In ethnolinguistics, an endonym or autonym (from the Greek ἔνδον, éndon, "within" or αὐτο-, auto-, "self" and ὄνομα, ónoma, "name") is a local name for a geographical feature, and an exonym or xenonym (from the Greek: ἔξω, éxō, "out" or ξένος-, xénos, "foreign" and ὄνομα, ónoma, "name") is a foreign language name for it. Exonyms and endonyms can be names of places (toponym), ethnic groups (ethnonym), languages (glossonym), or individuals (personal name). The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names defines:

For example, China, India, Germany, Greece, Japan, Hungary and Korea are the English exonyms corresponding to the endonyms Zhongguo, Bharat, Deutschland, Hellas, Nippon (Nihon), Magyarország and Hanguk/Chosŏn, respectively.

Exonyms may derive from different roots (as in the case of Germany for Deutschland), they may be cognate words which have diverged in pronunciation or orthography, or they may be fully or partially translated from the native language. For example, London is known by the cognate exonyms Londres in Catalan, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Tagalog, Londino (Λονδίνο) in Greek, Londen in Dutch, Londra in Italian, Maltese, Romanian and Turkish, Londer in Albanian, Londýn in Czech and Slovak, Londyn in Polish, Lundúnir in Icelandic, Lontoo in Finnish, Lun Dun in Mandarin and Luân Đôn in Vietnamese. An example of a translated exonym is the name Soviet Union.

The Romani are an ethnic group living mostly in Europe, who trace their origins to the Indian Subcontinent. Romani are widely known in the English-speaking world by the exonym Gypsies (or Gipsies).

They are known collectively in the Romani language as Romane or Rromane (depending on the dialect concerned) and also as Romany, Romanies, Romanis, Roma or Roms.

Romani are widely dispersed, with their largest concentrated populations in Europe, especially the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe and Anatolia, followed by the Kale of Iberia and Southern France.

The Americas are also home to large numbers of Romani. There are an estimated one million Roma in the United States; 800,000 in Brazil, to which Kale were deported by the government of Portugal during the colonial era; and in more recent migrations, Romani have also moved to other parts of the New World.

The Romani language is divided into several dialects, which add up to an estimated number of speakers larger than two million. The total number of Romani people is at least twice as large (several times as large according to high estimates). Many Romani are native speakers of the language current in their country of residence, or of mixed languages combining the two.

The Gipsy Kings are a group of musicians from Arles and Montpellier, who perform in Spanish with an Andalucían accent. Although group members were born in France, their parents were mostly gitanos, Spanish Romani people who fled Catalonia during the 1930s Spanish Civil War. Chico Bouchikhi is of Moroccan and Algerian descent. They are known for bringing rumba catalana, a pop-oriented music distantly derived from traditional flamenco music, to worldwide audiences. The group originally called itself Los Reyes.

Their music has a particular rumba flamenca style, with pop influences; many songs of the Gipsy Kings fit social dances, such as salsa and rumba. Their music has been described as a place where "Spanish flamenco and Romani rhapsody meet salsa funk".

The Gipsy Kings are from France and are largely responsible for bringing the sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco to the world. The band started out in Arles, a town in southern France, during the 1970s, when brothers Nicolas and Andre Reyes, the sons of renowned flamenco artist Jose Reyes, teamed up with their cousins Jacques, Maurice, and Tonino Baliardo, who played with Manitas de Plata. Manitas de Plata and Jose Reyes were a 2-man group that started the entire revelation of Gypsy Rumba, but mostly Jose, who was a famous singer, when he departed Manitas and started a band of his own made up of his children which he called "Los Reyes". Los Reyes would later become "Gipsy Kings".

The Yakthung or Limbu tribes and clans belong to the Kirati nation or to the Kirat confederation. They are indigenous to the hill and mountainous regions of east Nepal between the Arun and Mechi rivers to as far as Southern Tibet, Bhutan and Sikkim.

The name Limbu is an exonym of an uncertain origin. The word Limbu roughly translates as an archer or 'the bearer of bows and arrows'. They call themselves Yakthumba/Yakthung (in Limbu language). They are also known as Shong, Xong or Drenjongka དརེན་འཛང་ཀ་ (in Tibet) or Chong, Tsong འསང་ in (Sikkim). Their estimated population of 700,000 is centered in the districts of Sankhuwasabha, Tehrathum, Dhankuta, Taplejung, Morang, Sunsari, Jhapa, Panchthar and Ilam in Nepal. These districts are all within the Mechi and Kosi zones also known as Limbuwan. Portions of the Limbu population are also located in the East and West districts of Sikkim. A smaller number are scattered throughout the cities of Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal, India, and in North and South Sikkim and Bhutan.