Endonym and exonym

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An endonym (also known as autonym) is a common, native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate themselves, their homeland, or their language.

An exonym (also known as xenonym) is an established, non-native name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language or dialect, meaning that it is used primarily outside the particular place inhabited by the group or linguistic community.^[1] Exonyms exist not only for historico-geographical reasons but also in consideration of difficulties when pronouncing foreign words,^[1] or from non-systematic attempts at transcribing into a different writing system.^[2]

For instance, Deutschland is the endonym for the country that is also known by the exonyms Germany and Germania in English and Italian, respectively, Alemania and Allemagne in Spanish and French, respectively, and Niemcy in Polish.

Some place names, used by languages which have been marginalised in areas where they historically were well established, may still be seen as endonyms in such areas, even if some consider such place names foreign.^{[citation needed]}