While many parades, picnics and parties are off, this is still Independence Day weekend. There will still be cookouts and fireworks this year, and it might make sense to think a bit this weekend about the country where we live, and the people with whom we share these states and territories.

The website Vivid Maps can help. They released a map of the US by demonym, which is the term for a word that describes people from a certain place.

Many of these are as straightforward as they come, like Texan, Californian, West Virginian and Iowan.

But not all are. The U.S. Government Publishing Office recommends the term Arizonans, but there are people in that state who prefer Arizonians.

The feds recommend Massachusettsian, but the government of Massachusetts uses the term Bay Stater instead.

The Northeast is full of names like Vermonter, New Yorker and Mainer. But New Hampshire uses the term New Hampshirite (though everyone I know there uses Granite Stater).

There are only three states that use the letters “ite” in their demonyms, including New Hampshire. I am a Wisconsinite, and then there are Wyomingites.

Those from Indiana are not Indianans, but Hoosiers, which is a whole story on its own.

Go north from there and you’ll meet Michiganders, go to the northwest and you’ll meet Washingtonians and Oregonians, and go out into the Pacific to meet Hawaii residents.

That demonym is meant to distinguish residents of the state from people of Hawaiian descent.

And if you go even further into the Pacific, you can meet some Guamanians.

By the way, it’s the anniversary of the day Idaho became the 43rd state, so let’s point out that there’s a spot in the U.S. where you can visit Idahoans, Wyomingites and Utahns all at once.

It’s the Tri-State Marker in southeastern Idaho.

It’s a slightly remote spot, but if you’re up for a little hike on the outskirts of the town of Montpelier, you could stand in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah simultaneously.

Demonyms of the U.S. and Canada (Vivid Maps)

My Fellow Americanians (New York Times)

You Can Stand In Three Different States At Once Near The Town Of Montpelier, Idaho (Only In Your State)

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Image by HMElza, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons