Who counts as a native of a particular place?

[index]

The hard definition for a native is someone who was born in a specific place, whether they have subsequently lived there or not. When talking about people and their background though, I don't think that's the best definition to describe who they are and the level of ties they have to a place. I think in some instances it's perfectly fine to stretch the definition, for example:

My partner was born in Lenoir, NC. By the strictest definition, he's a native of North Carolina, however, he has no ties to the state. His mother immediately moved him to Florida, where he lived for the first 9 months of his life, until she lost custody of him and his father moved him to South Carolina, which is where he grew up, where the rest of his family was, and lived for his entire life up until now.

I don't think it would be too controversial to say that he's a South Carolina native and not a transplant, and bragging about being a North Carolina native wouldn't make very much sense considering his weak background there and his complete lack of memory of it. Sure, you could technically claim native status if you were born there, then immediately left, but it is not a very meaningful or strong claim to it beyond the literal, dictionary definition. He also considers himself an SC native.

I think the best definition of a native to describe someone's background in terms of where they grew up and their level of association with it, is if that place was the strongest part of their background and origin, in terms of location. Did they go to school there? Were they raised there? Did they come there in their infancy and then stay there? Do they have any memory of their birthplace, or only memory of where they grew up? Do they identify with where they spent their most formative years? Does their family have any roots in the place they were born?

My father was born in Alabama, but only lived there for two weeks. He grew up and spent his childhood and early adulthood in Enid, Oklahoma. I consider him a native of Oklahoma, rather than Alabama, and he does as well.

A few well-known examples of the definition being stretched are that Michael Jordan, Eisenhower, Charles Duke (the astronaut), Elvis, and Bush 43, are all generally accepted as native sons of the states in which they were raised in, had their origins in, and are claimed by the people from their state. When you hear those names, you think of Tennessee or North Carolina or whatever, rather than their birthplaces.

[JayhawkCO]

This is of particular interest to Coloradoans, whose natives proudly have bumper stickers saying so. Since there are so many transplants here, my answer always is "I'm more native than most". I moved here in 6th grade, graduated high school here, moved away for college and ten more years, and now I've been back for seven years. I'm actually a Minnesota native having been born there and living there for the first eleven years of my life. But my total time living in states is:

Minnesota - 11 Years
Colorado - 14.5 Years
Florida - 1 Year
Kansas - 13.5 Years
Washington - 1 Year

[oscar]

^ Same here, for California where I grew up (4th grade-college), even though I was born in North Carolina (military  family), transferred to Minnesota for a few years, then back to North Carolina then to Virginia before my father's final transfer to California. After college, I moved out East (job reasons, mainly), including the last 42 years in northern Virginia. But especially when talking about sports team loyalties, my refrain is "this isn't home, I only live here" (lots of transients here, so that's understood).

By California's lax standards, I consider myself a California native. But not enough to make me move back there when I retired.

[Ted$8roadFan]

In New England, especially small town New England, it's a very loaded question. Not as much as it used to be, but still potent.

[mgk920]

I consider myself to be a native American and Wisconsinite.  I was born in Milwaukee,WI and raised and still live here in Appleton, WI.  I've only been outside of the USA a small handful of times, each time was a very short foray into Canada.  I am somewhat offended at the hijacking of the term 'Native American' as a way to describe those of aboriginal descent, as the entire human species is 'native' in sub-Saharan Africa (does that make us all 'African-Americans'?).

Mike

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm from Detroit originally and I lived in Michigan for twelve years before I was 18.  That being the case, there is very little that I self identify as an adult relating to Michigan besides sports fandom.  When people usually ask me where I'm from I just say Phoenix nowadays.  I'm not native to the Phoenix area but I spent a lot of years there as the city was emerging into what it is now. 

Worth noting also, most of my family from Michigan left after I did.  There is very little tangible the ties me to the state anymore.

[wriddle082]

I was born and have lived most of my life in the Nashville, TN area.  Despite living in Eastern Kentucky from 1st through 7th grades (and still having family there), and currently living in South Carolina since 2011, I will always consider myself a Nashville native, or at the very least a Tennessee native, and hope to be able to move back there after I retire.

[index]

Since other people are touching on their view of it as it relates to them:

I guess I'd consider myself a native of NC. I used to say I was from the DC area when I was younger, but as I got older I developed more of an appreciation for where I was raised from early age, have spent my entire life in (besides this brief stint in TN), and will likely remain in. It just wouldn't make sense to claim myself as a native of the DC area. I don't remember the DC area, don't have familial roots there (but do have them in the South), don't have the culture, only spent my infancy there, and I feel like a tourist whenever I visit, etc. North Carolina is all I've known. I have nothing in common with all the Northeastern transplants here.

I even went as far as to get my car in my name, rather than my father's, (everyone else in my immediate family has their car registered to him) to avoid it being registered to my father's new address in Maryland, then I used a little-used exception in the NCDMV's rules in order to get it registered in NC, even though I'm in Tennessee for just a little bit more. There is no way I'm driving around with Maryland plates on my car. I don't want people thinking that I'm from anywhere other than NC, that I'm a Maryland driver, or that I'm a tourist or transient, especially one from up North. Ick. I'm not one of those people.

[tigerwings]

This is of particular interest to Coloradoans, whose natives proudly have bumper stickers saying so. Since there are so many transplants here, my answer always is "I'm more native than most". I moved here in 6th grade, graduated high school here, moved away for college and ten more years, and now I've been back for seven years. I'm actually a Minnesota native having been born there and living there for the first eleven years of my life. But my total time living in states is:

Minnesota - 11 Years
Colorado - 14.5 Years
Florida - 1 Year
Kansas - 13.5 Years
Washington - 1 Year

My Daughter:
Michigan 3 yrs
Colorado 9 yrs
California 3 yrs
Ohio  4 yrs

Considers herself from Colorado

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

My first 7 1/2 years were in Suburban Cleveland, the rest has been down in Central Ohio*. So while there is no question I'm a Buckeye through and through, would I be a "Clevelander" or a "Columbusite?"

* - Discounting my 5 1/2 year exile in Baton Rouge.

[Dough4872]

I was born in Delaware and lived there for 9 years, but i have lived in Pennsylvania for more than 24 years now. So I would consider myself a native of Delaware since I was born there but associate my life more with Pennsylvania since I have lived here longer, but still have connections to Delaware.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I think it's wherever you feel at home. If you lived in X place for 25 years and it sucked, and have only lived in Y for a couple years but feel like you belong, that's your home.

Even if the long-term born and raised residents don't like that.

Minnesota is infamous for its "one of us" provincialism, and it's dumb.

[Scott5114]

Meanwhile, I've heard that so few people currently living in Nevada were doing so X years ago that practically nobody counts as a native. (In fact, some casinos go so far as to put an employee's original home state under their name on their name tag.)

[signalman]

Meanwhile, I've heard that so few people currently living in Nevada were doing so X years ago that practically nobody counts as a native. (In fact, some casinos go so far as to put an employee's original home state under their name on their name tag.)

I seem to recall the home state under the person's name on name tags at a few Las Vegas casinos. I hadn't even given that a second thought until reading your comment on this thread.

[Ted$8roadFan]

I was born and grew up in the Boston area, but have lived in other parts of the country before moving back. I will always consider myself a Boston native first and foremost, although some of my fellow citizens would believe I gave up my place in line having left. Of course, the whole concept of "native"  has been upended in recent decades as Boston has become San Francisco with snow, culturally and economically, with lots of newcomers.

[1995hoo]

Then you have Texas, which claims anyone born there as a "Texas Native" and offers you a an "heirloom" certificate. In principle I don't disagree with the concept, but culturally, I definitely do not consider myself Texan since we moved away when I was one year old–I would consider myself Virginian in most ways.

[Max Rockatansky]

Then you have Texas, which claims anyone born there as a "Texas Native" and offers you a an "heirloom" certificate. In principle I don't disagree with the concept, but culturally, I definitely do not consider myself Texan since we moved away when I was one year old–I would consider myself Virginian in most ways.

Sounds similar to the Key West Conch system.  Apparently if you are born in the Keys (not mainline Monroe County) the locals recognize you as a "Salt Water Conch."   If you moved to the Keys it takes them seven years to declare you a "Fresh Water Conch.  People bragged about that  all the time when I lived there.  I don't get the mainland Monroe County exclusion since that's some pretty remote/hostile territory in the Everglades with one barely inhabited quasi-ghost town in the form of Pinecrest.

[Rothman]

Then you have Texas, which claims anyone born there as a "Texas Native" and offers you a an "heirloom" certificate. In principle I don't disagree with the concept, but culturally, I definitely do not consider myself Texan since we moved away when I was one year old–I would consider myself Virginian in most ways.

Sounds similar to the Key West Conch system.  Apparently if you are born in the Keys (not mainline Monroe County) the locals recognize you as a "Salt Water Conch."   If you moved to the Keys it takes them seven years to declare you a "Fresh Water Conch.  People bragged about that  all the time when I lived there.  I don't get the mainland Monroe County exclusion since that's some pretty remote/hostile territory in the Everglades with one barely inhabited quasi-ghost town in the form of Pinecrest.

Magic Conch!

[MATraveler128]

I've been in Massachusetts for my entire life so I'd consider myself to be a native of Massachusetts. However my mother's side is in Pennsylvania and sometimes consider Pennsylvania as a second home state. Though I fully identify as a Massachusetts resident.

[pianocello]

If you're born somewhere but moved away before you have any (or many) memories of that place, I think it's fine to exclude. For example, I consider myself an Iowa native even though I didn't move there until the age of four. That's why my signature starts at Davenport and not the place I was born.

Then you have Texas, which claims anyone born there as a "Texas Native" and offers you a an "heirloom" certificate. In principle I don't disagree with the concept, but culturally, I definitely do not consider myself Texan since we moved away when I was one year old–I would consider myself Virginian in most ways.

Sounds similar to the Key West Conch system.  Apparently if you are born in the Keys (not mainline Monroe County) the locals recognize you as a "Salt Water Conch."   If you moved to the Keys it takes them seven years to declare you a "Fresh Water Conch.  People bragged about that  all the time when I lived there.  I don't get the mainland Monroe County exclusion since that's some pretty remote/hostile territory in the Everglades with one barely inhabited quasi-ghost town in the form of Pinecrest.

Those twelve-ish mainland Monroe County inhabitants must have done some heinous shit to get themselves excluded from the Conch moniker.

[Max Rockatansky]

Fair chance their ancestors may have had associations with Al Capone's Gator Hook Lodge.  I guess that equates to "guilt by association?"   I dunno, I never really got the whole social etiquette structure of the Florida Keys.  When people fired at me "you need to turtle down"  I would respond with "US 1 should be four lanes to the mainland."   The suggestion of full four lane conversion of US 1 was the ultimate way to insult and roast Conchs.

[formulanone]

Based on how many times I've moved in my life, I just dodge the question of "native" entirely.

[hbelkins]

I was born in Lexington, Ky. Therefore, I am a native of Lexington even though I have never lived there and spent fewer than 30 nights there in my life.

[CoreySamson]

I lived in the Baton Rouge metro for the first 8 years of my life, but my home has been the Houston area ever since (excluding college). As such, I feel like both a native of Texas and Louisiana, though I am a lot more connected to Texas than Louisiana. But even then, I don't really take any sort of pride in where I'm from, unlike most Texans.

[JayhawkCO]

I was born in Lexington, Ky. Therefore, I am a native of Lexington even though I have never lived there and spent fewer than 30 nights there in my life.

Did your family live in Lexington when you were born? Or just born in a Lexington hospital?