区域居民称谓词原本是指用于指称居住于特定区域之居民的称呼用语，而且在拼写上可视为该区域地名的衍生词。值得注意的是，区域居民称谓词的定义并未涉及法律上的概念，即它并非是强调是按照法律意义上的公民国籍属性，而只是笼统地按共同居住的地域来称呼某人或某人群。如汉语“美国人”一词常泛指居住于美国的人，它也是地名“美国”的衍生词。同理，英语“Norwegian”一词常用于称呼居住在挪威的人，它本身也是地名“Norway”（挪威）的衍生词。再如，“花旗国”是“美国”的别称，“花旗国人”也表示定居住在花旗国的居民，也即美国人。

Demonym (/ˈdɛmənɪm/; δῆμος dẽmos 'people, tribe', ὄνομα ónoma 'name') is a word to identify residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a recently minted term; previously, gentilic was used by the Oxford English Dictionary. Examples of demonyms include Chinese for a native of China, Swahili for a native of the Swahili coast, American for a native of the United States of America, and in the same way natives of the United Mexican States are referred to as Mexicans.