100 Cities and Their Nicknames
I like nicknames. They define us better than our names, they are clever and funny, and they tell so much about our personality and sometimes, about our aspect, although this might be the worst case. I’ve had plenty of nicknames from “Bal” and “Maimu” to “Blondy”, but now everyone calls me by using diminutives of my name. That’s why when someone calls me “Miruna”, I know there’s something wrong going on.
I know the Internet is full of lists with cities’ nicknames, but I decided to make my own, composed of the world’s most important cities, and I hope this will be useful for my readers.
1. Paris – The City of Love, The City of Light, La Ville-Lumiere
2. Prague – The City of Hundred Spires, The Golden City, The Mother of Cities
3. New York – The Big Apple
4. Las Vegas – Sin City
5. Chicago – The Windy City
6. Vancouver – The Big Smoke
7. Montreal – La Belle Ville, Frenchtown, The City-Mountain
8. Los Angeles – The City of Angels
9. New Orleans – The Big Easy
10. Philadelphia – City of Brotherly Love, Philly
11. Amsterdam – Venice of the North
12. Venice – La Serenissima, Bride of the Sea
13. Vienna – The Imperial City
14. London – The Square Mile, The Old Smoke, The Smoke
15. Detroit – Motor City
16. Miami – The Magic City, Little Cuba
17. Memphis – Bluff City
18. Petra – The Rose Red City
19. Pittsburgh – Iron City
20. Rome – The Eternal City, City of the Seven Hills
21. Seattle – The Emerald City
22. Bucharest – Little Paris
23. Florence – The City of Lilies
24. Barcelona – The City of Counts, The City of Gaudi
25. Budapest – Pearl of the Danube
26. Toronto – Queen City, Muddy York, The Big Toe
27. Dublin – The Fair City
28. Jerusalem – The Holy City
29. Boston – The Hub
30. San Francisco – Frisco
31. Moscow – The Whitestone, The Forty Forties, Third Rome
32. Edinburgh – Auld Reekie
33. Geneva – The Peace Capital
34. Rio de Janeiro – Marvelous City
35. Salzburg – White City
36. Mumbai – The City of Dreams
37. Singapore – The Lion City
38. Naples – City of the Sun
39. Bologna – Red City; La Dotta, La Rossa, La Grassa (the educated, the red, the fat)
40. Torino – City of Four Rivers
41. Genova – The Superb
42. Palermo – The Happy
43. Milano – Fashion Capital of the World, The Drinkable City
44. Cairo – Paris of the Nile
45. Buenos Aires – Paris of the Americas, Queen of the Plata
46. Ushuaia – The End of the World
47. Melbourne – City by the Bay, Bleak City, Europe of Australia
48. Sydney – The Harbour City
50. Sao Paulo – Brazil’s Locomotive, Land of Drizzle, Sampa
51. Dubrovnik – The Pearl of the Adriatic
52. Helsinki – The White City of the North
53. Bordeaux – City of Wine
54. Nice – Angels City
55. Berlin – The Grey City
56. Jaipur – The Pink City
57. Oslo – Tiger Town
58. Warsaw – Default City, Big Village in the Middle of Nowhere
59. St Petersburg – The Mind of Russia
60. Madrid – El Foro, The Forum
61. Athens – The City of Violet Crown
62. Dallas – Big D
63. Hong Kong – Pearl of the Orient
64. Munich – World City with Heart
65. Birmingham – The City of a Thousand Trades, Brum
66. Lisbon – City With a Future
67. The Hague – City of Peace and Justice
68. Calcutta – City of Palaces, City of Love, City of Joy
69. Beijing – The Forbidden City
70. Adelaide – City of Churches
71. Zagreb – Little Vienna
72. Bruges – Venice of the North
73. Marseille – Phocean City
74. Tel Aviv – The City that Never Stops
75. Bolzano – The Door to the Dolomites, The German One
76. Sanremo – The City of Dreams
77. Tivoli – City of Delights
78. Vicenza – City of Gold
79. Kuala Lumpur – Golden Triangle
80. Cuernavaca – The City of Eternal Spring
81. Tijuana – Television Capital of the World
82. Rotterdam – Manhattan upon Meuse
83. Lima – City of the Kings
84. Manila – City by the Bay
85. Porto – The Invincible City
86. Cadiz – The Little Silver Cup
87. Bilbao – El Bocho
88. Zurich – Little Big City
89. Kiev – The Mother of Rus’ Cities
90. Honolulu – Sheltered Bay
91. Macau – Oyster City
92. Wroclaw – City of Hundred Bridges
93. Beirut – Paris of the Middle East
94. Udine – Capital of the Great War
95. Ancona – Doric City
96. Tehran – The City of 72 Nations
97. Bangalore – The City of Gardens
98. Leipzig – Bimbo Town
99. Split – The Diocletian’s City
100. Grenoble – Capital of the Alps
Do you know other cities’ nicknames?
What’s in a (nick)name? Interesting topic and nice list, Miruna. Of course, you could add hundreds of other cities with beautiful nicknames. Some of my favorites are: Bologna (‘the fat one’), Toulouse (‘the pink city’), Cadiz (‘little silver cup’), Cuzco (‘the navel of the world’) and San Gimignano (‘Manhattan of the Middle Ages’). There are also several lesser known Belgian towns with funny nicknames, like Schaerbeek (‘donkey town’).
And one day I’d like to travel to all the European villages and cities with a nickname related to Venice (there must be at least 25) .
Thank you, Hugo
I had no idea about San Gimignano – Manhattan of the Middle Ages? Wonderful!
Thanks for the tips. I bet those villages and European cities with a nickname related to Venice are beautiful. Would you mind if I wold write a post about them? I think it’s a great idea for an article, bur it’s you idea:).
Of course, you can use the idea. Actually, I wrote something about it in Dutch several months ago. You may not be able to understand all of it, but at least it gives you some of the European cities with a nickname related to Venice:
http://leunstoelreizen.blogspot.com/2012/01/veneties.html
Thanks, it’s very nice of you, Hugo. I’ll let you know when I’ll write the post:).
I was doing a little research on this, as it has been used to create a study guide in Memrise. I don’t think that Toronto goes by any of the names here still. They did go by Muddy York, but a long time ago. Queen City is a nickname for the largest city in any state/region with ties to England but once again this has fallen out of usage. And the big Toe is not listed anywhere. I do admit that I might have used a poor source, but it seems that T.O. and T-dot are more common. Anybody from Hogtown that can validate the name you use?
I was looking for something else and accidentally checked my home city….
Warsaw – Default City, Big Village in the Middle of Nowhere.
While I have never heard of ‘Default City’ but I heard the 2nd (offensive term) pronounced by some superiority complex idiots from other Polish cities. I’d suggest checking how many hits you get from Google on your ‘nickname’ vs. very common nickname Warsaw Phoenix City
I agree, Warsaw is my home city as well, and I agree that the nickname you used here is stupid, offensive, and it’s being used only by some people from other Polish cities competing for tourists dollars. Publishing it here is very unprofessional.
Auckland – New Zealand, City of Sails
How about: Minneapolis-St. Paul “the Twin Cities” …..Reno “The biggest Little City In The World”…….Denver “Mile High City”…..M.O.
Wow, I feel slighted for my adopted city. First off, Pittsburgh is misspelled as “Pittsburg”. Second, while there is a brewery in the city called “Iron City,” the metropolis has rarely been referred to as such. I think what the author may have meant was Steel City — its primary nickname in the American lexicon. It is also known as the “City of Bridges” because it has the most in America (and possibly the world.) Another common nickname for people from Pennsylvania is “The Burgh” as the city is unique in America for retaining the “h” at the end of its name. The “Golden Triangle” is also an occasional nickname for the downtown area. Other nicknames involve sporting success and are not worth mentioning here. Research, research, research!
Milwaukee was called the Cream City (because of the cream colored bricks once manufactured there)
Venice is also called “the Queen of the seas” because of her history. Another nickname I like is the one my hometown has, if I may add it to the list: Treviso, “the painted city” (urbs picta), due to the considerable number of frescos and paintings that you could find on houses and buildings during the Middle Age.
That’s good to know, Stefano. I would love to visit Treviso one day!
Another name for Amsterdam is Mokum. It’s a Hebrew word for Paradise I believe and sounds very cute and nostalgic.
Dermot Mc caughey
What a wonderful source, Thank you miruna…here are a few Irish ones for starters! Galway = City of the tribes, Kilkenny = The Marble City, Derry = The Maiden City, Armagh = The Cathedral City (Ecclesiastical capital of Ireland), Limerick = The Treaty City. We also have nicknames for counties (there are 32 in Ireland). Louth = The wee county, Meath = The Royal county, Laois = Queen’s County, Offaly = King’s County and Faithful County, Wexford = The Model County (and the Slayneysiders and Yellow Bellies), Wicklow = The Garden of Ireland, Westmeath and Fermanagh both known as The Lakeland County, Kerry = The Kingdom, Tipperary = The Premier County, Clare = The Banner, Waterford = The Déise, Limerick = Shannonsiders or Treatymen, Cork = The Rebel County, Galway = Joyce Country and The Tribesman, Sligo = Yeats Country, Roscommon = The Primroses, Monaghan = The Basket of Eggs (because of drumlin landscape), Armagh = The Orchard County, Derry = The Oak Leaf County,
Dermot Mc caughey
More…. Cavan known as the Breffni County, Monaghan aka the Farney County, Tyrone as the O’Neill County, Kildare as the Short Grass County and the Lilywhites, Kilkenny as the Cats…the list goes on. Most of these county nicks have GAA (national games of hurling, camogie, handball, rounders and football) links
Kathmandu, capital of Nepal – City of Temples
Vancouver – Lotusland or Vansterdam referring to the city’s laid back attitude toward drug use. There are almost as many pot shops as Starbucks. Other nicknames include Raincity, Vancity or NoFunCity. The Big Smoke is used outside the Lower Mainland, in other parts of British Columbia, but never by Vancouverites.
Nice article! However I’m from Pittsburgh, and it is Steel city -not Iron city. Our history is built on steel production -hence the Steelers is our football team. It’s also known as The City of Bridges and The Burgh. Thanks! PS Iron City beer is/was produced in Pittsburgh, but I have never heard that as a reference for Pittsburgh. Thanks.
Great List!
Proud resident of Fort Worth,Texas a.k.a. “Where the west begins”, “Cowtown”, “the Fort”, and my favorite- “Funkytown”.
And don’t forget St Louis Missouri- “Gateway to the west”.
Macau’s nickname is actually ‘Las Vegas on Steroids’ :v
And how could you forget Bangkok. Sin City of Asia
Good heavens! God bless you for this post. dd
I have to do project to school and my topie is “Nicknames of European cities/states and how they get them”. At first, I was amazed by this topie because I knew some like Ireland – the emerald isle, Ucraine – the bread basket of Europe, Iceland – land of ice and fire etcetera (yeah, I know they’re states). But I didn’t find anything in Slovak when I started to search for some information (I am from Slovakia). And after two hours full of endless searching, trying new and new options, after two hours filled with suffering and sorrow and desperation, I found this and… I have so much beautiful project (presentation). THANKS! As I said, god bless you! Sorry for eventually mistakes, I don’t speak english as well as you bc I must speak slovak at first. dd And you also forget Reykjavik, which is called “fuming bay” because Reykjavik in Icelandic actually mean fuming bay. Also Verona is “city of Romeo and Juliet” I think everybody know why, city Braga is called “Portugalian Rome”, Edinburgh “Athens of the North”, Prague “heart of Europe” (Budapest also), Lima “city of kings”, Lisbon “Queen of the sea”, Treviso “Painted city”, Moscow “the first throne” and capital of my country, Bratislava, is called “Partyslava” or “beauty on the Danube”. 🙂
Again, thanks. 🙂
Anybody born and raised in Toronto, KNOWS that the three nicknames that you have listed here are far from the NUMBER 1 Nickname. I don’t even know where you came up with these Nicknames for Toronto. Toronto’s #1 Nickname is HOG TOWN. And also T.O, as in Toronto, Ontario…
Nice list, never heard of some but could you please fix:
Boston although you have it listed as the Hub, around here it’s Beantown..