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Comment by andybak | Hacker News Reader

At a certain point a term is so unfamiliar that you have to accept it's fallen out of usage. I'm from the UK and had never heard of Leodensian, Wulfrunian or Novocastrian.

Can anyone from those places comment on whether the terms are used seriously in normal conversation - and not just to sound clever or erudite?

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I studied Latin in Newcastle and definitely heard "Novocastrian", but I'm certainly an outlier. I can't imagine any Geordie you're going to meet in St James' Park is likely to use the term.

Mancunian, Glaswegian, Geordie, Liverpudlian and Scouser, and Bajan are all commonly used. I have never heard the ones for Leeds or Wolverhampton and I assume they're silly back-formations like Novocastrian. Malagasy seems to be a proper term both for a language and a people, according to Wikipedia, though it's not one I'm especially familiar with. I have no idea about "Haligonian" or the Pittsburgh ones.

That's pretty condescending. Plenty of geordies are familiar with the term novocastrian.

edit to add: Not a term in common usage though, granted.

I studied all school subjects in Newcastle, and know a great many people from the area who didn't even get to non-signalling-language level of schooling, yet staggeringly, are aware of the specific name for people from Newcastle; you're not an outlier. It's not widely used, but it's very well known.

I lived in Halifax for 15+ years and Haligonian is almost universally used.

Here people in Tasmania are colloquially called Taswegians in honour of Glasgow.Tasmanian is proper but I would like to see Van Demons catch on in deference to the dutch name.

I lived in Wolverhampton for ten years and Wulfrunian is fairly commonly used in the city.

I also lived in Leeds for a few years and I'm pretty sure the denonym in use was Loiner.

Wikipedia agrees that Loiner is a demonym for Leeds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loiner

Hmm. I also lived in Leeds for some years, but I've never heard either term used.

I would have said most people from Leeds refer to themselves as a "Tyke", but I see that listed on Wikipedia as someone from Yorkshire in general.

I've heard Novocastrian but it'd be reasonable to say I've never heard outside of a pub quiz or from a Stephen Fry-type trying to seem clever.

The other two are new to me!

I'm from the other Newcastle - the city in Australia, named after the original. You certainly hear the term Novocastrian very often down here, although I would not expect anyone outside of the area itself to know what it refers to.

I definitely agree with you on this. I'm from Leeds and my first thought was that there isn't really a term for someone from Leeds, other than someone from Leeds!

Leodensian might be a term that existed at some point, or is by lack of an alternative, the default word, but it isn't actually used to the point where any person from Leeds would expect another person from Leeds to understand the term (let alone someone from elsewhere)

Now I think about it, I can't think of many names for citizens of the main yorkshire cities (York, Sheffield??). Perhaps "yorkshireman" or "yorkshirewoman" has been enough...

What adjective would you use to describe someone or something from Leeds? Is there one? An equivalent to something like "Bostonian architecture". Demonyms have always fascinated me for some reason, particularly the irregular ones.

If a person from New York is a New Yorker, then shouldn't someone from the original York be a Yorker?

I think as York begat Yorkshire which begat Yorkshireman, New Yorkers should be referred to as New Yorkshiremen.

I went to the (private) Leeds Grammar School, and our alumni have always been Old Leo(densian)s - there's also a rugby club in Leeds of the same name, which was originally associated with the school/alumni, and it's mentioned in that delightful Kaiser Chiefs ditty about a night out in Leeds, I Predict A Riot...

In other words, slightly obscure, but certainly not unknown. The others, I've never heard of :)

I don't know if it's true, but I was told that Leeds Grammar School invented the term "Leodensian" to make themselves sound posher, and it has no real historical basis.

Never heard of any of them either - from the Midlands and used to travel around UK a lot for work and never heard anyone use them in any conversation.

Novocastrian is used, Geordie may have been 'reappropriated' but I still think it's loaded with connotation - you can see that from the fact it also describes the (thick) accent, which isn't the case for all demonyms.

If I overheard Leodensian or Wulfrunian, I'd think the speakers were comparing school ties. Or talking about local (rugby) football teams.

From Newcastle; yes, it is used occasionally but kinda formally. Very well known, just not needed. That might be to do with area (+ football), which in some ways binds stronger (north/south of Tyne) than actual city (which is small, vs huge area if outlying towns are included)

Wulfrunian is very common in Wolverhampton, though more common would be "from Wolves".

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