What are people from Marbella called?

What do you call a person from Marbella? There are two names that are used: Marbellero and Marbellí. How are they used? Well, it depends on whether or not you were born in the town.

The first of these is for those born there and who have family roots, and the second is for those who are originally from somewhere else but have moved to the town to live.

The distinction was made in the 1970s and is linked to the tourist boom on the Costa del Sol; the two names were used to distinguish locals from foreigners. However, the Spanish language dictionary only uses the term Marbellí for people born in Marbella.

Although the two names currently used are 'Marbellero' and 'Marbellí', according to historian Francisco Moreno the authentic term is 'Marbellense'. He said that "this is the official, historically proven name, used in official documents from the 19th century and which comes from the Latin Marbellensis". Moreno explains that "the oldest written record of its appearance is in a text from 1658 and it appears a lot in different proclamations of the town council".

However, the term 'Marbellí' goes back to the Nasrid period but disappeared over the years in Christian Spain, only making a comeback in the 20th century.

So, despite the fact that Marbella is a multicultural town where more than 153 different nationalities live together, this distinction still generates controversy in local debates. Even so, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain this differentiation due to the population growth, which has now reached 168,000 inhabitants.