What should residents of Utah be called? Sen. Daniel McCay's SB230 would make it official

SALT LAKE CITY — There has always been some debate over the spelling of the word "Utahn," but if a recently introduced bill passes through the Utah Legislature, the spelling will be formalized and everyone from Utah will officially be known as Utahns.

Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, has introduced SB230, which would officially give people from Utah the nickname "Utahns," not "Utahans."

This bill would establish Utahn as the state demonym, a word used to denote inhabitants of a particular country, state or city. The word Utahn has never been formalized before.

Raymon Burton, who was at the Capitol with his nonprofit One Refugee on Thursday, laughed when asked how Utahn should be spelled. "Should be spelled, or is spelled?" he responded.

He ended up agreeing with McCay saying the word is spelled "Utahn" and when told about SB230, said "Hey, I'm all in support of that."

Burton wasn't the only one at the Capitol on Thursday who shared their opinion on the right moniker for people from Utah.

A group of young girls at the Capitol with Wasatch County's THRIVE club had varying opinions on how it should be spelled. The group argued between "Utahn" and "Utahan," while one girl, Myka Shuflin, said it should be "Utahian," an opinion that was quickly contested by her friends.

"You just add an 'N'" said Elizabeth Prows.

When told about the bill that would officialize the spelling, Grace Jeppson, who thinks it's spelled with the extra "A," said, "Where are they doing this? I'm going to go stop them."

One of the group's advisers, Audra Rhodes, who is originally from Wyoming, spelled it "Utahan."

"That's just the way I've always done it," she said.

Rhodes isn't the only person not native to Utah who believes the word should be spelled this way. Maximilliano Rojas, a teenager from Florida visiting Utah with his family, also spelled the word with an extra "A."

Though multiple people not native to Utah used the extra "A," most native Utahns that spoke with the Deseret News believe it should just be "Utahn."

"Oh, I'm a native Utahn, it only has the 'N', no extra 'A'‚" said Kate Bradshaw, a lobbyist working at the Capitol. Two of her colleagues, also native Utahns, agreed with Bradshaw.

Bradshaw shared that often when she's working with national clients they will spell it "Utahan," because that's what spellcheck tells them to do. She said she always tells them that's the wrong spelling and that native Utahns don't use the extra "A.

A group of five Weber State University students, all native Utahns, who were at the Capitol for the day shared that they all believe the word should be spelled "Utahn."

It's not just individual people who disagree on the spelling, it can also vary between news organizations. Just earlier this week NPR published a headline the read "Outlaws or Mammoths? Utahans help pick their NHL team's name."

Though NPR used the extra "A," outlets like Deseret News, KSL and The Salt Lake Tribune just spell it "Utahn".

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