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Most Common Demonyms in American Writing

A demonym is a term, such as Vietnamese, that refers to a person or thing from a specific place. Can you name the most common demonyms used in American writing from 1990-2015?
Source: Corpus of Contemporary American English
Hint: Try to think of places that would have been in the news during those years
Not necessarily countries. Not all places currently exist
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: December 14, 2017
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First submittedNovember 22, 2017
Times taken11,874
Average score70.4%
Rating3.98
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demonym
American
Soviet
African
British
Chinese
European
French
demonym
Indian
Iraqi
Russian
Japanese
English
Israeli
Mexican
demonym
Spanish
Asian
Palestinian
Canadian
Italian
Irish
German
demonym
Korean
Roman
Dutch
Greek
Cuban
Persian
Quizmaster
+14
Level ∞
Nov 22, 2017
My guess is that African is so high due to the phrase "African American", and that Roman appears because of "Roman Catholic".
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Dec 14, 2017
No... Latin? Native (American)? some other odd omissions, too...
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Jul 8, 2018
Latino/Latina, Hispanic, Arab..
kalbahamut
+7
Level 82
Dec 14, 2017
Persian included but Iranian, Syrian, etc. not included leads me to believe there are more academic texts than newspaper stories in the mix.
pharris610
+4
Level 52
Dec 14, 2017
I think Iranian is included within Persian.
amm14
+8
Level 66
Dec 14, 2017
Persian is likely there because of the Persian Gulf War.
kalbahamut
+7
Level 82
Dec 15, 2017
It would be very strange for a language corpus to start grouping together terms like that. It's not as if Persian is just Iranian differently conjugated. They are different terms that refer to different things.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 82
Dec 14, 2017
Soviet, too, not exactly making headlines these days. Must have been a lot of history books that they incorporated. Though they would have been in headlines a ton right around 1990-1991 when the dates begin... not so much after that.
Arp2600
+2
Level 86
Nov 22, 2017
I don't think "soviet" refers to a place, it means "council" in Russian...
Djilas
+14
Level 82
Nov 22, 2017
Yeah in Russian, but in English it is also an adjective (sovietskiy in Russian) for everything about Soviet Union.
Walacama
+13
Level 81
Dec 14, 2017
In Soviet Russia, road forks you.
WolfCam
+1
Level 66
Nov 22, 2017
Soviet? How many people talk about the Ussr. I mean I talk about it on a daily basis but do other people do that?
eibi
+13
Level 80
Dec 14, 2017
The statistics started in 1990. The Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991/92, which was kind of a big deal back then.
sulfuratus
+7
Level 66
Dec 14, 2017
“kind of”
Hollywood
+1
Level 62
Dec 30, 2019
Sort of
AchillesFirstStand
+4
Level 78
Dec 14, 2017
Maybe people referring to Baltics, the Stans, etc. as "former Soviet republics"
DasCreamy109
+1
Level 47
Dec 14, 2017
WolfCam has a point. I don't think I would ever use Soviet in conversation unless I wanted to discuss history. It's way too random.
muskox
+2
Level 70
Nov 6, 2018
its a meme, schoolchildren joke about being a soviet commie wanting to reinstate communism
APHill
+7
Level 75
Nov 22, 2017
Unfortunately, my favorite demonym, Cypriot, did not make the list.
Fee
+1
Level 51
Dec 14, 2017
I'm surprised Moldovan didn't appear on the list. Or even "Bosnian and Herzegovinan". I use those demonyms almost daily.
Fee
+1
Level 51
Dec 16, 2017
For sure mun. Pass the dutchie
sillie
+7
Level 77
Nov 22, 2017
I am quite surprised Arabian doesn't show up.
Djilas
+2
Level 82
Nov 23, 2017
Arab or Arabic appear more often.
CRey
+4
Level 81
Nov 23, 2017
Is Latin American not a demonym then? If it is - I am surprised it doesn't show on this list.
zuzu
+6
Level 62
Nov 23, 2017
CRey - (nothing to do with your comment) just want to say your score of 81 is incredible and worth noting. Whew
DasCreamy109
+1
Level 47
Dec 14, 2017
I think it would be Latino. But I also wondered why it wasn't there.
Algernon
+3
Level 72
Nov 23, 2017
Only missed two, and one of them was Chinese. How the **** did

I not think of China!? Triple face palm.

Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 60
May 9, 2022
For me it was Italian that I facepalmed. I missed 3 in total though.
roleybob
+5
Level 75
Nov 23, 2017
I find myself suspicious of these answers - I was sure Texan and Californian would be there. I expected Westerner too, though that might be too broad a term to really be called a demonym
Arp2600
+1
Level 86
Nov 23, 2017
Yes, the absence of Texan and Californian surprised me too.
DaveM
+2
Level 74
Dec 14, 2017
New Yorker too
Froststar101
+1
Level 74
Dec 14, 2017
Yes, I guessed all of these.
OldSailor
+2
Level 90
Nov 23, 2017
How did a version of Afghani not make this list? I seem to remember a news story or two about the country.
fitheach
+2
Level 59
Dec 14, 2017
Lots of things have happened in the world other than in Afghanistan. This isn't just about current affairs writing.
undeadwarrior
+1
Level 63
Nov 26, 2017
English refers to the language - British refers to the people. Please remove English from the list.
Quizmaster
+18
Level ∞
Nov 27, 2017
English = people from England. British = people from England, Scotland, Wales, and possibly any other UK citizen.
fitheach
+2
Level 59
Dec 14, 2017
English is still a denonym. There are plenty of other answers on this quiz that relate to languages as much as to the people, it's not just English.
irish41
+2
Level 59
Dec 14, 2017
Have you ever tried telling someone from England that they're not English?
RobNobody
+3
Level 77
Dec 14, 2017
What else would you call someone or something from England, while differentiating them from, say, people from Scotland?
Sifhraven
+2
Level 67
Jan 14, 2020
Yea, so english channel (just to pick something) is about language? So the channel can talk and speaks english?
Cathal341
+1
Level 51
Nov 27, 2017
I glad to see I'm not the only one who missed the easiest ones! MIssed American, European and Asian. Only "Hard" one I missed was Roman.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 60
May 9, 2022
You got African but not Asian / European?
eibi
+1
Level 80
Dec 14, 2017
Not "global"?
DasCreamy109
+1
Level 47
Dec 14, 2017
I'm global! :)
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jan 14, 2020
It isnt a demonym, there is not a place called Globa. (And still it would turn into something like Globalian)
kalbahamut
+1
Level 82
Dec 14, 2017
Would help a lot to know in terms of general proportion what sorts of texts were incorporated into the corpus.
QRU
+1
Level 74
Dec 14, 2017
You can look it up here.
irish41
+2
Level 59
Dec 14, 2017
I got British but missed English, even though the damn flag of England is the thumbnail! Derp.
Tummykong
+2
Level 66
Dec 14, 2017
Having trouble figuring out the order of the demonyms in the answer box. Are they listed in order of most to least common usage?
RobNobody
+1
Level 77
Dec 14, 2017
Ah, I forgot Soviet, and I completely forgot to try continents. No Asian, European, or African for me.
Screwjack
+1
Level 65
Dec 14, 2017
Amazed that Earthling or Martian was not in there somewhere.......😜
roleybob
+1
Level 75
Dec 15, 2017
Must be a conspiracy by our great Martian overlord
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jan 14, 2020
Not 100% sure earthling is a demonym. I think something from earth is called terrestrial. (You can't say earthling cuisine for instance)
Halebopp
+1
Level 58
Dec 16, 2017
Surprised not to find Polish in there. :)
Sifhraven
+1
Level 67
Jan 14, 2020
I guess there arent a lot of conversations about polishing ;)
ruudsje
+1
Level 69
Dec 17, 2017
are northern, southern etc no demonyms? i'm not sure, just asking. maybe they simply missed the cut.
IsleAuHaulte
+3
Level 89
Jul 5, 2018
Odd that New Yorker, Afghan and Arabic / Arabian are missing considering they were used nonstop during the Bush years.
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 60
May 9, 2022
I believe JetPunk uses Afghani... not sure if that's a factor. I was looking for Egyptian.
NV1
+1
Level 51
Jan 31, 2020
Guessed the last answer (Israeli) at 8 seconds!
TurkeyCookTime
+1
Level 76
Apr 30, 2020
Forgot about continental demonyms.
MinecraftMadman
+1
Level 26
Jun 17, 2020
If the quiz is most common demonyms in AMERICAN writing, how did anyone miss "American"?
SIMFERATZUL
+1
Level 31
Dec 11, 2020
I totally forgot about British! I even put Palestinian... haha
Ainmclarach
+1
Level 55
May 20, 2023
No Equatoguinean?
EcceHomo
+1
Level 79
Jan 16, 2024
Surprisingly nothing from inside the USA. I thought if anything Virginian would be.
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