Latino (/læˈtinoʊ/ or /ləˈtinoʊ/) is a term often used to refer to people with cultural ties to Latin America and people of nationalities within the bounds of Latin America, in contrast to Hispanic which is a demonym that includes Spaniards and other speakers of the Spanish language.
The U.S. government's Office of Management and Budget has defined Hispanic or Latino people as being those who "trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central, and South America (other than Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname), and other Spanish cultures." The United States Census uses the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Dominican, Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." The Census Bureau also explains that "[o]rigin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race." Hence the U.S. Census and the OMB are using the terms differently. The U.S. Census and the OMB use the terms in an interchangeable manner, where both terms are synonyms. The AP Stylebook's recommended usage of Latino in Latin America includes not only persons of Spanish-speaking ancestry, but also more generally includes persons "from — or whose ancestors were from — . . . Latin America, including Brazilians." However, in the recent past, the term "Latinos" was also applied to people from the Caribbean region, including those from former Dutch and British colonies.