In Spain, every region, province, city and island has its own word for its inhabitants.
Most of you may know that the correct word of referring to people from Madrid is madrileños, and those from Valencia are known as valencianos. These are known as gentilicios in Spanish, the demonym used to describe the people from a particular place.
But what do you call people from Oviedo or Cuenca? And do you know the difference between palmeros, palmesanos and palmenses?
Here is the definitive guide to what to call the citizens of different cities, provinces, regions and islands in Spain (*we’ve used the plural form so to form the singular remove the es or os ending and add an o for masculine or a for feminine instead).
Referring to people from Spain’s seven largest cities
- Madrid — madrileños
- Barcelona — barceloneses
- Valencia — valencianos
- Sevilla — sevillanos or hispalenses
- Zaragoza — zaragozanos
- Bilbao — bilbaínos
- Málaga — malagueños
READ ALSO: Words and phrases you need to know to be a true Madrileño
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The way to refer to people from Spain’s different regions:
Andalusia —andaluces
Aragón — aragoneses or maños
Asturias — asturianos
Canary Islands — canarios
Cantabria — cántabros or montañeses
Balearic Islands — baleares or baleáricos
Castilla-La Mancha — manchegos or castellanomanchegos
Castilla y León — castellanoleoneses
Cataluña — catalanes
Extremadura — extremeños
Galicia — gallegos
La Rioja — riojanos
Madrid — madrileños
Navarra — navarros
Basque Country — vascos
Murcia — murcianos
Valencia — valencianos
And not forgetting the inhabitants of Spain’s two autonomous cities in north Africa:
- Ceuta — ceutíes or ceutís
- Melilla — melillenses
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How to refer to people from Spain’s regional capitals
- Santiago — compostelanos or santiagueses
- Oviedo — ovetenses
- Santander — santanderinos
- Vitoria — vitorianos
- Pamplona — pamplonicas
- Valladolid — vallisoletanos
- Logroño — logroñeses
- Palma de Mallorca — palmesanos
- Toledo — toledanos
- Mérida — merideños
- Murcia — murcianos
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria — palmenses or canariones
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife — santacruceros or chicharerros
The way to describe people from Spain’s other provincial capitals
- La Coruña — coruñeses
- Lugo — lucenses
- Oviedo — ovetanos
- Santander — santanderinos
- Bilbao — bilbaínos
- San Sebastián — donostiarras
- Pamplona — pamplonicas
- Huesca — oscenses
- Lérida — leridanos
- Gerona — gerundenses
- Pontevedra — pontevedreses
- Orense — orensanos
- León —leoneses
- Palencia — palencianos
- Burgos — burgaleses
- Vitoria — vitorianos
- Logroño — logroñeses
- Zaragoza — zaragozanos
- Barcelona — barceloneses
- Zamora — zamoranos
- Valladolid — vallisoletanos
- Soria — sorianos
- Tarragona — tarraconenses
- Salamanca — salmantinos
- Ávila — abulenses
- Segovia — segovianos
- Madrid — madrileños
- Guadalajara — arriacenses or gudalajareños or most commonly alcarreños
- Teruel — turolenses
- Castellón — castellonenses
- Valencia — valencianos
- Palma de Mallorca — palmesanos
- Cáceres — cacereños
- Toledo — toledanos
- Cuenca — conquenses
- Badajoz — pacenses or badajocense
- Ciudad Real — ciudadrealeños
- Albacete — albaceteños
- Alicante — alicantinos
- Murcia — murcianos
- Sevilla — sevillanos or hispalenses
- Córdoba — cordobeses
- Jaén — jienenses
- Huelva — onubenses
- Cádiz — gaditanos
- Granada — granadinos
- Almería — almerienses
- Las Palmas de Gran Canaria — palmenses or canariones
- Santa Cruz de Tenerife — santacruceros or chicharrero
How to refer to people from each island in Spain’s two archipelagos:
Balearic Islands
- Mallorca — mallorquís or mallorquíes
- Ibiza — ibicencos
- Menorca — menorquís or menorquíes
- Formentera — formenteranos
- Cabrera — cabreranos
Canary Islands
- Tenerife — tinerfeños
- Gran Canaria — canariones
- Lanzarote — conejeros
- Fuerteventura — majoreros
- La Palma — palmeros
- La Gomera — gomeros
- El Hierro — herreños
- La Graciosa — Gracioseros
And now for the tricky one:
Those who live on the Canary Island of La Palma are known as palmeros, while those in Las Palmas, the capital of Gran Canaria are known as palmenses. Residents of Palma, in Mallorca (Balearic Islands), are known as palmesanos.
Simple!
