Marbella Locals

Within the municipality, there are two mainpopulation clusters: Marbellaand San Pedro de Alcantara. The rest of the population is scattered in manyneighborhoods, like those of Nueva Andalucia and Las Chapas, located along thecoast and the slopes of the mountains. Marbellahas 130,549 inhabitants (INE 2008).

Traditionally, the people of Marbella have been called “marbelleros” inpopular language, and “marbellenses”. Now, however, and since the mid-’50s, thepeople of Marbella are also “marbellis” or “Marbella.”

The use of “Marbella” as anadjective derives from an initiative of the writer and journalist Victor de laSerna (1896–1958), who documented a series of articles on “The MarineAndalusia,” based on the history of Malagaand his province, Francisco Guillen Robles.

Robles used this word to describe the Muslim inhabitants of Marbella. This adjectiveis most often used to refer to the people of Marbella by both the media and by the peopleoutside the city.

However, the natives of Marbella prefer the use of the word“marbelleros” to refer to themselves, therefore maintaining the position thatwhen they speak of “marbelleros” refers to people born there, and when theyspeak of “Marbella,” it refers to the people of Marbella in general. Marbella once alsoreceived the humorous nickname of “buttery” by neighboring peoples.