You have surely heard of Londoners, New Yorkers, Glaswegians and Californians - but are you familiar with Couchetards or Toutouvillais?
It is quite common for France’s regions, departments, cities and even villages to have a specific name (un gentilé) for their inhabitants. The word gentilé comes from the Latin gentile, which translates as de gens (of people).
While it might be rare to hear someone claim, “Je suis français, mais aussi néo-quitain, girondin et bordelais,” the French enjoy the solidairité of feeling part of a community.
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What is the gentilé of your French region?
Each of France's regions has an official name (or in some cases, names) for the people who come from or live there:
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes : Auverhonalpin(e)
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté : Bourguignon(ne) and Francs-Comtois(e)
Bretagne : Breton(ne)
Centre-Val de Loire : Centro-Ligérien(ne) (not commonly used)
Corse : Corses
Grand Est : Alsacien(ne), Champenois(e) and Lorrain(ne)
Hauts-de-France : Nordistes and Picard(e)
Île-de-France : Francilien(ne)
Normandie : Normand(e)
Nouvelle-Aquitaine : Néo-Aquitain(ne)
Occitanie : Occitan(e)
Pays de la Loire : Ligérien(ne)
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur : Provençal(e)
Some of these regional gentilés are more well-known and widely-used than others. This is often linked to the force of each regional identity, which can stem from whether somewhere has a minority language, cultural traditions or festivals.
People from Brittany, for example, tend to have a strong regional identity, and are proud to claim that they are Breton.
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Regions where there are more than one gentilé could be explained by the reorganisation of the territory in 2016, when many smaller regions were merged to create larger ones.
People generally have a stronger connection to gentilés on a city/town level, and will be able to understand that a Parisien comes from Paris, a Niçois lives in Nice and a Lyonnais is from Lyon.
How are gentilés created?
In most cases, a gentilé stems from the beginning of a place name, with the most common endings being: -ain -ais -ard -eau -en -ien -in -ois -ot -on.
Compound place names separated by hyphens (of which there are several in France), are the most irregular and unpredictable.
Places beginning with Saint or which start with an article such as Le or La, are usually dropped from the gentilé.
However, there are no laws, fixed rules or formulas when it comes to naming inhabitants.
Hundreds of towns and communes in France have no official name for their locals, simply referring to them as: ceux de [their town name].
Gentilés for smaller places are usually decided at a commune level, sometimes taking suggestions from community members or allowing them to get involved with the decision-making process.
This is currently the case in the town of Lucquy (Ardennes), where residents are voting for what they would like to be known as. Proposals include: ‘Lucquylois(e)’, ‘Lucquytois(e)’ and ‘Lucquycien(ne)’. One poster in the town even lists Chanceux(se) - assumed to be a play on the French pronunciation of Lucquy sounding like the English word, lucky.
Similarly, the village of Le Vaumain (Oise) is actively seeking name suggestions. Until May 31, people (even non-residents) can submit their ideas via the commune's Facebook page or in the letterbox at the town hall. Each contribution must be accompanied by a short justification as to why the proposed name is best suited to the village locals.
A statement from the Mairie de Le Vaumain said the aim is to “define the identity of our commune and to reinforce a feeling of belonging… our village deserves to find a name for its inhabitants that captures its history and dynamism.”
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Places can also change the name given to residents, as seen with the people of Vantoux (Moselle) who used to be called Vandales. Due to vandalism connotations, a 2008 public vote decided that residents would instead be referred to as Vantousien.
Amusing gentilés
Other funny names include the residents of Villechien (Manche), known as Toutouvillais. This stems from the term toutou being a cute way for children to refer to a dog (chien) in French.
People from Longcochon (Jura) diverted from the ‘long pig’ theme and chose to be called Couchetards. This name stems from coucher (to sleep), and tard (late), with the French term couche-tard describing a night owl.
Angoisse (Dordogne) embraced the ‘anxious’ theme, naming locals Angoissais. This sounds like angoissé in French which means nervous person or worrier.
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In Saint-Mars-du-Désert (Loire-Atlantique) you might expect to find little green aliens after hearing that inhabitants are Marsiens, which sounds like martien (martian) in French.
Visit Cast (Finistère) and you will meet the Castois, which sounds like casse-toi in French. You would say this as a rude way of telling someone to get lost, take a hike, or do one.
Residents of Cuvier (Jura) are known as the Ventres Sans Fond (bottomless stomachs) - proving that gentilés do not need to reflect any link to a place’s name.
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To work out the name of a particular group of inhabitants you can try asking a local or use an online tool to help.
Can you guess the gentilé?
Now that you have seen some examples, can you guess the names of people who live in the following towns and cities?
1. Saint Malo
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A) Malouin(e)
2. Calais
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A) Calaisien(ne)
3. La Rochelle
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A) Rochelais(e)
4. Tours
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A) Tourangeau (Tourangelle)
5. Saint Etienne
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A) Stéphanois(e)
