Since “Michigander or Michiganian” (or was it “Michigander v. Michiganian”?) is one of those phrases that bring people to this site, I thought it worthwhile to post a letter I wrote to my college alumni magazine. It was published in the most recent issue.
Here it is:
I’m a Michigander
In your article about the new provost (“New provost weathers early storms,” Fall 2008) Mr. McDonald said that he feels “like a true Michigander.” Good for him! Unfortunately, you mis-corrected him by asserting that he is now a “Michiganian.”
It may be true that sometime in the 1970s–I forget the exact year–the Michigan Legislature passed a measure making “Michiganian” its preferred designation, But when did we start allowing politicians to determine what is appropriate for our language? After all, even the Michigan Historical Center, a unit of state government, says that ” … people who call Michigan their home use the word they like best.
There is no ‘official’ term.”
Bryan A. Garner, author of the indispensible language reference “Garner’s Modern American Usage” says that “Someone from Michigan is, by statute, called a Michiganian-but many Michiganians prefer to be called Michiganders.” (See the entry on “Denizen Labels.”)
In matters of language, I am a moderate prescriptivist, believing that we should use style guides, but that over time, popular usage prevails. And by that score, there’s no contest: “Michigander” prevails by far. A Google search returns 156,000 results for “Michigander,” but only 14,700 for “Michiganian.”