List of city nicknames in Washington

The following is a list of nicknames, aliases, sobriquets and slogans for municipalities and unincorporated communities in the U.S. state of Washington.

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.[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[2] are also believed to have economic value.[1] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[1] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[2]

This list includes both official and unofficial nicknames. Some of the nicknames that were used historically may no longer be in use.

Blaine's nickname celebrates the Peace Arch on the U.S. border with Canada.

• Aberdeen – Port of Missing Men[3]
• Algona – City of the Great Blue Heron[4]
• Auburn – More Than You Imagined[4]
• Bellevue – City in a Park[4]
• Bellingham
  • City of Subdued Excitement[5]
  • Let Us Surprise You[4]
• Blaine – The Peace Arch City[6]
• Bothell – For a Day or a Lifetime[4]
• Burlington – The Hub City[7]
• Chehalis – Rose City[8]
• Chewelah – Place For All Seasons[9]
• Colville – Washington's Most Livable Community[4]
• Cosmopolis – City of the World[4]
• Enumclaw – The Gateway to Mount Rainier[4]
• Everett – Milltown, City of Smokestacks
• Forks – The Logging Capital of the World[10]
• Gig Harbor – The Maritime City
• Ilwaco – By Land or By Sea[4]
• Kelso
  • City of Friendly People[4]
  • Smelt Capital of the World[11]
• Kirkland
  • Gateway to Seattle (adopted in 1926)[4]
  • The Little City that Could[12]
• Lynden – The Gem City[13]
• Marysville – The Strawberry City[14]
• Morton – Home of the Loggers Jubilee[15]
• Mount Vernon – The City of Tulips
• Olympia
  • Oly
  • The Town (The original city nicknamed The Town)
• Port Townsend, Washington - The Key City; The City of Dreams
• Poulsbo – Little Norway[16]
• Pullman – Lentil Capital[17]
• Puyallup – The Land of Generous People[18]
• Redmond – Bicycle Capital of the Northwest[4]
• Richland
  • The Windy Town
  • City Of the Bombers
  • Atomic City[19]
• Seattle
  • City of Flowers (adopted in the 1940s)[4]
  • Emerald City: official since 1982[20]
  • Jet City: for the prominence of the aerospace industry, especially Boeing.[21]
  • Queen City (of the Pacific Northwest): official from 1869–1982[20][22]
• Sedro-Woolley – Gateway to the North Cascades[23]
• Sequim – Sunny Sequim[24]
• Spokane – The Lilac City[25]
• Sumner – Rhubarb Pie Capital[4][26]
• Tacoma
  • America’s #1 Wired City[2][4][27]
  • The City of Destiny – Applied in 1873 when Tacoma was the terminus for the Northern Pacific Railroad.[4][28]
  • Tackyoma[27]
  • T-Town[29]
  • Grit City[30]
• Tumwater - Green Town
• Walla Walla – The City was so Nice, They Named it Twice[31]
• Wenatchee – Apple Capital of the World.[4][17][32]
• White Center - Rat City
• Yakima – The Palm Springs of Washington[27]

See also

• List of city nicknames in the United States
• List of cities in Washington
• List of towns in Washington
• List of census-designated places in Washington
• List of unincorporated communities in Washington

References

1. Muench, David "Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts" Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, December 1993, accessed April 10, 2007.
2. Alfredo Andia, Branding the Generic City :) Archived 2008-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, MU.DOT magazine, September 10, 2007
3. Elizabeth Gibson, Outlaw Tales of Washington, Globe Pequot, 2001. ISBN 0-7627-1150-7, ISBN 978-0-7627-1150-5. This label was attached to Aberdeen after a string of murders in the early 20th century.
4. Karen Gaudette, What's in a motto? It's a city's "brand", The Seattle Times, March 21, 2006
5. "www.Bellingham-Subdued-Excitement.com". Archived from the original on 2008-04-13. Retrieved 2010-11-06.
6. City of Blaine website, accessed December 25, 2009. Nickname is due to the Peace Arch Monument at the U.S.-Canada border, erected in 1921.
7. Ralph Schwartz, A walk down memory lane in Burlington, Skagit Valley Herald, July 20, 2009
8. "5/11/2010 Forget Friendly — Chehalis Happy Being The Rose City | City of Chehalis Washington Official Website". www.ci.chehalis.wa.us. Retrieved 2019-10-02.
10. Ellis E. Conklin, FORSAKEN BY TIMBER, FORKS IS AT A CROSSROADS LOGGING CAPITAL GRASPS AT FANTASY LAND FOR SURVIVAL, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Friday, April 20, 1990, Section: News, Page: A1
11. Claims to Fame - Fish, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
12. James Vesely, Kirkland Shows Its Angst And Looks For Solutions, The Seattle Times, November 24, 1997
13. Lynden early history well documented in printer's ink Archived 2008-05-13 at Archive.today, Lynden Tribune, June 7, 2006 (accessed December 25, 2009)
14. City of Marysville website Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine, accessed December 25, 2009
15. The Chronicle, Aug 7, 2018, accessed March 7, 2020
16. Gil Bailey, Poulsbo: There's a lot to 'Little Norway', Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 23, 1998
17. Claims to Fame - Agriculture, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
18. http://www.puyallup-tribe.com
19. http://wa.14thstory.com/kiwanis-club-of-atomic-city-richland-washington.html
20. Lange, Greg. Seattle receives epithet Queen City in 1869. HistoryLink, November 4, 1998. Retrieved 2008-02-14.
21. "History of Seattle: The "Jet City" Takes Off". Seattle's Convention and Visitors Bureau. Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2007-10-01.
22. Nard Jones remarked in his 1972 book Seattle (Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-01875-4), p. 354, that the nickname was "almost abandoned now because of a homosexual twist of semantics".
23. depicted on city's main welcome sign
24. referred to many times on official government website
25. History of the Spokane Lilac Festival Archived 2008-04-24 at the Wayback Machine, originally prepared by Linda Kiddo and updated as of February 2004. "The suggestion that Spokane be known as 'The Lilac City' is attributed to Dr. S. E. Lambert, W.T. Triplett and John W. Duncan. In the early 1930s these men encourage the local garden club to plant lilac bushes throughout the City of Spokane."
26. Claims to Fame - Food Archived 2017-04-01 at the Wayback Machine, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
27. U.S. City Monikers, Tagline Guru website, accessed January 5, 2008
28. Jeff Larsen, Short Trips: Revitalized city catches up to its destiny, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 13, 2003
29. Larson, John. Metal band looks to break out of T-town Archived 2009-01-14 at the Wayback Machine. Tacoma Weekly, December 27, 2007. Retrieved 2008-02-21.
30. See, generally, "Grit City". Archived from the original on 2008-04-12. Retrieved 2008-04-22.
31. Tagline Guru City Branding Survey, Tagline Guru website, accessed August 18, 2009
32. Faber, Harold (1993-09-12). "The World Capital of Whatever". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-11-15.