Nounself pronouns are a type of neopronouns that are clearly derived from a pre-existing word or words to be used as a gender-neutral pronoun set. Any word can be turned into a pronoun set, so there are theoretically infinite sets of nounself pronouns. The word in question does not have to be a noun. These sets can be themed around concepts that have nothing to do with gender, such as nature, technology, or abstract concepts.
Unlike other neopronouns, these sets are usually intended to be used by a small number of individuals who feel that these pronouns express something distinctive about themselves and/or about their gender. In these ways, they are similar to xenogenders and pocket genders; however, not all individuals who use nounself pronouns identify with xenogenders or use pocket genders. Anyone can use nounself pronouns regardless of their gender.
Individuals who use nounself pronouns are sometimes called enespronominal, based on the English pronunciation "enes" of "ns", an initialism of nounself.
History
Starting in early 2014, or late 2013, a community of non-binary individuals on Tumblr came up with the idea of "nounself pronouns" (some call these "otherkin pronouns," but not all using them are otherkin). Some of the earliest sets of nounself pronouns are the fairy-themed set fae/fae/faer/faers/faeself, and the bunny-themed set bun/bun/buns/buns/bunself. During 2014 and beyond, many sets of such pronouns were created, and many were adopted as the pronouns of particular non-binary individuals.
As of today the fae set is by far the most popular nounself pronoun set, with the bun set coming in a close second.
Flag
The green and orange nounself pronoun flag was designed on April 25, 2020, by Geekycorn on DeviantArt.
The grey and brown flag was designed by Tumblr user Uncommongenders on June 5, 2018.[1]
The third flag was designed by FANDOM user Unicornian on March 23, 2021. The pink, yellow, and green are for plant themed pronouns, blue and purple are for water related pronouns; the other pinks are for love and the lightest pink is for animals. Blue again is for magic, purple again is for cuteness, and yellow is for any sun or bright related pronouns