Boston nicknames

Boston Common

The city of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, has many nicknames due to historical context. They include:

• The City on a Hill came from original Massachusetts Bay Colony's governor John Winthrop's goal to create the biblical "City on a Hill." It also refers to the original three hills of Boston.
• The Hub is a shortened form of a phrase recorded by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Hub of the Solar System. This has since developed into The Hub of the Universe.
• The Athens of America is a title given by William Tudor, co-founder of the North American Review for Boston's great cultural and intellectual influence.
• The Puritan City nickname references the religion of the city's founders.
• The Cradle of Liberty derives from Boston's role in instigating the American Revolution.
• City of Notions in the nineteenth century.
• America's Walking City, because Boston's compact and high density nature has made walking an effective and popular mode of transit in the city. In fact, it has the seventh-highest percentage of pedestrian commuters of any city in the United States, while neighboring Cambridge is the highest.
• Beantown refers to the regional dish of baked beans. This nickname is almost exclusively used by non-Bostonians and is rarely used by natives. According to Boston-Online.com, back in colonial days, a favorite Boston food was beans baked in molasses for several hours. Boston was part of the "triangular trade" in which slaves in the Caribbean grew sugar cane to be shipped to Boston to be made into rum to be sent to West Africa to buy more slaves to send to the West Indies. Sailors and traders called it "Beantown" The local residents did not refer to their city as "Beantown."
• Titletown refers to Boston's historic dominance in the world of sports, specifically the Boston Celtics, having 17 NBA Championships.^{[citation needed]}
• City of Champions, much like Titletown, refers to Boston's recent streak of dominance in sports, with the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Boston Bruins, and New England Patriots each winning World (i.e., national) Championships in the last decade.^{[citation needed]}
• The Olde Towne comes from the fact that Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is often used in reference to the Boston Red Sox (The Olde Towne Team)