endonym

American  

[en-duh-nim] / ˈɛn də nɪm /

noun

Anthropology.

1. Also called autonym.  the name that an ethnic, racial, or social group uses for itself or its language, such as Schwyzerdütsch for Swiss German.

2. the name used to refer to a place by its inhabitants, as opposed to a name used by foreigners.

   In the 1920s, Reza Shah requested that the West call his country by its endonym “Iran,” rather than “Persia.”

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Other Word Forms

• endonymic adjective
• endonymous adjective

Etymology

Origin of endonym

First recorded in 1970–75; end(o)- ( def. ) + -onym ( def. )

Explanation

An endonym is a place name that's used by the people who actually live there. If you're planning a trip to Spain, you probably know that the country's endonym is España. With the thousands of spoken languages in the world, and hundreds of written ones, it shouldn't be surprising that many places have been given names that are easier for non-natives to pronounce or spell. That's how the city of Wien in the country of Österreich became Vienna, Austria. In this case, Wien is an endonym (the name used by Austrians) and Vienna is an English exonym. Endonym is from Greek roots meaning "inside" and "name."