Cashiers

 High Living in the High Country
   Cashiers is a very small town located in the mountains of North Carolina, southwest of Asheville. To pronounce the name properly say "KASH-erz" or "Cash-ERS." I suppose the demonym applied to the residents would be simply, "Cashiers." 
   The derivation of the name for the town apparently is related to the fact that those who founded it, often acted as cashiers for the gold miners in the area. Curiously enough, Cashiers is still a good name for the town, since some of those who now have homes there, handle large amounts of cash.
   There are now over 1,000 billionaires in the U.S. and Cashiers has more than its fair share. These Hillbillionaires were drawn to the area for the same reason the Vanderbilts went to Asheville;  the natural beauty, cool and clean air and peace and tranquility.
   You will likely not spot many in the town square since they tend to congregate close-by in clubs with names like "Chattooga" and "Cullasaja." A house at the latter club just sold for $12 million. At the Mountaintop Golf & Lake Club, the initiation fee will be $275,000 starting on Jan.1, which is about $375,000 Canadian if I have aroused your interest. 
  I don't think many of the rich are residing in those huge mountain homes at this time of year and I doubt if they have to cover the costs by putting them on VRBO.  Visit in the summer and fall when you can mingle with the families that provide us with Tabasco and Russell Stover candies, or perhaps play a round of golf with the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 
  For more information see these two articles: 
"What We Know About America's 1,135 Billionaires --- Exclusive, up-close Look at the Richest people in the U.S..." by Theo Francis and Inti Pacheco, Wall Street Journal, Sept. 6, 2025.
"The North Carolina Village Where America’s Wealthiest Go to Fly Under the Radar: Home to at least four billionaires, the low-key, ‘no frills’ enclave of Cashiers has one of the country’s highest concentrations of wealth," E.B. Solomont, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 26, 2025.
  "In the Blue Ridge Mountains, the unincorporated village has no mayor, no local police force and no central public water supply. There is a limited public sewer system, just a handful of sidewalks and one Ingles supermarket, affectionately known as "Mingles" because it is where locals tend to socialize. But what Cashiers does have is uber-wealthy homeowners who have been coming to the area for more than a century. With a full-time population of just 825 -- and at least four billionaires with homes in Cashiers -- the unincorporated village has one of the highest concentrations of wealth in the country, according to data from Altrata, a wealth-intelligence firm. It also remains one of the most under-the-radar -- by design." [Now you know where they are.]
   For 'normal' tourist information, see "Cashiers Valley, N.C. 

   For a more upscale view, see, The Laurel Magazine
If you are just curious about demonyms see: "Unobvious Demonyms." 
The Bonus:
A recent film has a demonym in the title: The Baltimorons: A Christmas Movie. That is a joke, of course, since those from that city are "Baltimoreans."

Unobvious Demonyms

     In reading a review of a couple of books about Istanbul, I noted that the citizens of that city were referred to as “Istanbullus”. That got me thinking about demonyms and also reminded me that I should be glad I don’t have to meet a deadline when jotting down a few words. Although grammatical resources can be grabbed from the Internet easily and instantly,  the first one I looked at suggests that “Istanbulite” and “Istanbulites” can be used. One can imagine that the reviewer struggled to avoid any mention of residents from an earlier time (“Constantinopolites”?).
 
     I learned of the word “demonym” just a few years ago and it is of relatively recent coinage. It appears now in the OED and is defined as the  “proper name by which a native or resident of a specific place is known.” Since we reside in several places (countries/provinces,states/cities,towns) there are many demonyms, some of which are not obvious, and others which need to be determined cautiously - the more colloquial ones, in particular.

National Names
     What to call a person from Canada or Australia does not seem too difficult and neither of the slang expressions, “Canuck” or “Aussie”, is likely to get you punched. Distinctions need to be made when you refer to those from the United Kingdom and the problem of what to call citizens of the United States is so problematic that everyone gave up years ago. It is obvious that a whole bunch of people on this side of the globe are “American” and many of them are not found in the United States. If you are asked at the Canadian border about your citizenship and answer “American”, the agent is likely to reply “So am I, what country are you from?” A number of demonyms have been suggested for those who live stateside, but “American” was settled upon and these rejected: “United-Statesian”, “Fredonian”, “Usonian”, “Columbian” and “Columbard”, among others. In these post-colonial times, the last two are especially troublesome and the imperialist annexation of “American” by the Americans is more acceptable. 

Provincial Ones
     Even at provincial or state levels the demonymic distinctions are not always easily determined. Heading west from here (Ontario) one feels comfortable in greeting Manitobans, but less so when trying to figure out what to call those in the next province. Officially they are known as “Saskatchewanians”, but one can see or hear “Saskatchewanite”, or “Saskatchewaner” and others have been mentioned (“Saskie”, “Sasky”, “Saskabrigian”, etc.). Going farther west, travel among the Albertans and British Columbians is easy and those in the laid-back latter province probably won’t mind being called “Lotus-Landers” or even “Cascadians”. Heading east from London (Ontario) one immediately encounters another language which does not make determining demonyms any easier (“Quebecer”, “Quebecker”, “Québécois”) and when one reaches Newfoundland it is probably best not to use the common colloquial term. If you are going to the far north, “Nunavummiut" will come in handy.

     If you head to Michigan you will run into some “Michiganians”, but if you use the term “Michigander” you should also consider “Michigoose” for the females. “Wolverine” is widely acceptable. “Yoopers” should only be used for those in the northern part of the state (derived from the Upper Peninsula - U.P,-ers). If you continue on into Indiana, use “Hoosier”. If you are old enough to remember Fred Waring (you are probably dead), you will know what to call the Pennsylvanians and if you travel through New York you won’t have any problem until you get to Connecticut. (I suggest “Nutmeggers”.)

The Locals   
      From the name of the city it is not always easy to figure out what the residents within it should be called. Here are some unobvious demonyms for urban areas.

     Torontonians and Buffalonians should not call those in Akron, Akronians since they are Acronites. Burqueños reside in Albuquerque. Haligonians are from Halifax and Moose Javians are from Moose Jaw.

     Cantabrigians, Liverpudlians, Novocastrians, Mancunians and Sotonians reside respectively in Cambridge, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Southampton. I am not sure if those in the Southampton along the Lake Huron shore refer to themselves as “Sotonians”, but I imagine the demonyms followed along with the toponyms.

     If this wasn’t complicated enough, one has to remember that some devious people will use demonyms in an opprobrious manner. Chicagorillas and Omahogs do not exist, nor do Baltimorons or Louisvillains. Only people from New Hampshire call those from Maine, "Maniacs".

Sources:
     The entry for “Demonym” in Wikipedia and the links provided in it  are all you need.  It is also the case that the demonym is usually supplied in each country and city entry in Wikipedia although they are sometimes missing in the tougher cases, e.g. Passaic. I discovered the book by Paul Dickson pictured above, but could not locate it locally. The terms to describe those in Saskatchewan are found in “Saskie, Saskie, Bo-Baskie,” by Ron Petrie, Regina Leader Post, Dec.1, 2011. The review containing the demonym 'Istanbullus': "A City Where East Meets West and the Past Is Always Present,” by Lawrence Osborne, The New York Times, Jan. 4, 2018.

     Although the word demonym does not appear, one will find a good discussion of them in Mencken’s The American Language; see the section on “Place Names” and the chapter on “Proper Names in America”. It is from that source that I learned of the Baltimorons; less kind words by him are often used for those who live farther south.

     If you need a more serious source see the U.S. GPO Style Manual which is available for free over the internet. See: “Demonyms: Names of Nationalities” on p.337. It is followed conveniently by a currency table which will help you determine how many Pula you should tip a Botswanan for carrying your bags.