Nicknames for Chicago

Chicago Nicknames

"Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker, stacker of wheat,
Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the big shoulders."

—Carl Sandburg's "Chicago" (1916)

• "The Windy City" - It is often recited — erroneously — that this nickname was first used by Charles Gibson Dana , editor of the New York Sun and former editor of the Chicago Republican in 1890 in reference to the city's claims for the World Columbian Exposition. Ardent word sleuth Barry Popik and others, however, have found numerous earlier references to the "Windy City." Some of Popik's earliest attestations are found in the Cleveland Gazette dated 19 September 1885 and the Cincinnati Enquirer dated 12 February 1877 (pg. 5, col. 2); undoubtedly other antedatings will emerge. Some continue to believe that the name may indicate the summer breezes as is described at Weather Doctor's Weather History (http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/history/chicago-nickname.htm), but none of the early evidence supports this theory. Rather, the nineteenth-century citations reveal that the nickname arose in connection with (1) the longwindedness of politicians, both residents and those visiting for political conventions; and (2) the city's many boosters who commended the western metropolis to the world's attention. (The complete article on the nickname from the University of Chicago Press 's Encyclopedia of Chicago (2004) is available here.)

• "Second City" - So called because it was, for many years, the second-largest city in the United States (after New York City), and also because of its rebirth after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The term was originated in an article by A.J. Liebling that appeared in The New Yorker. The improvisational comedy troupe The Second City, based in Chicago, took their name from this article as well.

• "Chi-town" or simply "Chitown" - Pronunciation of this nickname can vary from "TCHI-town" to "SHAI-town" to "CHEE-town."

• "City of Big Shoulders" - From "Chicago," a poem by Carl Sandburg.

• "Hog-Butcher To The World" - From "Chicago."

• "Slaughterhouse to the World"

• "City by the Lake" - Used in the Smashing Pumpkins' song "Tonight, Tonight."

• "City of the Century"

• "My Kind of Town" - According to the song "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" (music by James Van Heusen, words by Sammy Cahn, 1964) popularized by Frank Sinatra.

• "That Toddling Town" - According to the lyrics of the song "Chicago" (music and words by Fred Fisher, 1922) also popularized by Frank Sinatra (as well as Tony Bennett). Surprisingly enough Chicago does not have an official song, according to the Chicago Public Library.

• "Sweet Home" from the Woody Payne song Sweet Home Chicago