Hebrews, Ethnonym
An ethnonym (from Ancient Greek ἔθνος(éthnos) 'nation', and ὄνομα(ónoma) 'name') is a name applied to a given ethnic group.
Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories:
exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or
endonyms (whose name is created and used by the ethnic group itself).
As an example, the largest ethnic group in Germany is Germans.
The ethnonym Germans is a Latin-derived exonym used in the English language.
Conversely, the Germans call themselves the Deutsche, an endonym.
The German people are identified by a variety of exonyms across Europe, such as
Allemands (French),
tedeschi (Italian),
tyskar (Swedish) and
Niemcy (Polish).
As a sub-field of anthroponymy, the study of ethnonyms is called ethnonymy or ethnonymics.
Ethnonyms should not be confused with demonyms, distinctive terms that designate all people related to a specific territory, regardless of any ethnic, religious, linguistic or some other distinctions that may exist within the population of that territory.[1]
Variations
Numerous ethnonyms can apply to the same ethnic or racial group, with various levels of recognition, acceptance and use.
The State Library of South Australia contemplated this issue when considering Library of Congress headings for literature pertaining to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Some 20 different ethnonyms were considered as potential Library of Congress headings, but it was recommended that only a fraction of them be employed for the purposes of cataloguing.[2]