What Do You Call Someone From Jordan? (Revealed!)

Someone from Jordan is called Jordanian. In the sense of one’s nationality, largely a modern invention with the advent of the nation state, a person of citizenship with the nation of Jordan is Jordanian. However, many people in the country may consider another part of their identity, like ethnicity, to be the true defining feature.

So, there’s a short answer and a long answer.

The short answer is that someone from Jordan is called Jordanian; whether they are simply a legal citizen or someone who deeply identifies with the nation, they are Jordanian.

On the other hand, not-insignificant portions of the population may forefront some other aspect of the cultural or ethnic identity.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

What is someone from Jordan called?

Someone from Jordan is called Jordanian.

This is the short answer, and the easiest way of looking at the question.

In the modern sense of the nation state, we would call someone Jordanian if they are born in, reside in, or have ancestry in Jordan as the modern nation.

Jordan is a place that human beings have inhabited since literally the earliest days of modern humans on earth, but the nation state as we understand its strict definition today is relatively recent.

It is in this sense where the term “Jordanian” can be most broadly applied. If you are a citizen of Jordan, then you are Jordanian.

Of course, you don’t have to be Jordanian legally to consider yourself Jordanian.

For example, someone born outside of the country to Jordanian parents would not doubt consider the Jordanian a very important part of who they are, but they may at the very least have dual citizenship with the country they are born.

But when we look at the question of ethnicity in Jordan, it becomes a little more complex.

The vast majority of Jordanians are Arab—around 94% of the population.

No doubt all of these people consider themselves Jordanian in the simplest sense, though at the same time they may also consider themselves to be simply Arab.

At the same time, there are also ethnic minority populations in the country.

Around 3% of the population are Circassian, an indigenous Northwest Caucasian group native to Circassia.

Circassia was a historical nation in eastern Europe.

There is also a 3% Chechen portion of Jordan’s population, as well as 2% Armenian.

These people may all feel multiple things to be true of their identity; they may consider themselves Jordanian or prefer to identify by their own ethnic moniker.

Where does the name “Jordan” come from?

The country takes its name from the River Jordan which comprises much of the nation’s north-western border.

The ultimate origin of the name of this river is not known for certain, though the most plausible and widely accepted etymological explanation is that it derives from the Hebrew word Yarad, which translates as “the descender”.

The river does descend from a considerable elevation.

The region east of the river Jordan were often called Transjordan, and the river was geographically and strategically significant to the region in many different ways.

Thus, it became a vitally important landmark and this makes it unsurprising that the country would adopt the name.

Jordan as we know it today was established as recently as 1946, though again it has in some form been recognized as a state for a very long time.

This, again, is an important distinction to make, and Jordan gets its name by simple adoption of the historically significant river nearby.

Where do Jordanians live?

It’s also important to consider the widespread Jordanian diaspora around the world and how that may or may not affect the identity of Jordanian people broadly.

Jordanians can be found all over the world.

There are large populations of Jordanians to be found in Canada, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sweden, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Within these diasporas, then, Jordanians may consider themselves to be any number of things; no doubt Jordanian is still an important part of their identity, but they may also come to identify with the place to which they have emigrated.

It really all depends on the individual, but it’s always important to keep these broader diasporas in mind when thinking about national identity.

What are the religions of Jordan?

The vast majority of Jordanian people are Sunni Muslim, and this is the official religion of the country.

Around 95% of the country’s population are Sunni, and naturally most of these are the Arab population.

Muslims dominate in the country as they often do in this part of the world.

Christians represent around 3% of the population, primarily Orthodox Christians such as you would tend to find in Chechen.

There is also around 1% of the population that are Druze, and a further 1% that are Bahá’í.

Religion is an important part of Jordanian identity in a way that it is becoming less so in other parts of the world.

Jordan is a largely Muslim Arab country, then, and most people who live there would likely consider themselves to be Jordanian.

This is the simplest way of looking at the country as a whole, in ours sense of the nation state.

The citizenship of a person born in Jordan would be Jordanian, and no doubt most identify closely with this designation.

On the other hand, the country is not an ethnic monolith, and so the question does become a bit more complex.

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Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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