Where does your state get its nickname(s) from?

[Cheezy the Wiz]

This can refer to both states in a union, counties, provinces, or your country itself: where did it get its nickname or nicknames from? If you're from a country or state that contains a lot of CFCers, don't go posting them all at once, but if you're the only fellow from Alaska or something, fire away!



I'm from Maryland, and my state is called "The Old Line State." This was a name given to the Maryland miltia under General Washington BY General Washington, during the Revolutionary War. The Maryland militia was the only state militia to be properly uniformed and trained as a professional army (one of my ancestors designed and paid for the uniforms!); because of this, the Maryland Line was the most diciplined in battle. While the rest of the Continental Army was retreating in the face of the closing British Line, the Marylanders stood firm. In one particular battle, a Maryland regiment four hundred strong charged Cornwallis' line five times, buying enough time for the rest of the Continental Army to organize and retreat effectively. Of those four hundred, only nine returned from the battle. General Washington remarked that "no troops of the line have poured out their blood more freely than that old Maryland line."

It has absolutely nothing to do with the Mason-Dixon Line.

 

[bigdog5994]

the Alabama tribe

edit: oops i misread the title and i didn't even read the OP, alabama has some nicknames

-Yellowhammer state:

Spoiler :

Alabama has been known as the “Yellowhammer State” since the Civil War. The yellowhammer nickname was applied to the Confederate soldiers from Alabama when a company of young cavalry soldiers from Huntsville, under the command of Rev. D.C. Kelly, arrived at Hopkinsville, KY, where Gen. Forrest's troops were stationed. The officers and men of the Huntsville company wore fine, new uniforms, whereas the soldiers who had long been on the battlefields were dressed in faded, worn uniforms. On the sleeves, collars and coattails of the new calvary troop were bits of brilliant yellow cloth. As the company rode past Company A , Will Arnett cried out in greeting "Yellowhammer, Yellowhammer, flicker, flicker!" The greeting brought a roar of laughter from the men and from that moment the Huntsville soldiers were spoken of as the "yellowhammer company." The term quickly spread throughout the Confederate Army and all Alabama troops were referred to unofficially as the "Yellowhammers." quoted from 50states.com

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

the Alabama tribe

But what is Alabama's nickname?

 

[JohnRM]

Pennsylvania

At a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, Pennsylvania was toasted as "the keystone in the federal union," and in the newspaper Aurora the following year the state was referred to as "the keystone in the democratic arch." The modern persistence of this designation is justified in view of the key position of Pennsylvania in the economic, social, and political development of the United States.

 

[Taliesin]

La belle province-- it's beautiful, it's French, and it's a province.

 

[GenMarshall]

Depends on which Nickname since my state has two.
The Constitution State and The Nutmeg State

 

[ParkCungHee]

Well we got the name "New York" because thats about as creative as the British Got:
"New England"
"New York"
"New Jersey"
"New Ireland"

damnit, I hope when America goes exploring the stars we don' name planets "New Clevelend" or something equally ********.

 

[Old Spice]

If started to name nicknames that my state has I would be banned.

 

[Drewcifer]

Minnesota - L'etoile du nord.

We think we are the best, and we are pretentious enough that we say it in French.

 

[ParkCungHee]

If started to name nicknames that my state has I would be banned.

You must be from New Jersey!

 

[Old Spice]

Well no but thats another state where nameing nicknames could get you banned.

 

[Left]

Alaska

Its called the Last Frontier. Or the Land of the Midnight Sun.

If I were posting from 1867 I would call it Seward's Folly, also we would be wearing monacles and smoking cigars.

 

[downtown]

There are buckeye trees all over Ohio (or used to be..I dont see that many) (a Buckeye is a little round nut. It'll kill you if you eat it...so...don't). Thus, the Ohio State Buckeyes, and the Buckeye State.

Ohio is crazy about OSU, 'specially sports.

We're also called the "heart of it all", because we're part of the midwest...aka, the heartland. Ohio also kinda looks like a heart. If thats the case, with Cleveland and Cincinnati, I'm surprised our country hasnt had a heart attack yet.

 

[ParkCungHee]

If I were posting from 1867 I would call it Seward's Folly, also we would be wearing monacles and smoking cigars.

Which I must say, would really class up the place.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Massachusetts is surrounded by many bays, including Massachusetts Bay, for which it was named, hence, "The Bay State."

 

[TheBladeRoden]

Our big university team has always been the Wisconsin Badgers. And since 1848 wasn't a great year for the Packers they decided to call Wisconsin the Badger State. Then pioneer fur trappers discovered a new animal, and since they were Badger fans they decided to name it the badger. So now they had an animal named the badger and they were the Badger State, so they logically concluded that they should make the badger the state animal.

A least I think that was the order.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Our big university team has always been the Wisconsin Badgers. And since 1848 wasn't a great year for the Packers they decided to call Wisconsin the Badger State. Then pioneer fur trappers discovered a new animal, and since they were Badger fans they decided to name it the badger. So now they had an animal named the badger and they were the Badger State, so they logically concluded that they should make the badger the state animal.

A least I think that was the order.

Not exactly fair, as most teams don't fair very well when they have yet to be formed for another 71 years.

 

[amadeus]

Which one?

There's The Land of 10,000 Lakes, for obvious reasons. However, there are actually more than 12,000 lakes in Minnesota.

The The Star of the North (or "L' Étoile du Nord") is supposed to represent the idealism and courage of the French explorers that first crossed the Minnesota territory.

Last, but not least, The Gopher State is a reference to a political cartoon from the 1850s which criticized a $5 million railroad loan. In this cartoon, the railroad company heads were drawn as striped gophers, who were often known as being undignified, destructive nuisances.

 

[Zande33]

The Lone Star State.... I never really cared much for the history but I have a general idea. They just got it from our flag, right? The flag displays a single, five-point white star on a field of blue with an upper white horizontal stripe and a lower red horizontal stripe.

 

[Babbler]

All the nicknames for Ontario or Quebec would be auto-censored.