List of nicknames for Chicago

This article lists nicknames for the city of Chicago, Illinois.

Major nicknames

This newspaper article was published by the Cleveland Gazette in 1885

• "The Windy City" — perhaps the best-known nickname for Chicago. There are several different theories on the origin of the nickname.

• "Second City" — This was a derogatory nickname for the city used in a 1950s New Yorker article by A. J. Liebling; the phrase was later appropriated by a Chicago comedy troupe.

• "Chi-Town" or "Chitown" — Pronunciation of this nickname can vary from /ˈtʃaɪtaʊn/ to /ˈʃaɪtaʊn/ (from chai-town to shy-town).

• Chicagoland — A term for the city together with its surrounding suburbs. Sometimes the term encompasses the city and the nine counties around it. However, it is also used to mean only the suburbs.

Some nicknames are included in Carl Sandburg's 1916 poem "Chicago":

"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."

Other nicknames are "The Queen of the West" and "The Garden City".

Minor nicknames

• "Beirut by the Lake" - From a Wall Street Journal article during the Council Wars of the 1980s.

• "Chi-city" - Used by Kanye West in the song "Homecoming" and Common in the song "Chi-City"

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

• "City in a Garden" - English translation of the Latin motto on the city seal: "Urbs in Horto"

• "City of Broad Shoulders" - A popular variant of "City of the Big Shoulders"

• "City on the Make" - From "Chicago, City on the Make" (1951), a prose poem by Nelson Algren

• "Heart of America" - Chicago is one of the largest transportation centers in America and its location is near the center of the United States.

• "Hog Butcher for the World" - Described in a poem by Carl Sandburg.

• "My Kind of Town" - According to the song "My Kind of Town (Chicago Is)" (music by Jimmy Van Heusen, words by Sammy Cahn, 1964) popularized by Frank Sinatra. (Originally from the film, Robin and the Seven Hoods, about a fictional popular Chicago gangster).

• "New Gotham" - Because of the vast amount of footage used of the city for the 2008 film The Dark Knight

• "Paris on the Prairie" - From the 1909 plan for the City of Chicago created by Daniel Burnham.

• "Sweet Home" - From the Robert Johnson song Sweet Home Chicago.

• "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).

• "The Big Onion" - An homage to the original Native name for the area (which meant "onion"), in parallel with a popular New York nickname, "The Big Apple"

• "The Black City" - a reference to the pre-1893 World's Fair Chicago (which site was called "The White City"); the phrase was prominently used in such media as The Devil in the White City

• "The C" - The first letter in the word 'Chicago'

• "The Chi" - Described in the song "I'm A Flirt Remix" by R. Kelly.

• "The Chill or Chi Ill" - Also used by rap musicians from the area (Chill as in Chicago Illinois)

• "The City Beautiful" - Used by Hawk Harrelson when the Chicago White Sox open a game at U.S. Cellular Field.

• "The City That Works" - According to former Mayor Richard J. Daley

• "The Miami of Canada" - As referred to by Mr. Burns in an episode of The Simpsons

See also

• List of city nicknames in Illinois