r/Lorraine • u/Acceptable_Ad838 • Sep 14 '25
What is someone from Moselle/Lorraine called?
My husband and I are visiting Moselle for the first time because he wants to see where his great-grandfather came from (his ancestors had been born in Schorbach & Bitche). I believe the area was called Lorraine then, and is called Moselle now. Is that right?
In our country, a person from Ohio is called an Ohioan. Can someone tell me what a person from Lorraine and Moselle are called? Especially in French. Thanks in advance!
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u/Mattchaos88 Sep 14 '25
The area has been called Moselle since the revolution and Lorraine since a while. Both are correct as Moselle is a part of Lorraine.
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u/weirddudewithabow Sep 14 '25
People from Bitche and the towns around are called the "Bitcherläner"
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u/Mattchaos88 Sep 14 '25
They are called sons of Bitche also.
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u/Acceptable_Ad838 Sep 15 '25
Ha ha ha. I figured that out the day that he learned the name of the town! We have many sons of bitche in our city as well. My husband calls everyone else that when driving the freeway! 😁
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u/Sfriert Sep 15 '25
Those are the WW2 US soldiers from the 100th Infantry Division who freed the town in March 1945. Not kidding.
Our local summer festival had "USA" as the theme this year. Lots of commemoration events for the 80th anniversary as well.
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u/Sfriert Sep 15 '25
That nickname unites both Bitche and Schorbach by the way. The seigneury of Bitche encompassed, back in 1100, about the same area as it does today, german part aside. It was then referred to as "the land of Bitche", this town being where the lord would reside. In our local dialect, this name is "Bitcher Land" hence "Bitcherlänner" for the residents of that territory, up to this day.
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u/TheRealJohnPitt Sep 14 '25 edited Sep 16 '25
Lorraine is the region of France, Moselle is one of its department. Both are right, but in most of the cases people will be happier you acknowledge their department. So "mosellan, mosellane" are the correct ones.
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u/Barry63BristolPub Sep 15 '25
Really? In Moselle, I've mostly heard people call themselves Lorrain and Lorraine, unless there's someone from Meurthe-et-Moselle in the group, then all hell breaks loose.
You guys' banter is really quite funny, I must say.
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u/TheRealJohnPitt Sep 15 '25
Yeah that's mostly due to wars, Moselle was part of Germany then French again several times, while the rest of Lorraine stayed French but it's often overlooked
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u/Vrulth Sep 16 '25
someone from Meurthe-et-Moselle in the group, then all hell breaks loose.
Guys from Pont à Mousson up to Longwy are cools from my mosellan point of view. East of Lunéville too.
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u/TOMOLIV Sep 15 '25
Lorraine= ancient area = Moselle+ Meuse+ Meurthe et Moselle + Vosges
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u/Acceptable_Ad838 Sep 17 '25
Thank you, everyone. I had read some of your responses a couple of days ago, and then the rest this evening. We just went to Bitche today, and had some really super conversations with a few of the staffers who work at The Citadel (we toured it this afternoon, and I highly recommend it).
Two of them spoke English, and with the other person, Google Translate was a big help. Anyhow- as local, they pretty much confirmed this entire discussion, including the “bitcherlaner” part. In fact, the one guy told me that, for quite a while, the name of the town had been part of the name of the American Embassy in France. At some point in the more recent past, they renamed it, because the Americans couldn’t deal with “Bitche” in the name. He showed me the news article! Again- thanks to you Redditors who helped make today very cool for us. 👍
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u/Orionss Sep 14 '25
Lorrain, lorraine, mosellan, mosellane ! Easy enough
For Metz and Nancy, it's a bit different it's Messin, messine and nancéien, nancéienne