List of city nicknames in Texas

This partial list of city nicknames in Texas compiles the aliases, sobriquets and slogans that cities in Texas are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to locals, outsiders or their tourism boards. The Texas state legislature has officially granted many Texas cities honorary designations as the state's "capital" of something.[1] City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.[2] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[3] are also believed to have economic value.[2] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[2] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[3]

Some of the nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here are those that have been used for such a long time or have gained so wide a currency that they have become well known in their own right.

This mural painting of a cowboy is in Bandera, which is nicknamed "Cowboy Capital of the World".

Nicknames by city

A-C

D-F

G-L

M-Q

R-T

U-Z

See also

References

  1. ↑ Official Capital Designations, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, accessed July 3, 2008
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Muench, David (December 1993). "Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts". University of Wisconsin Extension. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Alfredo Andia, Branding the Generic City, MU.DOT magazine, September 10, 2007
  4. ↑ The nickname is used in the title of a book, Abilene, The Key City, by Juanita Daniel Zachry, published in 1986 by Windsor Publications in cooperation with the Texas Sesquicentennial Committee for Abilene.b/OL2714832M/Abilene,-the-key-city
  5. ↑ Barry Popik, Lene Town (Abilene nickname), March 13, 2008
  6. ↑ Message from the Mayor, Alpine, Texas, accessed April 22, 2007. ""We are a town of western culture and heritage, home of Sul Ross State University and the gateway to the Big Bend."
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Claims to Fame - Animals, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 8.14 8.15 8.16 8.17 8.18 8.19 8.20 8.21 8.22 8.23 8.24 8.25 8.26 8.27 8.28 8.29 8.30 8.31 8.32 8.33 8.34 8.35 8.36 8.37 8.38 8.39 8.40 8.41 8.42 8.43 8.44 8.45 8.46 8.47 8.48 A symbolic "capital" designated by the Texas Legislature, listed in Official Capital Designations, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, accessed July 3, 2008
  9. ↑ World Wide Leap Year Birthday Club in Anthony TX/NM the Leap Year Capital of the World
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Claims to Fame - Agriculture, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  11. ↑ Bat City Review | The University of Texas at Austin
  12. ↑ Welcome to Bat Conservation International
  13. ↑ The Big Apple: City of the Violet Crown (Austin nickname)
  14. ↑ Perry, Rick. "Governor of Texas". youtube.com. Jimmy Kimmel Live. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 Tagline Guru City Branding Survey, Tagline Guru website, accessed August 18, 2009
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 U.S. City Monikers, Tagline Guru website, accessed January 5, 2008
  17. ↑ Austin Music and Musical Attractions - Live Music in Austin, TX
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Claims to Fame - Favorites, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 Wanda McKinney, Our Favorite Town Slogans, Southern Living, April 2005
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ Visitor's Information, Brady/McCulloch County Community Development Office website, accessed December 12, 2010
  22. ↑ https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/capitals.html
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 Claims to Fame - Food, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Claims to Fame - Ethnic Groups, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 The World Capital of Whatever, The New York Times by Harold Faber, September 12, 1993.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 Claims to Fame - Birds, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  27. ↑ Hall, Cheryl "Perot Museum makes a statement about business in Big D" The Dallas Morning News, Dallas, 1 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  28. ↑ Barry Popik (September 7, 2008). "City of Hate (Dallas nickname)". The Big Apple.
  29. ↑ Peter Applebome (November 21, 1988). "25 Years After the Death of Kennedy, Dallas Looks at Its Changed Image". New York Times. Few American cities have come under the kind of national scorn that befell Dallas in the days and weeks after President Kennedy died here. The city found itself widely condemned as a city of hate.
  30. ↑ Jerry Organ (2000). "Dallas to Dealey". The Kennedy Assassination.
  31. ↑ "Entry from November 19, 2007 D-Town (Dallas nickname)".
  32. ↑ "Economic Development". City of Deer Park, Texas. Why the "Birthplace of Texas"? Deer Park is the site where initial treaty documents securing Texas' independence from Mexico were drafted following the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836.
  33. ↑ "Denton". LocalWiki.
  34. ↑ Claims to Fame - Braggadocio, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  35. ↑ Eagle Lake, Texas official website, accessed December 25, 2008
  36. ↑ Based on the lyrics of Marty Robbins' song El Paso City
  37. ↑ Amazon.com's Description of Brides And Sinners in El Chuco: Short Stories quotes Publishers Weekly: "El Paso is El Chuco ("the disgusting one") to locals of the border town where Granados sets the 15 stories of this debut."
  38. ↑ City of El Paso website, accessed June 15, 2010. "Mild weather and below average cost of living has attracted several new residents and businesses to the Sun City."
  39. ↑ , accessed April 25, 2013
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Fort Worth, Texas, Handbook of Texas History Online
  41. ↑ http://www.fortwortharchitecture.com/oldftw/vignettepanther1.jpg
  42. ↑ Oliver Knight and Cissy Stewart Lale (1953) Fort Worth, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, page 109: "Fort Worth in 1880 was being hailed as the Queen City of the Prairie."
  43. ↑ "Fredericksburg the Texas Hill Country". Fredericksburg Convention and Visitor Bureau. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  44. ↑ Queen City, Time (magazine), January 30, 1928, accessed April 13, 1928.
  45. ↑ Handbook of Texas Online - GONZALES, TX, accessed June 15, 2008
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 Prison city; life with the death penalty in Huntsville, Texas, Reference & Research Book News, May 2007
  47. ↑ Huntsville: Death Capital, Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, Episode 637, May 16, 2003
  48. ↑ Karla Faye's Final Stop: How my hometown deals with being the execution capital of the world, Christianity Today, July 13, 1998
  49. ↑ Tomato Capital of the World (online book advertisement); accessed October 5, 2009
  50. ↑ http://jasper.agrilife.org
  51. ↑ Historic Downtown Kingsville website, accessed August 17, 2008
  52. ↑ History of Lake Jackson, City of Lake Jackson website, accessed August 26, 2011
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Barry Popik, Hub of the Plains (Lubbock nickname), March 14, 2008. BarryPopik.com. Accessed February 8, 2012
  54. ↑ Marlin Website
  55. ↑ Atul Gawande, The Cost Conundrum, The New Yorker, June 1, 2009, page 36
  56. ↑ Did You Know..., McAllen Economic Development Corporation website
  57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 57.2 Midland/Odessa, TX: History, Rand McNally.com, accessed September 8, 2010
  58. ↑ Claims to Fame - Products, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 Claims to Fame - Fish, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
  60. ↑ City of Nacogdoches website, accessed September 10, 2010
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 Welcome to Palacios, Texas, accessed May 6, 2011
  62. ↑ Katherine Ling, Buoyed by fresh petrodollars, 'Energy City' dares to hope, Greenwire (E&E Publishing), June 2, 2008. "Battered by the petroleum industry's decline in the 1980s and hit hard by Hurricane Rita in 2005, the self-proclaimed "Energy City" has struggled for years with high unemployment, crime and pollution."
  63. ↑ David Ball, Group wants to bring solar energy to Port Arthur, Port Arthur News, December 2, 2008. "Chatman said Port Arthur still wants to be known as energy city."
  64. ↑ http://www.roanoketexas.com/
  65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 San Angelo, Texas, in 1922, Ranch & Rural Living magazine, 15 January 2008
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 A Changed Oasis, Short Grass Country website. "In a deft switch of wording, San Angelo changed its slogan from The Wool Capital Of The World to The Wool Capital Of The Nation. The Chamber of Commerce office confirmed the change. While I waited, the telephone tape said over and over, 'San Angelo is the oasis of West Texas'..."
  67. ↑ Extreme Makeover: San Angelo. ASU Students Surprised by Stores, Shopping now Available, ASU RamPage, Angelo State University, September 9, 2005
  68. ↑ Our Properties: Sunset Mall, San Angelo Texas, Willett Companies, Inc., website, accessed December 25, 2008
  69. ↑ Popik, Barry (December 20, 2007). "Alamo City (San Antonio nickname)". The Big Apple.
  70. ↑ Popik, Barry (January 20, 2008). /countdown_city_or_210_san_antonio_nickname "Countdown City or 210 (San Antonio nickname)". The Big Apple.
  71. ↑ Popik, Barry (May 21, 2008). "River City (San Antonio nickname)". The Big Apple.
  72. ↑ Motto ought to be boffo, Irvine World News, February 22, 2004
  73. ↑ City of Smithville City Website, accessed Nov. 2, 2011
  74. ↑ City of Texas City website, accessed January 5, 2008
  75. ↑ City of The Colony website, accessed July 20, 2008
  76. ↑ Handbook of Texas Online - VICTORIA COUNTY, accessed June 15, 2008
  77. ↑ Hal Crowther, Gather at the River: Notes from the Post-millennial South, page 86. "Baylor, the world's largest Baptist university, sets the moral tone for the town secular Texans call 'the Buckle of the Bible Belt.'"
  78. ↑ 78.0 78.1 Brief History, City of Weatherford website. "Named by the State Legislature as the Peach Capital of Texas, Weatherford and Parker County growers produce the biggest, sweetest, juiciest peaches in all of Texas... Known as the Cutting Horse Capital of the World, Weatherford is home to dozens of professional trainers [and] hall-of-fame horses."

External links