Porteño (gentile)

Porteño essentially means as an adjective: ‘from the port’ or ‘who lives in the port’. Such is the adjective of the natives of the city of Puerto Cabello, (Carabobo, Venezuela), Puerto Colombia in the homonymous country, Valparaíso (Chile), Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Argentina), El Puerto de Santa María (province of Cádiz, Spain), Mazatlán, Veracruz, Acapulco and Tampico (Mexico), Puerto Suárez (Bolivia), Callao and Puerto Maldonado (Peru), Puerto Cortés (Honduras), and Puntarenas (Costa Rica).

Chile

In Chile, this name is usually used to designate the inhabitants of Valparaíso, which was the main port of Chile and the South Pacific during the second half of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, so the relationship of the port with the city became apparent and associated with the inhabitants of the city. Although Valparaíso never had a foundation date, between 1789 and 1791 a council was established in the area, in 1802 the King of Spain granted it the name "City of Our Lady of Puerto Claro", already in In the 1830s, Valparaíso began its economic boom and established itself as the main port of the country, which is why the inhabitants of the city began to be called by the adjective "porteños".

Although in Chile the name porteño is usually used for the inhabitants of Valparaíso, occasionally the inhabitants of the city of Coquimbo and the commune of Puerto Saavedra are also called " porteños", however it is more accepted to use the term Coquimbano as a demonym for the inhabitants of Coquimbo.

Argentina

Native of the city of Buenos Aires. The original name of the city of Buenos Aires, when it was founded, was City of the Holy Trinity and Puerto de Santa María del Buen Ayre.

Historically, both the inhabitants of the city of Buenos Aires and the inhabitants of the nearby territory, the current metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, were called porteños, since they formed the same political-economic district -cultural. After the separation of the city of Buenos Aires from the Province of Buenos Aires (1880), the name porteño began to be used only for the inhabitants of the City of Buenos Aires, using Buenos Aires for the inhabitants of the Province of Buenos Aires. Frequently, the inhabitants of the Province of Buenos Aires who live in the outskirts of the city, due to their cultural similarities, are also colloquially called porteños, although for reasons of jurisdiction, they should be referred to as Buenos Aires citizens, as well as the rest of their co-provincials from the interior of the province.

Spain

In the city of El Puerto de Santa María, the names portuense and porteño have always coexisted, although the former became more popular as a result of the rise of the soccer team the Racing Club Portuense, founded in 1928. Today a current of opinion advocates the coexistence of both demonyms, and even, with the colloquial name, 'coquinero' set by the universal poet born and died in El Puerto de Santa María, Rafael Alberti.

Honduras

In Honduras, the name porteño applies to the inhabitants of the town of Puerto Cortés, in the department of the same name.

Bolivia

In the Santa Cruz region, the inhabitants or natives of Puerto Suárez and, occasionally by extension, the inhabitants of the province of Germán Busch are called porteños.

Costa Rica

Specifically on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, the demonym is usually used to designate the inhabitants of the province of Puntarenas. In contrast to the Caribbean, on the Atlantic coast of the country.

Ecuador

In Ecuador it is an alternative name for the residents of the country's largest port, Guayaquil, frequently called in the media "la urbe porteña". The usual name is guayaquileño, or colloquially guayaco.

Peru

In Peru, this demonym is usually used coexistently with another in two Peruvian cities: to designate people from Callao, using this demonym together with "chalaco" (which is the best known and most used). And also for the inhabitants of the city of Puerto Maldonado, using the demonym together with the other that is "maldonadino".

Mexico

In Mexico, those born in the city of Veracruz (on the Gulf of Mexico), Mazatlán and Acapulco (on the Pacific Ocean) are known as porteños.