Hispanic, Latino or Latinx? Here are the differences between the terms and why they matter

Who is Hispanic, Latino or Latinx? It depends on whom you ask.

During National Hispanic Heritage Month — from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 — you’re probably seeing this conversation surface frequently. Variations of “Latinx, Hispanic or Latin American: which term do you prefer?” appear in national polls and across social media.

The question transcends the one month of celebration, and at its center, the conversation boils down to identity.

For some people, Hispanic is a word they chose to identify with, but for others Latino, Latina, Latinx and even Chicano or Chicana hold deeper personal significance.

“Even within my family, we don’t agree on the terms,” said Sacramento native Carissa Gutiérrez, director of the Latino Center of Arts and Culture, who identifies as a Chicana.

“That is truly what signals or expresses to the rest of my community what my lived experience in California as a Mexican American has been,” Gutiérrez said.

Chicana and Chicano identify Mexican Americans, and the word holds a complicated history. Originally, it was used as a slur to refer to immigrants in California. It was then reclaimed by Mexican Americans in the 1960s and ’70s as an expression of political empowerment.

When is Hispanic used?

The term Hispanic traces back to the early days of the U.S. census. It was used to account for Spanish-speaking people in America. In 1976, the word Hispanic was revised in the census to represent “Americans of Spanish origin or descent” who have roots in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries like Spain. Under this definition, Hispanic excludes countries like Brazil, whose official language is Portuguese.

An estimated 19% of the U.S. population — or 62.6 million people — are Hispanic, the Census Bureau estimates. In California, Hispanics are the largest racial or ethnic group, according to Pew Research.

“These words were created out of bureaucracy and the government wanting to lump folks together,” said Angela Rosas, founder of Chicas Latinas de Sacramento and a Sacramento native. “There was a lot of advocates that wanted to lump folks together because that brought political representation.”

This history has made some people reluctant to use Hispanic as an identifier. It is a reminder of the colonization of Latin American countries.

“I don’t have a huge pull to any one [word]. I will say, if someone wants to categorize me, I prefer to be categorized by Latina,” Rosas said. “For me to acknowledge the Spanish colonization — it’s just hard for me, thinking about the history. I’m much more willing to be categorized with Latino American countries.”

According to a 2018 Pew Research study, 54% of people surveyed had no preference as to what term they were associated with, 27% preferred Hispanic and only 18% preferred Latino.

A separate Pew survey from 2019 “found that 47% of Hispanics most often describe themselves by their family’s country of origin, while 39% use the terms Latino or Hispanic and 14% most often describe themselves as American.”

When are Latino, Latina and Latinx used?

Latino, Latina and Latinx refer to people who are of Latin American descent. This includes people from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America and Brazil, but excludes people from Spain.

The census uses two separate questions: one for Hispanic or Latino origin and another for race. This resulted in many Hispanic and Latino participants to have a “partial match” on the 2020 census under the two-part ethnic and race question, because many people consider Hispanic or Latino to be their race.

Latinx is coined from Latino and Latina in an effort to be more inclusive to gender non-conforming individuals. Latino and Latina are the masculine and feminine forms of the word, while Latinos is traditionally used as the plural to refer to groups of men and women together.

As of this year, 4% of the Hispanic and Latino community identifies as Latinx, according to a 2021 Gallup poll.

Gutiérrez said the first time she heard Latinx was when she was a student at UC Berkley in 2012. Immediately she found herself wanting to understand it.

“The folks who were really using that term identified as LGBTQ+ folks who were also gender non-conforming,” Gutiérrez said. “So I did not see it as an issue that they wanted to be seen in spaces who were traditionally binary or just male and female.”

“Language, like culture, always changes. It is not stagnant,” Gutiérrez said. “So language has to continue to change in order to reflect the people who are living within it.”

As the Gen Z population enters adulthood and the workforce, many believe that words like Latinx will become more prevalent. In a 2018 Pew Research study, it was found that “Gen Zers are more likely to know someone using gender-neutral pronouns and more likely to say forms should offer gender options other than ‘man’ and ‘woman.’”

The language is not done evolving. For example, Latine — excluding the feminine “a” and masculine “o” — has been popping up in recent years. Some use the gender-neutral pronoun “elle,” or “they” in English.

The Hispanic and Latino diaspora is diverse and filled with cultural nuances. If you ever find yourself hesitating as to how to refer to someone, the best policy is to ask.

This story was originally published October 6, 2022 at 5:30 AM.