Demonym is also known as gentilic. It is used to describe the people of a specific nation.
One can further use a demonym to talk about people who live in a city, a town, or a region.
For instance you could discuss San Franciscans or Parisians using demonyms, or use the general term Southerner for people living in the South part of a country.
In most cases a demonym changes the name of a country or specific geographically defined space by altering the ending or by altering the whole world. There are numerous spelling changes or suffixes which can be attached to the end of the name of a country or place in order to produce demonyms. These include the suffixes:
an
ian
ine
ite
i
er
ish
iard
ese
ic
It isn’t always possible to tell why one suffix is more appropriate than another. The suffix ian is used for the people of Brazil, Brazilians. It could be argued that Brazilites is equally appropriate, or that Brazilish is similar to British. A resident of Bengal is a Bengali, and it’s not clear why he or she is not a Bengalian or Bengalese.
One can further use a demonym to talk about people who live in a city, a town, or a region.
For instance you could discuss San Franciscans or Parisians using demonyms, or use the general term Southerner for people living in the South part of a country.
In most cases a demonym changes the name of a country or specific geographically defined space by altering the ending or by altering the whole world. There are numerous spelling changes or suffixes which can be attached to the end of the name of a country or place in order to produce demonyms. These include the suffixes:
an
ian
ine
ite
i
er
ish
iard
ese
ic
It isn’t always possible to tell why one suffix is more appropriate than another. The suffix ian is used for the people of Brazil, Brazilians. It could be argued that Brazilites is equally appropriate, or that Brazilish is similar to British. A resident of Bengal is a Bengali, and it’s not clear why he or she is not a Bengalian or Bengalese.