Is it where you're born or raised that counts? (transplants, high school)

[ElizaTeal]

It is where you're raised that counts. During your formative years you learn to talk and by age nine usually the dialect you've developed with stay with you.

[Billiam]

depends. if you were born in a hospital in another town just because that was the hospital to go to, and after you were born you went straight to where your parents live, than i would not say the town that hospital is in is where it counts

[marilynmonroe]

I think there has gotten to be too much obsession with "hometowns". Isn't your hometown supposed to be where ever your home is?

I lived in one area until I was 16 then moved to a city in another state. I consider both my hometowns. One was my childhood hometown and the where everything important happened, like graduating, getting a license, college, having a baby. I'm in my 30's now and when I go back to my childhood town it really doesn't even feel that familiar.

[chilaili]

Well, let's see. I was born in Singapore but left it when I was 11 months old. By the time I was 10 I had lived in 4 other countries (Germany twice, England, Zimbabwe and Cyprus). By the time I was 18 I had lived in Germany twice more plus Hong Kong, England again and Nepal. So you tell me!

[TANaples]

This reminds me of that thread on the Florida forum, Famous Floridians. They have posted celebs on that thread who bought a house in Florida when they were 40, 50, or even 60 years old. Yet, they are considering them Floridians.

I don't think so.

[grapico]

Hrrmmm... I am the opposite in that sense... was born and raise in north florida... then soon as I got done with college I got out of there... I never really felt "at home" or "among peers" and in general not in with the bible belt culture whatsoever. Then I moved to Chicago... (where my family was originally from) and feel much more "in place"... so if I stay there, where would I claim myself from?

I think a lot of Florida raised kids in the last few decades are in the same situation... their parents just moved there and got a house to get in the warm sun, and they kind of don't fit in with any of the southern culture and would probably thrive better elsewhere.

[corbitt62]

I think when a person does their obituary, the deceased place of birth is always mentioned and sometimes buried in their place. When you check birth records the records will always mentioned your birth. So it does matter. If someone ask, where're you from, the answer is your birth and you can move forward with the rest of your life.

[murksiderock]

I was born in Sacramento in '89. I had a chaotic childhood of sorts, and besides a year in Los Angeles, 1.5 years in Little Rock Arkansas, a year in Fayetteville North Carolina, and a year in Southaven Mississippi, I spent a little over 12 years of my adolescence in Virginia. About 4 years in Northern Virginia, about 8 in the Richmond area...

I definitely represent Virginia as my home, as it's where I spent two-thirds of my adolescence (birth to age 18). I went through school there, I had most of my firsts there, I have the biggest personal ties and connections to Virginia. As a child, I only claimed Virginia as home twice--when I lived in Memphis in my 8th grade year, and when I lived in North Carolina in my junior year. All the years I lived in Virginia as a youth, I claimed myself as a Californian or a Memphian, oddly enough...

When I was 21, I moved from North Carolina to Upstate New York and went through a period that rekindled my connection to Virginia. Virginia is where my heart is, it's where it's always been, and I probably won't live here forever, but I've lived and visited many places and I think this will always be home to me...

I have no family from Virginia, or even that currently lives in Virginia. My dad was born and raised in Little Rock until he was 23. My mom was born in Memphis, moved to Upstate New York when she was 9-10 months, and moved back to Memphis when she was almost 14. I have very strong connections to all those places, have lived in all, although I was a toddler in my Arkansas years. My biological father was born and raised in Sacramento and is 48 and has never lived outside of Sac. My biological mother is originally from Little Rock but moved to Sac when she was 15. I had a chance to visit Sac in August for the first time since I was an infant (I hadn't been to California period since LA when I was 16), and while I have a ton of family connections there, it is 100% clear that I'm not truly a Sacramentan! And I'm more than comfortable with that...

So, I'll side with what the majority of the respondents have said. Hometown is where you were raised, your formative years, the place you are most familiar with. One can have more than one hometown. One can also have a new hometown, eg, if I spend 10+ years of my adult life somewhere seperate from where I was reared, that can be a hometown if one claims it as such, you just weren't "raised" there...

[Pincho-toot]

Raised, but by 8 years old you've got a few years of childhood under your belt already. I would count that person as someone that grew up in Pittsburgh too.

I was born in Cuba but grew up in the US since age 2. Would I say I am culturally more Cuban than American? Not at all. I have no memory of life there. Its my cultural background but otherwise, I'm American. I was raised in the US, in Florida. My childhood is more familiar to someone from Idaho than someone from Melena del Sur. I grew up watching American tv shows and movies. Its the same way for someone who was born in one state but raised in another. There may be that birth state influence from their parents but overall, their experience is welded by the state they grew up in.

[Taynxtlvl]

Ages 7-16 give or take 6 months. Primetime for memories. Fights with siblings, family trips, embarassing moments, happiest moments, first kiss,learning to drive etc. After that the teenage years alter things and influence life and before that most people don't remember a hell of a lot.