes should be avoided in article names; otherwise that idea is good. List of names of U.S. state residents isn't ideal -- it implies that this is a list of people who live in the United States. Another possible alternative would be List of names for residents of U.S. states -- or maybe List of terms for residents of U.S. states. --Orlady (talk) 21:52, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

Work?

I'm just wondering if these names have a work that describes them. Any idea? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.179.227.58 (talk) 21:01, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

These names are one of the topics of the classic book Names on the Land (subtitled "A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States"), by George R. Stewart, first published in 1945 and reissued most recently in 2008. [1] [2] [3] Specific names included in this article also have been the topic of other works, such as this newspaper article. --Orlady (talk) 16:01, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Coloradan or Coloradoan?

The United States Government Printing Office officially says that a resident of the State of Colorado should be described as a Coloradoan. Colorado State Government says that the term Coloradoan is antiquated and that residents of the state should be described as Coloradans. --Buaidh (talk) 14:14, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Maybe the GPO has issued different information in the past, but I just rechecked the source cited in the article, the GPO Style Manual, and it lists "Coloradan". Thus, currently there appears to be no conflict between the GPO and the state.

One of the sources cited in the article[4] has an interesting explanation for the spelling -- and the confusion:

By and large, when a place name ends in "o," you add "an." The exception is if the place name is of Spanish origin; then you drop the "o" before adding "an."

This observed rule appears to work in practice. Idaho and Chicago derive from Native American languages, not Spanish, and their residents are Idahoans and Chicagoans.

Though Idaho is not derived from any language. It is completely artificial, just "made up". Nonetheless, it is no Spanish so the general rule would still apply. Venqax (talk) 19:09, 12 July 2016 (UTC)

San Francisco comes from Spanish, and thus San Franciscans reside there. Residents of other realms with Spanish names are Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Since Colorado is a Spanish word for the color red, we are properly Coloradans, not Coloradoans.

--Orlady (talk) 15:48, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Buckeyes

im from Ohio and its correct that we are called Ohioans but we also are called Buckeyes i dont see that name in the other collum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.164.43.179 (talk) 23:31, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

The standard for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability based on documentation by a reliable source. Personal knowledge of contributors does not qualify. --Orlady (talk) 04:16, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Merger Proposal

This article seems essentially the same as Adjectivals and demonyms for U.S. states, so I made this proposal. Jbbdude (talk) 19:01, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, and the title is ungrammatical, so we should move this article. There is no need to say "adjectivals", though, which confuse adjectives with attributive nouns, and add nothing to the article. kwami (talk) 21:33, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Tar Heel

I read reference. "Tar Heel" as described in the article exclusively resulted in military troops and a specific social class of people who were defined by such. Even those references are preceded by "A story that at best must be considered folklore..." It cannot be assumed that the article is equating Tar Heels to mean all people from North Carolina. Though the name Tar Heel may have roots in the history of the state, people from NC are no more Tar Heels by name than those from Tennessee are Volunteers (if you know the history, it's a perfect parallel). Cmiych (talk) 18:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Please do not revert without discussing here first. Side note: "Tar boiler" was in fact referenced in the source provided, so I added it. Cmiych (talk) 18:33, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Strikethrough update: I actually found a reference that claims TN residents can be called Volunteers (news to me!). I am putting that in and retract my previous statement. I am still yet to see good sourcing for Tar Heel. Feel free to look for it. Cmiych (talk) 19:42, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Read it a bit more carefully. It began in the military during the Civil War, but has since been adopted by the general citizenry. But meanwhile you add an obsolete nickname, and a large number of obscure nicknames from netstate.com that are probably not really relevant (One guy in the 18th century used "Connecticotians"? Why bother?).

But I don't care enough about it to try to convince you, or to edit war over it. Have a nice day. Anomie⚔ 22:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

When I started, I was actually trying to filter OUT names. I was searching to see if I could find a better source for Tar Heels for you when I came across the others. How exactly would you go about determining which ones you would add and which you would selectively leave out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cmiych (talk • contribs) 22:48, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Sand Cutter????

I've lived in Arizona my entire life, and I have NEVER that term. The cite provided mentions a book written in 1892 as the source, so I really don't think it carries any currency. Further, a search of "sand cutter" + "Arizonan" provides fewer than 2,000 hits, with the first being this Wiki article and the linked cite - many of the rest are about machines for cutting sand. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.17.244.68 (talk) 07:04, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

It is sourced. Cmiych (talk) 17:21, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

sourced or not, it is a deprecated term at best, as i can personally attest. while i have no problem leaving the term up there, it should be noted that the term is not in common use, which i believe is the intent behind this entry. Clown (talk) 09:07, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

masculine form

Orlady, I added the "masculine form" parenthetical statement a while back to distinguish terms like "Granite Boy, New Hampshireman" as being representative of the references to males from New Hampshire. I won't rv the removal, but I would encourage you to reconsider. Maybe "Granite Boy/Girl, New Hampshireman/Hampshirewoman" would be more appropriate? I chose the former option as the latter could not be adequately sourced. Cmiych (talk) 17:21, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Has anyone ever heard anyone say "Granite Boy" or "New Hampshireman" in real life? I've only ever heard "New Hampshirite". If no one else can confirm a real usage of either of those, I recommend just removing them both. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.92.38.137 (talk) 15:19, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Connecian / Connetian

I have a friend who is from CT and uses the term Connecian. Googling turns up very little to support this, other than a VW car enthusiasts forum in which the thread describes the term as "something my friends and i have started saying". I have left it off the wikipedia entry, but may revisit this in the future should better verification sources arise. Clown (talk) 09:04, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

"Connectican" is fairly common, as a resident I've heard it far more often than some of the other entries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.9.32.170 (talk) 04:05, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

i don't know about "Connecian", but "Connetian" seems to be similarly pronounced as referenced in http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/opinion/l31conn.html - is that the spelling you were going for?

yep, that works too! i've only heard it said, never spelled out, but that makes sense. Clown (talk) 12:15, 9 November 2013 (UTC)

Tejano - worthy of inclusion?

My addition of Tejano, a common name for Hispanic Texans, was removed without a reason given - is there one? With more than 6,000,000 Hispanic or Latino residents in Texas[5], I think that their name for themselves is notable. Wikipedia even has an English-language article for the term (which is more than just a translation of "Texan"), which was linked. It is better-sourced than almost all of the other entries in the "Alternate, unofficial or informal" column. – jaksmata 14:43, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I am not sure. Its not a term to refer to Texans as a whole, but a specific subgroup with one of the criteria being "from Texas." I am inclined to say that it does not equate to being an alternate name for a Texan per se, but there is a similar situation with Hawaiians... Care to elaborate on that aspect? Cmiych (talk) 16:55, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I saw the bit on Hawaiians, and figured Tejano was acceptable based on the same criteria. I wonder about the universality of some of the other nicknames. How many Illinoisians refer to themselves as Suckers or Egyptians? Also, aren't those just applicable to people from the western/southern part of the state? Admittedly, Tejano is not a name applicable to all Texans (I am a Texan but not a Tejano). However, with more than 6 million Tejanos in Texas, they outnumber the individual populations of more than half the states in the union.

If we want to limit this list to just universal names, we should probably get rid of the other names that don't apply to the entire population of the state... I think if we moved that direction, a lot of the nicknames would have to go since they might not really apply to all the people in the state. An argument against including Tejano is that a significant portion of Arizonans are Navajo, but you wouldn't call someone from Arizona a "Navajo". After thinking about it more, I'm starting to believe we should leave out Tejano, but by the same logic we will have to remove some others that are here.

As an asside, many of the names on the list appear to be minimally notable. Although there are sources given, "Granite Boy" (with quotes) only gets 475 hits on google; "Goober-grabber" gets 245... Can those really be more acceptable than a term that gets more than a million hits, and has a culture, cuisine and musical genre named for it? Other nicknames seem very obscure although difficult to verify. Mainiac appears to be a term used by only one writer, and he uses "State-of-Mainers" in the same sentence, but I doubt either term has widespread current or historical use. I have no problem with other nicknames like "Buckeye", "Hoosier" and "Sooner" that have widespread, well-established historical and current usage. – jaksmata 18:12, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Its not my place to determine what is and is not acceptable. I simply have added this to my watchlist to prevent individuals from pushing their personal subculture and/or college mascots. Noone has really defined what is acceptable beyond having a source. More thought on it after I get through the workday. Cmiych (talk) 22:07, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Obscure Demonyms

It seems that some of the 'informal' demonyms are downright obscure. Should we attempt to list all obscure 'informal' demonyms that where commonly used at some point in history? Two examples: Texican (which some Texans may find offensive or humorous) and Iowegian (referring to the number of Norwegians in Iowa)(also the name of a newspaper in Iowa.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.40.159.81 (talk) 21:42, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

I personally lean toward inclusion, but its a discussion that's been had before. Cmiych (talk) 21:52, 2 October 2009 (UTC)

Kentucky "Corn Cracker State"

@Whocares81: I think you misinterpreted the source you gave for calling the people of Kentucky "Corn-crackers". Just because the state is called the "Corn Cracker State", doesn't mean the people are called "Corn-crackers". This is a list of demonyms, not state nicknames. That same source identifies Texas as the "Lone Star State", but that doesn't mean the people are called "Lone-stars". – jaksmata 21:17, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Alaska

I think folks from Alaska can refer to themselves as Klondike ? Will need someone from Alaska to confirm this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gizziiusa (talk • contribs) 08:39, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Klondike is a region in Yukon, not Alaska. – jaksmata 21:00, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Illinois

Please consider the inclusion of "Suckers" 75.149.80.46 (talk) 19:54, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Your request does have merit - there are many sources that refer to Illinoisans as such. I'm hesitant to open the floodgates of pejorative state demonyms, though. Maybe we should limit this list to official, unofficial and informal alternates that people call themselves, rather than the expansive list of ways people catcall across state lines. That, of course, would mean trimming a few items already in this list.

I'd like to hear other opinions on this. – jaksmata 15:13, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

References

Indiana

In Indiana and in Hoosier it says that Hoosier is the official demonym, and here it's Indianan. What is the correct OFFICIAL one? 173.180.223.27 (talk) 03:52, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

And why does "Indianian" appear as both the official and an alternate designation? 108.183.43.255 (talk) 22:17, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Pennsylvania

As a 30-year resident of PA, and in both sides of the state, I've never heard any of the informal terms listed. My personal research has turned up the following:

1. Pennamite was the name given to a militia hired by the Penn family before PA was even a state. Not used in any place else on the web except to refer to a series of skirmishes in the 1700s. (Perspective: if Pennamite is to be used to describe Pennsylvanians, "Yankee" should be used to describe Connecticuters.)

2. Coal Cracker is a regional nickname, and doesn't apply to most residents of the state.

3. Leatherhead. Seriously, who put this on here? I can't even turn up a single google hit, even when searching alongside "PA", "Pennsylvania", and "Pennsylvanian". Surely this doesn't belong.

Recommend removing them all. Clown (talk) 06:36, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Massachusetts

I've heard Masshole used by just about everybody I know who's ever spent time in MA. My brother went to UMass as an out-of-stater and the term was somewhat pejorative when used by a nonresident, but completely acceptable when used by a resident. Possible for inclusion on the main list? Clown (talk) 06:44, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Somebody put the term "Assholes" in the Massachusetts category. Is that accurate? It seems to me to be a bit of vandalism. --Saukkomies ^talk 21:29, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Arizona

Would "Zonie" qualify as an informal, somewhat derogatory demonym?

24.25.207.119 (talk) 21:20, 1 December 2014 (UTC) W.Dust

It could. The minimum requirement to be added to the list is to cite a reliable source which backs up that e.g. "zonie" is used for someone from Arizona. --— Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 14:40, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Hawaiians

A friend who lives in Hawaii tells me that there, the term "Hawaiian" is only used for native Hawaiians, not residents of Hawaii in general. Peopel who live in the state are called "Hawaii residents" and this is a big deal. http://www.netstate.com/states/intro/hi_intro.htm and several other links back this up. Ace of Sevens (talk) 22:30, 25 February 2015 (UTC)

I know that too, but it is a conceit of "native" Hawaiians, not official. Officially all residents of Hawaii are Hawaiians. contribs) 01:31, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Wisconsin

The link for reference 45 is not a dead link, only broken. Here is the correct link for it: http://www.cheesehead.com/about-us/ I tried to fix it myself, but was unable to...sorry.

Also, people from Wisconsin refer to people from Illinois as flat-landers. I've heard this my entire life (45 years) from many people. I also noticed that when I went to the above listed website, they state this as well. (Our cheesehead motto was born out of our rivalry with the Chicago Bears and Illinois, in general.) Since our 'cheesehead' moniker is inlcluded, I believe that theirs should be shown as well. Deetsy (talk) 03:25, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Now includes territories

This now also has the demonyms of the territories of the U.S., so should the list name's be change to reflect this? Such as "List of demonyms of U.S. states and territories" -- sion8 ^{talk page} 22:00, 20 September 2015 (UTC)

Objections if I were to rename this article to reflect the fact that it now includes the U.S. territories as well as the states that form the United States? -- sion8 ^{talk page} 01:41, 4 November 2015 (UTC)

Indiana

The same term, Indianian, is listed in the second column as current and then in the far right column as "archaic". Can't be both. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Venqax (talk • contribs) 01:49, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

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Congrobulovian?

I think this should be removed, unless someone can find a reference. Google only shows this article and a page that copy/pasted this article as hits for the word. I dunno anything about editing policies but I'd assume that means it should go away. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.59.1.173 (talk) 07:03, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

State-specific subgroup terms

Should there be a separate list for state-specific sub-demonyms, or should this be included here? The Hawaii entry currently includes terms for newcomer and non-ethnic native born islanders, which are subgroups of the state population, vs. whole groups. Alaska seems to share some similar terminology, as presumably, do some other places.108.27.81.70 (talk) 13:29, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the state-specific sub-demonyms as a separate list. It would have to meet the standards at e.g. WP:SALAT, WP:LISTN, etc. Basically (though with exception) that would mean other reliable sources would have to treat them as a group as well. In other words there would have to be other published lists of sub-demonyms in reliable sources. It's possible? I don't think they should be included here, though, as far too detailed and messy. Think about how many nicknames exist for people from particular towns, for example. It also starts to bring in some discrimination politics, drawing lines between in groups and out groups. None of these are absolute reasons not to have them on Wikipedia, but the scope of this list seems pretty clear.

As for Hawaii, regarding the message on your talk page, I've removed the "outsider/newcomer" term as explicitly not a demonym. Included a link to the article we have on Kama'aina, which seems appropriate to include, and removed the parenthetical clarifying "Hawaiian" refers to the "Hawaiian people" rather than residents of the state. The AP looks to have made that call (and probably others as well), but the official legal demonym for all inhabitants is still "Hawaiian". Also removed the parenthetical for Kama'aina which says it's for non-ethnic natives, but according to our article it seems to be inclusive of both indigenous peoples and others, so long as they were born there. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 14:10, 30 May 2016 (UTC)

Sconnie

Nyth83 has removed "Sconnie" (Wisconsin) a couple times now, citing things like it being a trademark or hardly used. My response is that it has a reliable source, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: J-Z, published by Taylor & Francis, and therefore meets the inclusion criteria for this list. It's not a slam dunk of a source, of course, but if something better than a T&F-published reference work is needed, there needs to be a discussion to lay out the modified criteria. You saying it's "hardly used" is WP:OR, and being a trademark/marketing campaign isn't relevant given we're not citing the marketing campaign itself. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 21:58, 17 July 2016 (UTC)

Since you brought up original research, lest throw this on the table. I have live in Wisconisn for more that 50 years and the first time I heard this term was couple of months ago. I have also asked about a dozen random friends, family and strangers over the last 3 days if they have ever heard the term "Sconnie" used when referring to poeple from Wisconsin and every one of them said no.

OK, now lets look at sources. First off, it was originally added by an IP user 2620:72:0:D5D:C017:C381:6AC6:8002 which Geotraces to Verona, Wi(a suburb of Madison, WI). If you do a google search, eight of the nine results of the first page are all connected in some way to the Company name Sconnie Nation based in Madison, WI. The one result that does show up that is not appearently directly connected, is to urbandictionary added by a user 'all_american_1978'. Coincidently, not long before Sconnie Nation uploaded this video to Youtube where they are trying to explain the term. Hardly authoritative. The one source that is cited, links to partial google book preview which chain references a book by Jim Crotty "How to Talk American" which I have not vetted but it would seem based on the title, to require a further source contained in it to be reliable.

A search in the USPTO for 'sconnie' shows six results, all of which all belong to Sconnie Nation LLC.

I skimmed thought several pages of google results and finally on page 7, I found this result which pretty much is summed up by saying that no one either knows it, uses it, or states that is a made up word to sell t-shirts. this blog post seems to try to be a litte more professional about is but also does not cite any sources.

The term only appears to be used by Sconnie Nation LLC for marketing, and there is NO evidence that it is in common usage by anyone so it should not be included here per Wikipedia:Spam. Nyth63 03:55, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

@Nyth83: Hmm. I looked for some additional sources, too, and found several weak sources which use it, but none that are much help here. It's true the book the source pulled the word from doesn't itself look so reliable, being a humor publication. Second guessing an otherwise reliable sort of publication because of a particular source can get a bit dodgy, but that we can't find even one more good source for this is enough to suggest it should indeed be removed pending additional/better sourcing. I went ahead and reverted myself to remove it. — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 04:18, 18 July 2016 (UTC)

Louisiana/Cajun

I would call "no" on Cajun as a demonym for people from Louisiana in general. The term refers to a pretty specific ethnic and cultural group, most of whom live in Louisiana, not to just any resident of the state. Likewise, a Cajun living anywhere outside of Louisiana would still be referred to as a Cajun. Venqax (talk) 21:54, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Michigander

The table lists Michigander as both the official and an alternative demonym for Michigan. Wikipedia's Michigan entry lists Michiganian, which is not present on the list here at all. Correction? Venqax (talk) 21:44, 23 May 2018 (UTC)

Wyomese?

This diff added "Wyomese" as a demonym for people from Wyoming. The citation is to newspapers.com, to which I do not have a subscription. The OCR text below the preview is pretty poor, but indicates the usage is "in Wyomese", which sounds like an incorrect reading of "Wyoming" or some sense of local vernacular (as opposed to a demonym). I'm having trouble verifying this elsewhere. Could someone with a newspapers.com subscription verify? — Rhododendrites ^talk \\ 08:04, 12 March 2017 (UTC)

This is old, but you still edit. I’m applying for access to it right now, but on the Wikipedia Library you can apply for access to many sites such as Newspapers.com, and access many other research databases and collections without applying. Ben ❯❯❯ Talk 02:00, 6 May 2021 (UTC)

Contradiction for Hawaii

the GPO demonym list indicates “Hawaii islander or resident” but the GPO map shows “Hawaiian” Danielbv~enwiki (talk) 15:00, 26 July 2020 (UTC)

 Done Map replaced with change Zimbabgüey (talk) 20:45, 19 August 2020 (UTC)