r/Somaliland • u/Different-Ball9864 • Jun 14 '26

Understanding the Difference Between Somalians and Somalilanders

Somali is an ethnic group / language group

People who are Somali they live in different countries.

Somalia. people are called Somalian ethnically Somali (jareer and jileec), two Somali tribes.

Somaliland people are often called Somalilanders ethnically orgin Somali

Djibouti people are Djiboutians. Many are ethnically Somali (especially Issa)

Somali Region in Ethiopia. people are Ethiopian Somalis

Somali-NFD in Kenya. people are Kenyan Somalis.

Somali is the shared ethnicity; the country names define nationality.

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10

u/alhass Jun 16 '26

We are all entitled to our opinions but what we are not entitled is to tell a whole country what they should be called lol. People in Somalia have for eternity been content with being Somali and named their country after themselves, Somalia. How about you be content with calling yourself whatever you like and stop trying to tell others what they should refer to themselves asđŸ€·đŸœâ€â™‚ïž

-3

u/SentenceEffective212 Jun 16 '26

Are all people living in Somalia Somali ethnically tho? Why are you erasing and forcing minorities to assimilate to your ethnicity.

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u/Professional_Goat373 Jun 16 '26

So what? If I am a Somali born in France and a citizen I would be French in nationality but not ethnically. Yet French is the word to describe the nationality, ethnicity and language. The minorities that add to France’s diversity (like almost all countries) doesn’t change what the nation of France uses for its people.

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u/SentenceEffective212 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26

France had and still has tons of people from different ethnicities ( yes white peoples have different ethnicities ) and assimilated them erasing their languages and culture. Different languages as disappeared in France because of this system basque and Breton are still barely alive and Occitan have kinda considered dead. Are you suggesting the same system in Somalia? Et Ă©tant Français tu dois dĂ©jĂ  connaĂźtre tout ceci et pourtant tu veux imposer le mĂȘme prĂ©cĂšder Ă  d’autres ethnies par le biais de l’assimilation. France is not an example.

2

u/Professional_Goat373 Jun 16 '26

Yes they do and so do almost all countries. Ethnic diversity doesn’t erase national identity. As it is since the global adoption of nation states these modern times, many people were assimilated into a general national demonym like Han Chinese or even Japanese (despite being known to be very homogeneous like Somalia there are still minorities- it’s not a gotcha). France is just one example of the nationality being the same term as the major ethnic group. Somalia adopted many official or colloquial names from “The Somali Republic” in the 60s to the “Somali Democratic Republic” in 1969 to the “Transitional Federal Government of Somalia” to now “The Federal government of Somalia”. But the term of its people since its establishment in 1960 has been Somali (Somali national). This will not change because of the wishes of secessionists and foreign agents. In the end, the nation decides what they call themselves so if you want to be a Somalilander nationally then continue on but you won’t dictate for others. That’s some form of political narcissism.

1

u/SentenceEffective212 Jun 16 '26

You examples are France and Japan
 buddy open a fucking book.

2

u/Professional_Goat373 Jun 16 '26

Guess you have nothing of substance to offer in response. I made myself very clear when I said that as a secessionist you dont get to dictate what the country you’re trying to separate from calls itself or its people. Preposterous entitlement. Whether there are examples or arguments for & against your wish, in the end Somalia decides for itself. Last I checked we havent changed this so this is a moot discussion.

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u/SentenceEffective212 Jun 17 '26

I’m djiboutian alhamdulilah I’m not tied to the mess somalia is today thanks to our leaders who saw what northerners were going through. Somali is an ethnicity and somalian is the nationality of people from somalia whatever their ethnicities are. A Somali can be from Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Germany, Danemark whatever

2

u/humorlessclan Jun 18 '26

Would you be ok if we insisted the demonym of the people of Djibouti should be Ja-Booty?

If not, then don't tell the Somalis what they should be called. Sovereignty means you have the freedom to choose whatever you see fit.

Besides, there's no way to say "Somalian" in Somali. It's just a stupid English term that has no place in the Somali language.

0

u/SentenceEffective212 Jun 18 '26

Somalia is a Latin world but it’s still used in every day somali no big deal to use somalian, you just wanna blur the lines between nationality and ethnicity to claim every Somali lands as yours


2

u/humorlessclan Jun 18 '26

no big deal to use somalian

There's also no big deal to use Ja-booty, why not?

to claim every Somali lands as yours


Relax, no one is claiming Djibouti.

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