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State Nicknames

You may know Texas is the Lone Star State, but do you know these other U.S. state nicknames?

1. The Gem State
   • Washington
   • Idaho
   • Colorado
   • Montana

   Idaho

   Idaho actually got its nickname by mistake. Congress thought Idaho was a Shoshone word meaning “Gem of the Mountains.” (Idaho is actually an invented word.) In spite of the misunderstanding, Idaho continues to be known as the “Gem State” or the “Gem of the Mountains.”

2. Yellowhammer State
   • Alabama
   • Georgia
   • Florida
   • Rhode Island

   Alabama

   Alabama’s nickname started in the Civil War. During the war, a company of young cavalry soldiers arrived from Huntsville at Hopkinsville, KY, where Gen. Forrest’s troops were stationed. The cavalry soldiers wore fine, new uniforms, not like the rags the soldiers who had been on the battlefields were wearing as uniforms. On the sleeves, collars, and coattails of the new calvary troop were bits of brilliant yellow cloth. As the calvary rode past General Forrest’s troops, Will Arnett cried out in greeting “Yellowhammer, Yellowhammer, flicker, flicker!” The term spread like wildfire throughout the Confederate Army; soon all Alabama troops were referred to as Yellowhammers.

3. The Pelican State
   • Florida
   • Alabama
   • South Carolina
   • Louisiana

   Louisiana

   The nickname “Pelican State” is a tribute to the official state bird, the brown pelican, a bird native to Louisiana.

4. The Treasure State
   • Nebraska
   • Montana
   • Colorado
   • Alaska

   Montana

   Mining was big business in Montana, hence the nickname “The Treasure State.”

5. The Silver State
   • Nevada
   • Colorado
   • Washington
   • Missouri

   Nevada

   Nicknamed the “Silver State” because of its large silver mine industries, Nevada has also been called the “Sage State” and the “Sagebrush State” due to the wild sage that grows in abundance.

6. The Equality State
   • New York
   • Pennsylvania
   • Wyoming
   • California

   Wyoming

   Women in Wyoming were the first in the nation to vote, serve on juries, and hold public office; because of the rights women have traditionally enjoyed, Wyoming has been nicknamed the “Equality State.”

7. Old Dominion State
   • West Virginia
   • Virginia
   • North Carolina
   • Rhode Island

   Virginia

   In 1663, Charles II of England added the arms of Virginia on his shield, which also included his dominions of France, Ireland, and Scotland; hence the name “Old Dominion State.” Virginia has also been called the “Mother State” because it was the first state to be colonized.

8. The Beehive State
   • Utah
   • Iowa
   • Oklahoma
   • Nebraska

   Utah

   The beehive, a symbol of industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance, became the official state emblem on March 4, 1959. It had originally been chosen as the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret in 1848, but was kept on the seal of the State of Utah when it became a state in 1896.

9. The Badger State
   • Wyoming
   • Oklahoma
   • Montana
   • Wisconsin

   Wisconsin

   Wisconsin has been associated with the badger since territorial days; it appears on the state coat of arms, the seal, the flag, and even in the State Capitol’s architecture, as well as being immortalized in the song “On, Wisconsin!” (“Grand old bager state!”). It was declared the official state animal in 1957.

10. The Peace Garden State
    • South Dakota
    • North Dakota
    • Mississippi
    • Georgia

    North Dakota

    The International Peace Garden straddles the international Boundary between North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. In 1956 the North Dakota Motor Vehicle Department started putting the nickname “Peace Garden State” on license plates; the name proved so popular that it was formally adopted by the 1957 legislature.

    North Dakota has also been referred to as the “Flickertail State” because of the Richardson ground squirrels that run rampant in the state, and the “Roughrider State,” referring to Theodore Roosevelt’s First U.S. Volunteer Cavalry which included several North Dakota cowboys.

11. The Keystone State
    • Rhode Island
    • Connecticut
    • New Hampshire
    • Pennsylvania

    Pennsylvania

    Although the nickname “The Keystone State” (a keystone being the central, wedge-shape stone in an arch, which holds all the other stones in place) has been in use since 1800, it can’t be traced back to a particular origin. One source comes from 1802, when at a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, Pennsylvania was toasted as “the keystone in the federal union.”

12. The Wolverine State
    • Michigan
    • Missouri
    • Ohio
    • Indiana

    Michigan

    There are a few stories as to how Michigan got its moniker. The first is that, in 1835, Ohio and Michigan were in a bitter dispute over the Toledo strip, a piece of land which bordered the two states. It is said that the people of Ohio described Michiganians as being as bloodthirsty and vicious as wolverines.

13. The First State
    • Pennsylvania
    • New York
    • Virginia
    • Delaware

    Delaware

    Delaware earned its nickname because it was the first of the original 13 states to ratify the U.S. Constitution, on December 7, 1787. Delaware has also been known as the “Diamond State” because, according to legend, Thomas Jefferson called Delaware “a jewel” of the Eastern seaboard.

14. The Volunteer State
    • Kentucky
    • Tennessee
    • Missouri
    • Illinois

    Tennessee

    Tennessee has had several nicknames, but the most popular is “The Volunteer State.” The nickname came about during the War of 1812 and refers to the volunteer soldiers from Tennessee, serving under Gen. Andrew Jackson, who showed exceptional valor in the Battle of New Orleans. Other nicknames include “The Big Bend State,” “The Hog and Hominy State,” and “The Mother of Southwestern Statesmen.”

15. The Buckeye State
    • Maine
    • Indiana
    • Ohio
    • Wisconsin

    Ohio

    Many think Ohio got its nickname from the numerous buckeye trees that grow throughout the state, but that’s only partly true.

    In 1840, William Henry Harrison, a Virginia-born Ohioan and military hero, was running for president. His opponents commented that he was better suited to sit in a log cabin and drink hard cider, which he turned into a positive, calling himself “the log cabin candidate.” His campaign emblem was a log cabin made out of buckeye wood and had buckeyes decorating the walls. In parades, his backers walked with buckeye canes. Harrison won the election; thereafter the buckeye was closely associated with the state of Ohio.

    The word “buckeye” is Native American in origin. The marks on the nut resemble the eye of a buck, so Indians took to calling them “hetuck” or “buckeye.”