# Ethnonym
An ethnonym is the proper name of an ethnic group, such as a tribe, folk, or clan, or of a member of that group; the International Council of Onomastic Sciences (ICOS) gives Italians, Bavarians, Croat, Frenchman, and Zulu as examples.[1](https://icosweb.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ICOS-Terms-en.pdf) The word itself is an English coinage, formed by compounding ethno- and -onym, with its earliest known use in 1894 in the writing of G. Cupples.[2](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ethnonym_n)
| Key facts | |
|---|---|
| Definition | Proper name of an ethnic group (tribe, folk, clan) or of a member of it[1](https://icosweb.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ICOS-Terms-en.pdf) |
| English coinage | Formed by compounding; earliest known use 1894, in G. Cupples[2](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ethnonym_n) |
| Frequency | About 0.04 occurrences per million words in modern written English[2](https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ethnonym_n) |
| Contrast term | Demonym: name for a group related by geopolitical allegiance rather than descent or culture[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/) |
| Boundary case | The same term can serve as both ethnonym and demonym, e.g. Russians[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/) |
| Semantic risk | Ethnonyms can convert into common nouns carrying negative stereotypes, e.g. Gypsy, Jew, Arab[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/) |
| Contested status | In some languages and for some scholars, ethnonyms are not proper names at all[1](https://icosweb.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ICOS-Terms-en.pdf) |
## Ethnonym versus demonym
The theoretical distinction rests on what binds the group. An ethnonym names a group of people related, or assumed to be related, by genetic inheritance (or, in the pre-scientific metaphor, by blood), often also sharing a material, artistic, or spiritual culture. A demonym names a group related by geopolitical allegiance, whether consensual or coerced, and the bureaucracy that goes with it.[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/)
In practice the categories blur. There may be considerable overlap, but rarely exact correspondence, when the same term works as both: Russians can mean members of a particular East Slavic people, defined genetically or anthropologically, or citizens of the Russian Federation.[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/)
Even the category's membership is debated. ICOS notes that ethnonyms are not treated as proper names in some languages and by some scholars, citing ingleses in Spanish as an example.[1](https://icosweb.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ICOS-Terms-en.pdf) Whether they count as proper names depends, on one account, on whether ethnicities are seen as having defining characteristics or as sociocultural constructs.[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/)
## Endonyms, exonyms, and how outside names stick
An endonym (or autonym) is the name a group uses for itself; an exonym is the name others use for it. Exonyms often arise at first contact: the name of the first tribe or village encountered becomes the label for the whole people beyond it. Phonetic adaptation and translation produce further exonyms as names pass between languages.
## Pejoration and deonymic use
The mechanism is stereotype: a group name acquires the negative traits popularly attributed to the group, then the word itself carries those traits. Documented English examples include Corinthian meaning a profligate idler, Jew meaning miser, Gypsy meaning a fickle person (especially a woman), and Arab meaning an unruly or belligerent person, all evidenced in the [Oxford English Dictionary](https://www.edgepedia.org/oxford-english-dictionary).[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/)
Conversion can go further, into lower-case verbs: to welsh, meaning to renege on paying out after a losing bet, and to jew, meaning to swindle.[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/) On this account, stereotypes function as unscientific default entailments within an ethnoepistemology, overgeneralizations that masquerade as real-world truths, and they are what drive these semantic shifts.[3](https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/)
## Formation and the language link
Beyond borrowing and adaptation, language itself can create ethnonyms: Koopman's Oxford Handbook chapter notes that language, or at least the manipulation of language, can even create ethnonyms.[4](https://2024.sci-hub.st/7029/5d481e6337bc4a6212fb15b12b4d6749/koopman2016.pdf) A related thread comes from McConvell (2006), who links ethnic group and language: for many groups, the great majority of these names function as both the name of the language and the name of the people.[4](https://2024.sci-hub.st/7029/5d481e6337bc4a6212fb15b12b4d6749/koopman2016.pdf)
## References
1. Basic system and terminology of the Slavonic Onomastics (ICOS). https://icosweb.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ICOS-Terms-en.pdf
2. Ethnonym, n. Oxford English Dictionary. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/ethnonym_n
3. Some Thoughts on the Theoretical Status of Ethnonyms and Demonyms. Onomastica. https://onomastica.ijppan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/download/326/387/
4. Koopman (2016). Ethnonyms. Oxford Handbooks. https://2024.sci-hub.st/7029/5d481e6337bc4a6212fb15b12b4d6749/koopman2016.pdf
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Names and onomastics › Ethnonyms, demonyms, and names for peoples*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license